Washing wools

Good point, I never thought about front loaders.

Jumping in here... nope, no agitation, no felting.

Ditto that. It's the agitation that causes felting, not the water temp.
Warmer water will accelerate the felting because the "scales" on the fiber
will open up more, but you can felt in cold water if you rub, too.

A little bit of science...wool is made like human hairs.....scales layered
one over the other (see top right picture he
http://xarch.tu-graz.ac.at/home/gernot/weave/wool.html). When the fibers are
agitated against each other, the scales catch and hold. The more agitation,
the more grabbing and tangling occurs. That's why gentle handling when wet
is so important.

Karen in AZ

Hot water cuts the grease more easily, which lets you reduce the
amount of detergent you use. This in turn reduces the amount of
rinsing needed.

It isn't the temperature of the water, its agitation plus moisture
that makes felt (or fulled knitted fabric, in the case of a sweater).
You can insult wool by shocking it with cold water after you take it
out of a nice hot bath. So if you wash in hot, you need to rinse in
hot.

On Mon, 5 Jan 2004 11:52:09 -0600, "Karen in MN"
ask.me.for.my.email.address wrote:

That's another thing I'm a little fuzzy about -- I thought it was always
supposed to be cold water -- the Sally Melville book said warm water -- and
you are the second person now to tell me they use hot water. Don't you get
any shrinkage / felting problems with hot?




"Slinky" wrote in message
.. .
I scour wool, yarn, and finished goods in the washer. Fill the tub
with hot water, turn off the machine, dissolve some detergent, poke in
the item(s) and walk away for a while. Flip over to the spin cycle,
remove the item(s), refill with hot water, poke in the item(s) and
walk away again.

No agitation involved.

How do you all wash your wools?

Hi:

I use a product called Eucalan Sweater Wash on all my wool sweaters. I put a
sweater in my mini basket in my washing machine, add the Wash and let the
machine fill with warm water. I shut the machine off and let sit for 10
minutes. Then I turn the machine back on and let it spin out the water. There
is no rinsing with this product. I get it at my local fabric store but
Patternworks also sells it. It smells great and is supposed to protect from
moths.

HTH

Lee

On 05 Jan 2004 19:24:16 GMT, GSHEPDOG wrote:

Hi:

I use a product called Eucalan Sweater Wash on all my wool sweaters. I put a
sweater in my mini basket in my washing machine, add the Wash and let the
machine fill with warm water. I shut the machine off and let sit for 10
minutes. Then I turn the machine back on and let it spin out the water. There
is no rinsing with this product. I get it at my local fabric store but
Patternworks also sells it. It smells great and is supposed to protect from
moths.

HTH

Lee

Lee, they now have TWO scents, Eucalyptus and Lavender... curious, which
one do you use?
Noreen (middle name: nosey, grin)

--
Noreen's Knit*che
(Knitting, Crocheting, Tatting, Bobbin-Lace and Spinning are my NICHE in
life..)
NATA #447 Member TKGA Member TCGA
... soon joining MTFG and IOLI...

I hand-wash all wool sweaters, etc., in cool water in the kitchen
sink. Since I have a double sink I can transfer the item from one
sink to the other, back and forth, for thorough rinsing -- very
convenient! After the final rinse I smash the item into the corner of
the sink to press out as much of the water as possible. Then I put
the item on a couple of old beach towels spread on the floor, roll it
all up, and literally walk on the roll, which really gets out a bunch
more water! I put the item onto a large sweater rack, and use
extra-long straight pins with plastic heads to pin it to the mesh of
the rack for air-drying. Works for me!

By the way, I do NOT use Woolite, which I have found leaches out quite
a bit of color. Instead, I use a baby shampoo, which works very well,
rinses easily, and does not leach out color. It also smells really
nice and doesn't make me itch as so many soaps do.

"Karen in MN" ask.me.for.my.email.address wrote in message ...
How do you all wash your wools?

I wash EVERYTHING before putting it together and when I'm finished -- even
though I wash my hands before I pick up my knitting, it's amazing how much
dirt / oil comes out of them when they're washed. I have always
handwashed -- soaked in Woolite, rolled it in a towel, pin it out and let it
air dry. With something really large, it's a bit cumbersome.

I just read something in one of Sally Melville's book on how she washes them
in a washing machine. She fills it with water and a little soap, turns the
machine off and lets it soak. Which makes sense and is a lot more
convenient than the bathroom sink. But -- she doesn't rinse -- and she
turns the machine on to a final spin.

