Tips

How to wash cashmere and wool sweaters

 

I have ruined too many great sweaters in the past. After a particularly painful loss, I finally learned my lesson. Wool and cashmere are protein fibers and as such are very temperature-sensitive. They are also more susceptible to stretching when wet, so they need to be handled very gently during washing. I learned a great way to wash my wool and cashmere sweaters from Martha Stewart's website. click here

 

However, I have tweaked the protocol to make things a little easier. I fill a large plastic jug with tepid water and about 2 table spoons of baby shampoo. I usually wait until I have a couple sweaters that need to be washed and do them all together to save time. I immerse the sweater in jug and give it a few squeezes so it really soaks up the soapy water. Then I gently transfer them to my washing machine and wash on the "hand wash/wool" cycle (I have the LG Large Front Load Steam Washer, Energy Star which I <3 <3 <3). Then I dry the sweater on the "air dry" cycle in the dryer folded on the rack attachment that came with it (also LG). It takes a lot longer to dry on "air dry", but I have never again had a shrunken or deformed sweater.