Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Lanolizing Your Wool

Lanolizing your wool soakers doesn’t need to be a dreaded task, actually it’s pretty easy and takes just minutes.

There are various tutorials on line to do this but, I’m going to share what I do.

Start with a clean garment after washing with a gentle shampoo. A clear shampoo you would use on your baby or your own body. Do not use commercial wool products such as “Woolite”.

Place your clean soakers (inside out) in a bowl of warm water becoming totally saturated

Lanolin,.

While these are soaking, heat a cup of water. I place mug of water in the microwave about half full

(& yes, I have one specific mug I use just for this…believe me when I tell you it is not a good thing if you grab this mug and pour your morning coffee in it)

To your warm water, add a small bit of lanolin…about the same amount as 1-2 peas. Lanolin,  004Add a small bit of that same soap you washed the soakers with to the cup and stir. You only need a small dot of soap not a “squirt”Lanolin, Vivienne Waldorf Longies 005The water should be pretty warm & the lanolin will melt, mix with the soap and the water will become a milky white. Lanolin, Vivienne Waldorf Longies 006

Lift your garment gently out of the water, pour the lanolin mix in the bowl & stir it in.

Lanolin, Vivienne Waldorf Longies 007 Gently place your garment in the bowl and let it soak for at least 10-15 minutes. I wait about 5 minutes and flip the garment over to ensure good lanolin coverage.

If you get side tracked and forget they are soaking, don’t worry about it! I’ve left them soaking overnight and it’s not a problem.Lanolin, Vivienne Waldorf Longies 008

After they have soaked & you are ready to remove them from the water, have a bath towel handy on the counter. Lift your soakers out of the water and gently squeeze the excess water out. Do not twist or wring! Gently turn your garment right side out and lay out on the towel. Now roll it up in the towel and apply pressure to remove the moisture. I place the roll on the floor and stand on it for a minute or 2.

Unroll and lay flat to dry reshaping as needed.

A few reminders…

At no time will you twist or wring your wet garment! That will cause felting!

Often a new garment will often bleed a bit of dye the first few times you launder them. Do not mix these garments with others when lanolizing as it will bleed & discolor other garments.

I have 2-3 older towels I use for lanolizing. If you have a bit of dye bleed you don’t want to ruin a good towel. You can toss these towels in the laundry with your other towels it won’t hurt a bit.

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