
Woolen Knitwear
Care guide
The best way to provide tender loving care for your woolen knitwear piece to preserve the original look for as long as possible
How do you wash a handmade knitwear
If you have a favorite woolen knitwear piece that you wear day after day in the fall and winter, you'll eventually want to wash it.
While woolen knits is naturally odor and moisture resistant, meaning that you won't need to wash it very often, you may want to give it a good cleaning at the end of the winter season before storing it, to wear again the following year.
Because wool or wool blends are delicate fiber, special wash and care is required to keep it in it's best possible shape.
Here are washing instructions step by step:
Spot cleaning
For most normal stains, make up a liquid with organic wool detergent and white vinegar (roughly half / half) mixed with cold water. Soak a clean cloth in the liquid and gently dab the stain on the hat, being careful not to rub too hard. This removes most of the stains from daily wear.

Hand washing
Hand washing is the best way to care for a knit woolen item. This is the most gentle method possible and will insure that the delicate yarn is not harmed in the process.
Step 1: Fill the sink or a wash basin with cold water (60F or 15C).
Step 2: Add a few drops of wool detergent. You'll want to use a specialized detergent for wool instead of the regular stuff you use for your regular laundry, as most detergents are too harsh for the natural fibers - just imagine washing your hair with Tide detergent and you'll understand why. Wool is made of the same keratin proteins as our own hair, and so you don't want to use any old harsh cleaner on it.
Step 3: Add your knitwear piece and let it soak in the water. Then, gently swirl it in the water for 2 - 5 minutes.
Step 4: Drain the soapy water out of the sink and re-fill it with clean cold water.
Step 5: Rinse your item well and let gravity due its job and wait for the excess water to run off the hat until it feels damp. You can give it a gentle squeeze to let the water escape from the fibers faster. Be careful not to wring your knit piece as the wool fibers are delicate when wet.
Step 6: Place the knitwear on a towel and gently roll, squeezing out the water.
Step 7: Lay flat to dry in the shade in a well ventilated space. You can put a fan on the garment to speed the drying process. Within 12-24 hours, your wool hat should be completely dry and ready to enjoy again!
Machine washing
In rare cases, machine washing is acceptable but NOT recommended as it may ruin your knitwear piece completely and potentially shrink, if not done appropriately.
The machine washing method is only applicable if you have a machine that can run on a gentle knit cycle specifically. It's best to wash your knits separately from other items so that they aren't thrown around rough and tumble in the wash cycle.
Step 1: Put the machine on the gentle setting on COLD (60F or 15C)
Step 2: Add a wool detergent or shampoo
Step 3: Follow steps 6-7 above for drying. It's important not to put your wool beanie hat in the dryer as this will cause felting and extreme shrinkage.
Fabric Shaver
If you may have noticed, over time all knitwear pieces tend to wither lint or pill. The best and easiest way to get rid of it and make your garment look like new again is to use fabric shaver.
Fabric shavers can be used on a variety of fabrics, including wool, cotton, and synthetic materials. They are gentle on fabric and can quickly remove pilling.
Lay your knitwear piece on a flat surfice. Using light pressure, move the fabric shaver in a circular motion over the pilled areas of the hat. You should hear a cutting sound when the fabric shaver removes a pill.
Additionally:
Don't hang. Don't iron. Don't Bleach.
And finally, keep your knit accessories away from the rough or sharp surfaces as it may result a tear or snag that would be impossible to fix.
Warm wishes, Avaneska Knitwear