Fiber Arts Friday: Washing Woolens and Handknits

I have posted about washing fleece and raw fiber before.  But since my neighbor recently asked me about how I wash our raw alpaca and that I've been having a little stress about where to do it at our new place, I thought it might be a good time to write another post.

When washing fleeces, yarns, finished woolen items, or delicates, the method is essentially the same.

The only real difference between sheep's wool vs. alpaca or chiengora (or angora, cashmere, silk, etc) is that sheep's wool typically contains Lanolin and Suint.

Lanolin and Suint are often referred to as grease and there are reasons to keep them.  But if you're after a non-"greasy" sheep's wool, you may need to use a scouring step or a stronger detergent in order to get the fiber fully clean.  For that, I refer you to this series of posts by Deborah Robson.

If the grease has already been removed or was never present, then the process is essentially the same.  The key to remember when washing natural fibers is:  

heat + soap + agitation = felt

If you want felt, then increase one or all of these elements.  If you don't want felt, then be careful to minimize all elements.

Let's take each elements one at a time.

Heat

I try to keep the water close to lukewarm.  There is tolerance here.... but I don't want it hot, because I don't want anything to felt... and I don't want it cold, because submerging my hands into a basin of cold water doesn't feel good.

Soap

Personally, I like the wool washes because they are low sudsing, and therefore require less water.  But you can use any soap you prefer.  Dog shampoo is often low sudsing.  Human shampoo and dishwashing liquid work well too, but will likely require more changes of clean water to remove the soap.

When I had reached the age of caring about how my woolens and delicates were cared for, I started using Woolite and handwashing garments regularly.  I don't have this on hand anymore because I prefer to use the above Wool Washes, but Woolite would work too.

I recommend reading the label, then choosing the one that you prefer based on ingredients and scent.

Agitation

I put the soap in the water, then splash it around to make suds.

I submerge the item, then gently squeeze the soap and water thru.  There is also some room here, but I am careful not to shake/agitate too much... I want to make sure the water and soap are thoroughly incorporated into the item, but I'm not trying to replicate a washing machine.

Time

I set a timer for 15-20 minutes, then get back to my basin when I have a few minutes to change the water.

At which time, I pull the item out of the basin and squeeze the water from the item.  I don't wring.

Frequency

Typically my items require one soapy change and two-three non-soapy/clear changes.  However, in the case of these hats, this is their first washing and two of them have yarn dyed in the red-to-purple family.

While the quality of dyeing these days is generally very good, you may notice that colors in this family bleed into the wash basin (there's probably a more technical word for this....exhaust?).  So in this case, I did a few changes of soapy water before moving on to the clear water changes.

(I hate that the ugly "theatre" lights are reflecting in this photo, but hopefully, you get the idea... and now you know something about one of the upcoming improvement projects needed at our new place. lol)

Blocking/Drying

Garments with negative-ease (stretch when worn), such as socks and hats, typically don't need to be blocked severely.  Unless you want to highlight a pattern or make it a bigger size.  So in this case, my blocking is essentially just minimal shaping and removing a few wrinkles.

For this step, a drying rack can be helpful.  But since I don't have one, I am using old towels to absorb extra water.

In our former house, I did this on the guest bed, because it was out of the way of daily living and I could leave my items for several days while they dried.

We don't have a guest bed at our new place (yet, because some things should be upgraded), so I laid these out on the bathroom counter.  Fortunately, the counter is long-ish and we are not having company anytime soon.  Though, I will need to come up with a larger location before it's time to block my Save our Sheep Sweater.

As the top face dries, I adjust the towels and turn the garments over.

Depending on the relative humidity and airflow, this whole process can take a few hours to several days.

Hopefully this was helpful.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!