How to Wash Winter Woollies

Te Ao Hou, Autumn 1953, Page 50

How to Wash Winter Woollies Winter woollies have the most wonderful way of looking so fresh and feeling so soft when we buy them. But in a very little while, unless we take great care, they are hard and matted and uncomfortable. If you knit the baby's litle jackets and the children's sweaters it is so disappointing when they shrink and lose their colour after just a few wash-days. Here are some DO's and DON'T's for washing socks and sweaters and cardigans so that they will last as long as possible. DO use soap flakes, in soft lukewarm water, and work up a good lather before you begin. DO wash each woollen garment separately, beginning with the pale colours and ending up with the darker colours that are inclined to run. DO squeeze them very gently in the suds without lifting them out of the water. Wool stretches so easily with the weight of the water and this helps to pull a good cardigan out of shape. DO rinse the soap out thoroughly in lukewarm water. DO roll each sweater or baby jacket in a towel to get rid of as much water as possible. DO lay all woollens out flat to dry. Put them out in the sun on the grass if the weather is good enough. When there is a very bad spell of weather try drying them between sheets of newspaper in front of the fire, when everyone has gone to bed. DO use a very cool iron if they seem to need pressing, and use it on the wrong side. DON'T boil them, DON'T soak them, DON'T rub them and DON'T twist them.