Agh why does wool always shrink

[SaveMyGrass]

I seem to have such bad luck with woolen sweaters. I treated myself to a new chunky knit during lockdown. Have been wearing it endlessly so when I put it on today noticed it was smelling a bit.

I have washed it very gently in cold water with a small amount of detergent, have rinsed it under the tap and then blotted it dry with a towel but it has that tight feeling where it is looking like all the fibres have shrunk together.

Have I shrunk it, can I do anything now or is it too late?

Dod you use a detergent for wool?

No but I only used a really tiny bit of non bio, is this what will have done it?

You need to hand wash it with a wool detergent

With wool you need to be really careful not to agitate it when you wash it. If it is still wet then you should be able to reshape it while it dries.

Don't know but you might find that the packaging for your non bio says not to use on wool

I now only wash woollens in Wool-ite (pink liquid) on 30 degrees, low spin, having shrunk things in the past.

@WellTidy same! No more problems

I was just about to start a thread on washing woollens in Housekeeping. I’m such a disaster with them

Felting (i.e. shrinking) can be done two ways - heat and agitation. Some detergents provide more agitation than others. I usually wash my woolens in the machine on a cold wash, with wool detergent and have had very few accidents. If you are hand washing, DO NOT rub it together in any way, just soak it, press the water out between two towels (I do it in the bath), re-shape whilst wet and lay flat to dry.

You may be able to save your sweater by putting it in a cold soak with wool wash (or some fabric or hair conditioner) and reshaping.

OK it is the agitation that has done it then, i was doing it the way I normally do hand washing so squeezing it. I will know to just let it soak next time with a wool detergent. I think it might be ok. I have been gently reshaping it and it is definitely coming back to shape a bit. If it has shrunk it isn't as totally disastrous as I thought it was at first.

Isn't there a trick with soaking it in conditioner to be able to re-size woollens?

Google how to unshrink a woollen jumper 👍🏼👍🏼

PPs are right - cool water, wool detergent, no agitation. No soaking; that also shrinks. Washing machines with specialist wool programmes are often pretty good.

This is terribly nerdy, so my apologies:
To handwash, lay the jumper as flat as possible in a washbasin or sink full of cool water/detergent solution and pat it gently several times with the flat of your hands. Repeat if the jumper is very dirty.

Keep the jumper as flat as possible while you refill the sink with cool water to rinse (several times). A wet jumper can be stretched in one direction and shrunk in the other direction by the weight of water, if it's held up by the shoulders or the hem. Wool is sensitive to changes in temperature, so washing water and rinsing water should be at the same temp.

When the rinse is completed, press out as much water with the flat of your hands while the jumper is still in the sink. You can leave it to drain for a while if liked. Then gather it up - supporting all its weight - and lay it flat on a towel. Then roll up the towel gently and loosely to absorb as much water as possible. Repeat if necessary with another dry towel.

Ideally, dry the jumper flat, out of bright sunlight and away from direct heat. Too much dry heat can shrink damp wool.

What are peoples thoughts on hand vs machine washing? I’ve been put off by washing machine shrinkage but too lazy to do my hand washing, so I’ve got an absolutely massive pile of dirty woollens.

My machine has a wool wash/hand wash setting so I'd use that

My machine has a wool setting - I use that with "wool-ite", then don't spin and just leave the jumpers to drip dry over the bath with a dehumidifier on.

Never had an issue with shrinkage.

Thanks both. Mine does too but it has led to shrinkage. I think the key might be using Woolite in the machine

You can reblock a wooden garment. Soak on cold water for 10 mins. Squeeze out worst of water ( don't wrong) then use towel rolling garment inside it like a Swiss roll to remove water then lie flat pinning or using blocking wires to original size and shape and leave to air dry.

A woollen garment - damn autocorrect.