I thought those were two big no-no's -- in the first place, if you don't
rinse, don't you leave soap in there (which is harmful to fabric and
actually attracts dirt)? Secondly, I was under the impression that you
NEVER let a woolen item go through a spin cycle, that it was equivalent to
agitating, and might felt it.

Wondering how everyone else does it.

Karen in MN

Wow -- you all just gave me a wealth of information that I am very grateful
for! This was really, really helpful to me, and I thank you all!

Karen in MN

"Noreen's Knit*che" wrote in message
.. .
On 05 Jan 2004 19:24:16 GMT, GSHEPDOG wrote:

Hi:

I use a product called Eucalan Sweater Wash on all my wool sweaters. I
put a
sweater in my mini basket in my washing machine, add the Wash and let
the
machine fill with warm water. I shut the machine off and let sit for 10
minutes. Then I turn the machine back on and let it spin out the water.
There
is no rinsing with this product. I get it at my local fabric store but
Patternworks also sells it. It smells great and is supposed to protect
from
moths.

HTH

Lee

Lee, they now have TWO scents, Eucalyptus and Lavender... curious, which
one do you use?
Noreen (middle name: nosey, grin)

--
Noreen's Knit*che
(Knitting, Crocheting, Tatting, Bobbin-Lace and Spinning are my NICHE in
life..)
NATA #447 Member TKGA Member TCGA
.. soon joining MTFG and IOLI...

I just got some at my LYS and I ended up getting both scents! I like the
lavender myself, I'll use that on a lot of my handwashables -- but then I
figured I better get the eucalyptus to wash the guy's sweater in because I
wasn't sure how strong a scent it was, and I started picturing this 6'6" guy
walking around with flower-smell wafting behind him.

Karen in MN

On Mon, 5 Jan 2004 14:16:14 -0600, Karen in MN wrote:

Wow -- you all just gave me a wealth of information that I am very grateful
for! This was really, really helpful to me, and I thank you all!

Karen in MN

Bad English on purpose here... ain't it great???
I think we have a new buzzword/slash/shortcut here too... WOI for wealth of
info!!
Hugs,
Noren

--
Noreen's Knit*che
(Knitting, Crocheting, Tatting, Bobbin-Lace and Spinning are my NICHE in
life..)
NATA #447 Member TKGA Member TCGA
... soon joining MTFG and IOLI...

On Mon, 5 Jan 2004 14:30:11 -0600, Karen in MN wrote:

"Noreen's Knit*che" wrote in message
.. .
On 05 Jan 2004 19:24:16 GMT, GSHEPDOG wrote:

Hi:

I use a product called Eucalan Sweater Wash on all my wool sweaters. I
put a
sweater in my mini basket in my washing machine, add the Wash and let
the
machine fill with warm water. I shut the machine off and let sit for 10
minutes. Then I turn the machine back on and let it spin out the water.
There
is no rinsing with this product. I get it at my local fabric store but
Patternworks also sells it. It smells great and is supposed to protect
from
moths.

HTH

Lee

Lee, they now have TWO scents, Eucalyptus and Lavender... curious, which
one do you use?
Noreen (middle name: nosey, grin)

--
Noreen's Knit*che
(Knitting, Crocheting, Tatting, Bobbin-Lace and Spinning are my NICHE in
life..)
NATA #447 Member TKGA Member TCGA
.. soon joining MTFG and IOLI...

I just got some at my LYS and I ended up getting both scents! I like the
lavender myself, I'll use that on a lot of my handwashables -- but then I
figured I better get the eucalyptus to wash the guy's sweater in because I
wasn't sure how strong a scent it was, and I started picturing this 6'6" guy
walking around with flower-smell wafting behind him.

Karen in MN

Karen, I love the lavender too!! And, I agree, the eucalyptus seems more
'manly'... however I'm laughing as Don absolutely HATES anything eucalypty
or mentholly.... wouldn't even let his mom put Vicks on him as a kid!!
LOL!
Noreen
Don's 6'2"...he said... he would WONDER about a 6'6" guy if he smelled like
lavender, snort!!

--
Noreen's Knit*che
(Knitting, Crocheting, Tatting, Bobbin-Lace and Spinning are my NICHE in
life..)
NATA #447 Member TKGA Member TCGA
... soon joining MTFG and IOLI...