Remember Fuzzy felt? Own a felted Christmas ornament bought in a squiffy haze from the Christmas market in Edinburgh, after three glasses of very expensive glühwein and a big sausage?
If you don’t take proper care of your woollens, you will end up with a very expensive piece of felt that is much less fun to play with than fuzzy felt, that will certainly not hang well on your Christmas tree and is significantly less attractive than it was before you washed it! Ask my daughter - after a fit of “I don't have time to handwash my jumpers”, I ruined my favourite pink cashmere sweater and shrunk it (and felted it) down to cute kiddy size, she gained a cashmere jumper!
A piece of quality knitwear is an investment. With the right care and a bit of love it will wind its way into your life and your heart and will make your existence immeasurably richer over many, many years. As the days get shorter, the leaves begin to change and the temperature drops, pleasing thoughts of reaching for your favourite woollens cheer up that most difficult of transitions between the seasons of summer and autumn.
That is exactly the sort of relationship we want you to have with our knitwear. We are so fond of the knitwear that we sell and we want to make sure you get the very best from your piece so we are really keen to ensure that you have all the information you need to property look after your wool.
A quality piece of knitwear is like a well-made shoe, an aga, a classic car. It has its own character and behaviours and does not like to be treated like the mainstream, the hoi-polloi. Your knitwear should be given a chance to rest between outings. It should be left to air every now and again and, when doing so, be laid flat rather than hung.
Like a good pair of jeans, washing should be a rarity and the exception rather than the rule. Please handwash only using only a little detergent, purpose made for the job if possible. Once you are done, gently squeeze out the water rather than twisting or wringing. Then it is a waiting game as the garment is laid out flat to dry. No machines, no spin cycle, just minimal input and a lot of love.
Knitwear should always be stored folded not hung and do be wary of moths.
If you wear yours as much as we wear ours and have a reasonably active lifestyle, your garment will show some piling over time. On a quality wool garment this can be easily removed with a de-piler which is by far the best tool for the job.
One of the most rewarding results of caring for your woolies is being able to pass on a loved and cherished item of clothing to someone who might either want it (daughter) or needs it more than you do and know that it will last for many more years to come. If slow clothing ever needs a poster boy then you couldn't do much better than a woolly jumper!
Look after your favourite jumper and it will look after you, year after year. That cool night at the start of October when the mercury drops under a clear sky, your shoulders shrug and you can smell autmum coming at you through the leaves. As you drop the logs into the basket by the stove and head upstairs to the wardrobe and reach for that jumper for the first time that year, you’ll have a smile on your face, just like we do.
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So, in a nutshell to keep your woolies looking fabulous do this:
- don't wash it unless you have to
- let it air between wears
- fold it don't hang it
- if it's time to wash it then handwash it gently!
- squeeze don't wring
- lay it out flat to dry
- use a depiler if necessary
- treat it with care and love!
*fuzzy felt image licence attribution