Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

Wednesday2000 said:

It is not too chilly here today but I have put the heating on for an hour to dry the laundry. I can't wait for Spring/warmer weather when I can dry clothes outside on the line again. I have noticed the loss of our tumble dryer, especially with drying bedding and thick jumpers. I am going to make sure I only buy thinner fabrics whenever I buy duvet covers and jumpers now. Two of my husband's thick fisherman style jumpers were taking so long to dry that I donated them to a charity shop as they were annoying me so much! 

If the jumpers were pure wool, they shouldn't actually need washing more than once or twice a year... hang them up inside-out to air them overnight, squeezing ribbed cuffs and waists to return them to shape after being stretched out in wear; if necessary, spray the inside armpits/back with a very fine mist-sprayer of vodka and leave to air (this is what opera houses do to de-pongify costumes which must be worn by various people, often against the skin, under hot stage lights!). 
Wool will, to an extent, self-clean, ie bacteria doesn't thrive on it if left to air well, and if it's pure wool. 

I wash my socks after wearing them 2-3 times; and jumpers/cardigans about once or twice a year. I use the 'rinse' cycle in our washing-machine - no detergent on wool, ever - and that 19-minute cold0-water cycle has a 1400rpm spin which really helps a lot as it removes so much of the water. All my hand-knitting is fine washed like that. 

Not much help now your husband's jumpers have gone but might be useful to someone sometime  

Cherryfudge

I second @Laura_Elsewhere, having taken her advice on not washing natural fibres too often. I've not tried the vodka trick but airing garments instead of automatically washing them is good, and saves all sorts of things: time, wear and tear on garments/machines/your nerves, fuel bills. When you go to put them away, a quick inspection should tell you whether they need a wash, a spot clean or no extra treatment.

I'm trying to buy more natural fabrics: things like sports wear do tend to need help a lot more often which is apparently to do with the nature of the fabric, but I don't know the science.

For those longing to line-dry again, I put my washing out on a frosty day, on the grounds that the dry air would help dry it. It worked! Not 100% dry but 90%, plus it got the fresh air and daylight and saved condensation and clutter indoors.

littlemoney

I got a line of washing dryish on boxing day. About 90 % dry, though mainly synthetic material. I hung my wool jumper to air and will put back in the wardrobe today.

annieb64

Mine dried quite well yesterday.  Just need to put the duvet cover over the bannisters to finish drying.

Wednesday2000

Okay, I did some laundry and put a dress outside on the line to test if/when it dries and how long it takes! It is fairly thin fabric, though. I put it out there at 1pm.

Cherryfudge

How did it go, @Wednesday2000? I abandoned the idea of washing today, it's the sort of day here where things come in as damp as they went out! I don't think I can save it all till the next frost, though.

Wednesday2000

Cherryfudge said:

How did it go, @Wednesday2000? I abandoned the idea of washing today, it's the sort of day here where things come in as damp as they went out! I don't think I can save it all till the next frost, though.

I went out about 4 yesterday to let my dog out to the garden and the dress felt as wet as at it did at 1! I thought as well it felt like it was about to rain so I brought it in. It did rain about 15 minutes later. I hung it over the bannister and it doesn't feel completely dry to me yet. It is raining again today! Sigh.

Cherryfudge

It's pouring down here too. No way am I going to hang the laundry on the line though I guess it would get rinsed at no cost.

I think we need to wait for a freezing day before the weather will help us dry the washing again. The frost takes the moisture out of the air, and out of washing too. You have to hope for that perfect frosty day with a light breeze and preferably sunshine, then load the washing line as fast as possible!

It's so gloomy out that it could be November. I've left a lot of the curtains shut to keep the heat in, but I need the daylight so the room I'm in has daylight, a central light and a heated lap blanket, and the main heating is off for now. Roll on spring.  

Primrose

I think when you have continual rain like this you have to settle for some heat indoors to try clothings as it's very easy for damp and mould to start taking over.  We tend to watch the weather forecasts more carefully these days and do the washing either on good outdoor drying days or on cold days when we realise the heating will have to be on o thst it dries laundry as well as keeping us warm. 

The high cost of heating is a big shock for us all but perhaps for many it has opened eyes for the first time about the environmental issues we face and has forced us to use these resources more thoughtfully.  Even our Christmas tree with its built in lights is on a timer this year and doesn,t switch on until dusk!  This seems a little "tight" but if we,re not in that room for various  periods it,s still wasted energy.

slm6002

Do we think that we will get the extreme cold weather like the USA has recently had.  If so what extra measures should I be preparing for at home please.  I am ready for the usual cold weather the UK gets but I'm thinking we might need extra preparations for extreme temperatures