Here at Ellis and Low our garments and accessories are all made using 100% wool. 🐑 To read more about the yarn we use, head over to our blog ‘Our Yarn’.
Blocking
We recommend blocking your garment on it’s first wash. Blocking means that the seams will get set in place and your stitches will even out. During this process your woolen garment will naturally fluff up so don’t worry! If anything it’ll just make your garment softer and cosier.
You will need:
- Your garment
- A bowl of lukewarm water
- A gentle/wool detergent
- A towel
- A flat surface
The process:
- Fill a bowl/sink with lukewarm water and add a dash of gentle/wool detergent.
- Submerge your garment into the water making sure not to rub it (this would lead to felting). Leave it in the water for a few minutes.
- Remove your garment from the water gently squeezing out any excess and place to one side.
- Drain the soapy water and refill the bowl/sink with just lukewarm water (no detergent).
- Submerge your garment into the water again and gently move it around in order to remove any suds whilst making sure not to rub it.
- Remove your garment from the water again, squeezing out any excess and place to one side.
- Lay your garment flat on top of a towel and begin tightly rolling and squeezing in order to dry it as much as possible.
- Unroll the towel and remove your garment. Find yourself a flat surface, this can be anything from a fresh towel to a blocking mat, and place your garment as flat as possible.
- The last step is a little tricky to explain so head over to our instagram for a visual. But finally you want to push the seams out from inside the jumper so that they lie flat – be careful not to stretch it. Your garment will now remember this shape no matter how many times you wash it so we recommend taking your time to make sure it looks exactly how you’d like.
Washing 🧼
We recommend only washing your garment when absolutely necessary as over-washing can damage the wool fibres. You can refresh your knitwear by simply leaving it to air. If you do need to give your garment a full wash then follow steps 1-8 of ‘blocking’ above and allow it to naturally air dry. NEVER tumble dry, put your knitwear on the radiator or apply heat of any kind! If you need to get rid of any stains then spot clean them using a damp cloth with a small amount of gentle/wool detergent making sure to pat and not rub. Finish off by doing the same thing but with a fresh damp cloth without detergent on it.
Neatening ✂️
To neaten up your knitwear if it starts getting bobbly, we recommend de-pilling it. You can do this with: an electric garment shaver, a knitwear comb/razor or scissors. Whichever you choose make sure to be SUPER careful as you don’t want to damage any of the stitches, you just want to remove the felted bobbles on the surface.
Storing
The best way to store your hand-knitted garment is by folding and boxing it up. We don’t recommend hanging them up as this can stretch and misshape your knit! Another little trick we recommend doing is putting some form of lavender in with your knit, such as lavender oil or dried lavender (eg. a pomander). 🌿 This will stop moths in their tracks! Moths love to eat their way through beautiful pieces of knitwear leaving them holey.
Hand-knits can last a lifetime if you know the proper way to take care of them. We hope this blog was helpful. There are plenty of other blogs and videos out there if you need any further information.
Em and Jess 💙
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