Once upon a time, there was time, for gathering and connecting, by the river, washing ourselves and our clothing. We still have the river at Knitfield, but our busy days see little enough of it, let alone to gather there and wash our beautiful knitwear.
The Deele river, in Gaeilge 'an Daoil ' or in old local stories 'Burndale'
When things go wrong.....
Edward not happy and sweater most sad, Emma is in trouble!
Facing our fear, which looks like this, shrunken wool and totally unnecessary unless desired.
What went wrong? temperature and powder, TOO much of both.
Almost all of the beautiful 100% merino wool here at Knitfield, spun in Donegal and knit for the Edel MacBride brand is washed inhouse before sold !
Washing adds to the beautiful soft 'handle' and in the case of merinos which are still in 'oil', is necessary to finish the wool correctly, setting its loftiness and fullness.
We machine wash it!
Green merino hand knitted Aran hooded sweater line drying at Knitfield.
Good country air is good for sweaters too. Better without too much sun and particularly if your woollens are white or natural, beware of sun streaking or 'yellowing'. Yes sun is not so kind, but a dull and breezy day or even an Irish misty one and your wool will dry sweetly.
It seems in wise times a good trick was to dry things on the hedge itself. We'd love to hear any of your stories or memories of that?
Veronica poncho by Edel MacBride (also available as a Knitfield kit with pattern, yarn and buttons).
While we don't wash all of our woollen products, it is fun to compare the results.
These high quality hand knits were machine washed in the wool cycle (30 degrees).
Loving an experiment we are open to using the following and all with positive results: Woolite, fabric softener on its own or Wool Wash from Kerry Woollen Mills (our latest experiment). One common denominator, regardless of the solvent, we use all of them sparingly. Approximately an egg cup at most and maybe a little more if using a fabric softener alone.
Cashmere hat for Eilish Kate with merino rose in crochet.
Some things are so precious or small, like Knitfield's new grand daughter born five weeks early and
her preemie wardrobe. Wool machine cycle for her first beret here in cashmere made by nana Edel ? Perhaps not !
Small things for small folks or those diligently, lovingly, hand knit socks are best uncycled!
The sink (basin) is good too and here we used Johnston's hair shampoo, the blue one.
This polamide yarn used in our 'Rosa' cardigan style machine washes very well but can also be hand washed. Rinse well, squeeze dry and roll in a light or similarly coloured towel to remove moisture. Then dry near heat. We never use tumble dryers for wools with the occasional exception of cotton.
Hanging out to dry.
Whether hand crochet or handknit a breath of air does woollens good,
just mind that sunshine!
Even our famous wool bow ties got pegged up in a Donegal sky
Or old style on the fir tree
The shocker!
We debated to tell or not to tell... once washed, rinced and excess moisture is thoroughly removed, heat is fine, even radiator heat. These beautiful hand knit scarves were wool machine washed in a small amount of woolite and dried on warm radiators with beautiful 'handle' results. The same yarn as Edwards orange merino sweater, washed in water at a lower temperature and we suspect with less detergent.
We have had those moments of truth, precious things boiled by accident and the debate of whether it will now make a nice bag. Unrecognisable to it's previous owner perhaps? When something gets ruined why is it that it was always someone's 'favourite thing'. So we recommend checking that dial once, twice and three times.
It cannot be undone!
This is a beginning to one of our favourite subjects, we will be back with our secrets of washing wool at Knitfield
(c) edelmacbride1987-2014
Thanks to Edward and Emma for the real life story and the spontaneous photography on what was a tough day for their relationship we can only surmise. Emma is Edel's daughter and Aunt to Eilish Kate who at four weeks old is already showing a preference for Donegal wool,.
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