As part of my ongoing effort to streamline my life, I've begun investing in (paying more for) high quality, classic clothing that will look nicer and last longer, reducing my cost-per-wear ratio. This attempt at functional adulthood means more careful upkeep to maintain my investment (splurge), and, for cashmere, that means hand washing. Here's what I do.
• Fill the sink basin with tepid water. Cold water won't clean as well and you should never use hot water on wool or you risk major shrinkage. Room temperature water is perfect.
• Swish in a small amount of gentle soap. You can find plenty of special cashmere washes, but I find natural, unscented detergent works just fine - or baby shampoo is another classic. Measure out the amount you think you need and then use half. More soap doesn't equal a cleaner sweater, and soap residue will actually attract dirt so be sparing.
• Turn your sweater inside out and submerge it, gently squeezing the soapy water through the knit. If you're washing it for the first time, don't freak out if some color is released into the water. It'll still look fine when it dries. Drain the water.
• Fill the sink again with clear water and rinse. Repeat this. Then carefully squeeze the sweater against the side of the sink until it's no longer soaking wet.
• Grab your salad spinner (making sure it's clean) and coil the sweater evenly around the basket. Give it a whirl! It's the hand-washing equivalent of the spin cycle. Never wring the water out. The fibers are most delicate when they're wet, so be more careful than you think you need to be.
• Lay the sweater flat on a clean towel and roll it up like a sausage to get the last bits of water out. Then lay it on another towel or a drying rack if you have one. I've been known to borrow from the kitchen again and use a cookie cooling rack. Block it by smoothing and shaping it, because the way it dries is the way it will stay until the next wash.
Have any tips to add for hand washing? Let us know in the comments below...
(Image: Jennifer Hunter)
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I have used the delicate cycle in the machine with Woolite for years with my cashmiracles. Drying method similar to post.
I regularly use Soak (www.soakwash.com) and Eucalan (www.eucalan.com) for hand washing. No rinsing required! Soak smells better, Eucalan is cheaper, both are huge timesavers and leave my sweaters, lingerie, delicate blouses, fragile vintage pieces, hosiery, and heirloom textiles clean, fresh, and soft.
Easier hand washing means I actually wash and wear these items more and I'm not deterred from buying things I love because of maintenance commitments.
I've never tried the salad spinner. I gently roll things in a towel and press it to squeeze out excess moisture. Sweaters get dried flat on a mesh drying rack.
I use my homemade soap (washing soda, borax and ivory bar soap) and throw them in the gentle cycle of my front loader using cold water, then lay flat to dry. Works every time. Sweaters are clean and don't shrink. I also wash linen and silk the same way. Remember, these are all natural fibers that people used to wash by banging them on a rock!
I'm a huge fan of Eucalan (I'm sensitive to a lot of fragrances, and theirs are from essential oils), which you don't have to rinse.
If you have trouble with dye running, a bit of vinegar in the wash will usually take care of it.
To get the worst of the water out of things I've hand washed, I put them in the washing machine and run only the spin cycle.
I have hand washed cashmere sweaters with Woolite in the kitchen sink and I have also washed them with the gentle cycle with Woolite in the washing machine. Either way they turn out great. I lay them flat to dry on an electric drying rack which cuts down on the drying time but doesn't damage the fabric.
I utilize my washing machine's delicate cycle to clean my cashmere. The secret is cold water from start to finish. Then either air dry or put in the dryer on air only.
For my hand wash only wool sweaters, I use Eucalan and a conventional top loader washing machine for soaking. I just fill it with enough tepid water (our warm setting comes out tepid) to cover the sweaters (I do three or four) and squeeze the water through. I turn the machine off and let them soak for 30 minutes. Then I turn it directly to the gentle spin cycle (no agitation). This has worked for cashmere as well as more sturdy wool sweaters. I haven't had any damage from the machine spin. I do this because when it comes to hand washing I will avoid it for months and months and this is easier for me...
I put one sweater each in a pillowcase, tie it up and wash it in the delicate cycle, cold water, normal Tide Free detergent, and then lay flat to dry.
I do the same thing as Livaca, only I don't turn off the machine I just leave the lid open. Then I switch it to spin and let it roll. As a knitter I have a lot of hand wash only sweaters and that is how I handle all of them, as well as if I'm blocking sweater pieces before assembly.
Like some above, I have also been using my frontloader. My machine actually has a "handwash" cycle. I use cold water and Woolite, but want to try the Eucalan mentioned above. The blocking is important. I arrange my carefully on a drying rack outside but out of the sun. (I live in L.A.) They come out fine. I once read that handwashing is actually better for cashmere than the dry cleaning many rely on. I have one sweater that was my grandfather's from the '50s. The elbows are worn through, but the rest comes out like new.
wow, that is an involved process! wash cashmere with 1/2 cup of ivory dish soap on cold in delicate/handwash cycle. lay flat to dry. :)
Oh, good, my instincts were right. I have a couple of hand-wash pieces (a sweater from a thrift store, as well as a scarf), and my guess as to how to hand-wash was pretty close to your method. I must invest in a salad spinner, though.
Hmm, I'll have to try this. Thanks to Famous Amos for the cashmere wash recommendations.
I always dry clean my cashmere sweaters because I like how they manage to defuzz them and all the spots that get stretched out "shrink" back (like the elbows). Will I need to defuzz myself after washing and will the elbows shrink back after handwashing? Yes, I'm a ditz when it comes to laundry so please humor my dumb questions!!
Love the salad spinner tip!
