My MIL gave my DH a new wool sweater from Orvis last week. It is very warm and he has been wearing it but is complaining that there is an odor to it. It is made of 85% wool and 15% nylon and a little scratchy to the feel. I aired it outside for two days but the odor is still there. Is this a normal thing with wool? Is there anything I could do. It is recommended to dry clean only, will that help? Thanks for any help. I am not used to wool, using acrylics mostly. But I know there are lots of you that use wool for your knitting.
Wool has a fragrance, but more likely he's smelling dyes in the wool, spinning oil, packaging, etc.
Wash it in hot water with a good slug of detergent - but no agitation, just fill the washer tub, poke in the sweater and let it soak, then spin out the water, remove the sweater, refill with hot water, poke the sweater in to rinse, spin out, stomp in a towel, air dry flat.
On 12 Dec 2005 13:44:49 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com spewed forth :
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On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 23:57:44 +0100, "Aud" spewed forth :
Bah. Heat isn't what fulls sweaters, agitation is. Wool will full in cold water if you make it angry enough. It'll even full with no water at all, but that takes a LOT of work :) We have two water heaters. The one that serves the kitchen and the utility room is set at 140f, or about 60c. Water much under 120f won't cut the lanolin out of a fresh fleece, and much under 130f won't cut the lanolin out of an old dried fleece.
I have no trouble with accidental fulling or felting unless I forget to turn off the washer. The first time it happened I caught it just as it started dumping cold rinsewater onto a $30/lb fleece and I managed to save most of the wool. The second time I poked in the wool and left the house, only to return and find a nice wreath base in the washer - not only did I forget to turn off the washer, I had the washer set for a SECOND RINSE, and with heavy agitation to boot.
One can shock a sweate scouring it in hot water and then dumping it into a cold rinse. The rinse should be at least as warm, if not moreso, than the wash.
Jm2c
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Let me tell you!... wool will felt with no water, heat, or agitatoin.....I have a bag of very nice lincoln roving, good quality as well. I needed some roving to try to spinning wheels we have cleaned and fixed. They are Indian head bulky type spinning wheels. With very large bobbins and flyers. Otto got them finally all working again and we found that when you take the break off, the drag of the flyer is enough to create take up. In order to try this wheel I needed something heavier. Foun the Lincoln roving and man oh man is it matted and felted. No water, no heat no agitation.....
I agree with Wooly (again...LOL) Heat alone, will not felt your wool. Agitation is the activator, or sudden changes of temperature. Washing the sweater is a good idea. When you use a bit of your favorite shampoo, that may work as well. Treat your sweater gently, and it will be find. Roll in a large towel to get all the water out and dry flat.
I would Recomend a Nice and soft HAIR Shampoo , NO Detergent ,, make a luke warm bowl , soak in till water is cold ,,,, soak again in clean water , than hand agitate softly in cold water , let lay in sink till water stoped leaking out Roll up in towel lay on flat surface for a day ,,,, if not dry by next day roll inside out ,,, than let dry in cool non sunny well aired place . mirjam
On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 05:42:59 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@actcom.co.il (Mirjam Bruck-Cohen) spewed forth :
Hi Mirjam. I don't know what sorts of products are available in your area, but here in the US most everything used for "cleaning" is a detergent, specifically Sodium Laurel Sulfate. Its cheap, it can be packaged in any number of ways, doped with fragrance and color, served as a semi-liquid, a liquid, a solid.
Toothpaste Shampoo Dish liquid Laundry liquid Shower gel
The list is endless.
Most of my contemporaries don't know what "ring-around-the-tub" is thanks to detergent but I bet you do - and that's a soapy problem! :D
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Don't know if anyone has suggested this Diane, but maybe you could get some of those tissues designed to go in the tumble dryer to make your clothes smell nice and feel soft, if they do them where you come from of course, our Asda do them, and I know US'ers have Walmart which is the same company...
Just fold into the garment, a couple of the tissues and leave in the warm overnight, the smell may then over rule the other smell..
such a nuisance isn't it I had this with some cotton material I bought once, it smelled like fish..lol
I know a trick for removing odours from textiles. Seal the sweater in a plastic bag, such as a large ziplock bag, with some activated charcoal. I use a pair of odour eaters, since they contain activated charcoal! If you leave it for at least 24 hours, or a few days if it's a really strong odour, that often does the trick. I learned it from quilting friends who buy fabric from ebay, which sometimes arrives smelling of cigarette smoke or pets.
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