As a knitter, I frequently wash cashmere (either store-bought or handmade) sweaters with mild shampoo under the faucet in my bathtub, which is generally cleaner than my kitchen sink. While laying flat to dry generally produces the best results, sometimes you can actually improve a borderline-too-short sweater by hanging it to drip dry -- this will stretch the garment out lengthwise.
Archdarling, you may need to defuzz. Try a cheap-o disposable razor, gently dry-shave the fuzz balls off. Take care not to cut the actual yarn - not a danger on most things but very fine yarns are easy to catch in the blades.
As for the elbows, they should pretty much find their way back into shape with washing. Same principle as your jeans really, they're always tighter and back in their original shape after a wash.
Not having a salad spinner, I have "drained" wet hand-wash by placing the item in a mesh fabric bag meant for washing delicates and swinging it forcefully around in my shower stall (or outside in good weather). (Obviously there is limited space, but it still works reasonably well.) Same principle, different equipment.
this post makes me nervous! i've pretty much done exactly what you recommend (except for the salad spinner- great idea!) for years... and even so, eventually (no idea how careful i am) they always get messed up. Because of this history of failure I now dry clean every couple of months and they stay perfect.
I guess although I never wrang them, i did squeeze a little bit... maybe the salad spinner is key? I'm very nervous but if you say it really doesn't ruin them...
Rolling up a wet item in a clean towel and pressing out the water is another safe method for a gentle "spin" cycle. Granted you are left with a wet towel too, but they're used to it.
Yes, Archdarling, I agree w/ Famous Amos. You must defuzz. I do it before washing. Never tried a razor, but have little combie thingie which I bought at the drug store. Fabric stores have them, too. Full confession: though I am usually very low tech, I also use a sweater shaver thing that runs on batteries - It de-pills like a dream! I am a bit fuzz obsessed.
I have been washing my cashmere pullovers and generally all my wool in my washing machine for more than twenty years without any problems (in fact I have a cashmere cardigan that is twenty years old and still going strong, with elbow patches of course..). Just make sure your washing machine has a wool program and use a wool/cashmere detergent like Woolite, half a dose..The washing machine is a much more safe method that hand washing as you have a precise control on water temperature and the amount of movement and spinning (the machine has a delicate spinning cycle just for wool that is much better on the wool fibers than wringing or spinning in a salad spinner..)
Then roll in a towel and gently press, not squeeze or wring and dry flat , with another towel underneath or put in a drying machine with a cashmere/wool program.
A friend that is a professional knitter told me that the drying machine is actually better for delicate wool than air drying, just take them out still dump and let them finish drying flat on a towel..and in fact this method really reduce pilling...
Add me to the cashmere in the washing machine crew. I put each sweater in a different mesh bag, use woolite or Mrs Murphys detergent and use the handwash cycle with cold water, set to a low level.
I dry mine in the dryer, too. My dryer has an insert that holds things flat, so I dry the sweaters one at a time on that, using low heat.
I've never had any problems doing this, no sweater damaged ever.
Great tips for washing all the wool sweaters that my MIL knits for us! Of course, I wouldn't purchase anything that would require handwashing - that's the opposite of streamlining.
How often do folks wash their cashmere? Considering my cashmere is usually layered over a t-shirt or camisole...well...don't want to gross anyone out...but I don't wash my sweaters very often....
Turn them inside out if you wash them in a washer, especially a top-loader.
I also use my washing machine on delicate with baby shampoo, a little detergent, and hair conditioner. And I use a fabric shaver for the pills (I wouldn't trust myself with a razor and my cashmere). Air dry.
The best thing to get rid of pills is a fine-toothed comb. You just run it over the sweater and it pulls off all of the pills without hurting the knit.
As a knitter, I have got my wool washing to a science. Lukewarm water and a couple of squirts of hair conditioner in the bathroom sink. (Particularly good with dollar store stuff or a conditioner you bought and don't like.) Submerge your sweater squeezing it to make sure it absorbs the water. Let it sit 10-15 minutes. Rinse with clean lukewarm water. Squeeze as much water as I can out. Lay flat on a towel and roll the towel up. Then I stand on the roll to get as much water as possible out. Reshape and wait patiently for both the sweater to dry and the wool smell to leave wherever you're drying it. Voila!
IMPORTANT: DO NOT WRING KNITS.This will make them all misshapen. Triply true if they're handknits (and if you screw up washing a handknit cashmere sweater you never get one again). Also DO NOT USE REALLY HOT OR REALLY COLD WATER. The cold will set stains and the hot will felt the wool (see above as how to not get anymore handknits), especially if you go from hot wash to cold rinse.
Oh and if you have pills you can get a sweater stone.
This is excellent advice! As the owner of Moose Mountain Trading Company in Steamboat Springs, Colorado ( www.moosemtntradingco.com ) I cannot stress how important proper sweater care is to the life a favorite sweater! Thank you! I will lead my customers to this post so they will keep their sweaters for years!
jennimoose
NEVER did anyone bang KNIT WOOLS on a rock. Perhaps done to WOVEN plant-based fabrics like cotton, linen and flax... but never KNITS, and never WOOLS (which includes cashmere). The nature of kitted fabrics does not lend themselves to harsh pulling treatments; they are engineered to stretch and have no resistance to tension. Woven fabrics have a series of linear threads running through them that resist pulling (they don't stretch).
You bang your knit wool sweater on a rock and you will get a shredded pile of wet sodden fluff quite unresembling of the original garment.