A reader asked how I wash, or how I soak, my knitted items. Good question! I’m no expert but treating my handmade knitted items with respect and care matters to me.
There are products like Soak and Eucalon, and probably others, that are available. I’ve used them both and they work fine. They aren’t convenient for me to purchase. For the most part, they have to be ordered from a yarn shop (and you know how I rarely place orders with yarn shops!) 🙂
I have not done any scientific research, nor am I qualified to do scientific research but I do have some thoughts I can share with you and then I would encourage you to do your own research.
The ingredients list for Soak wash can be found here. The ingredients for Eucalon no rinse wash can be found here. I believe Soak is also a no rinse product. The ingredients for Dr. Bronner’s Castille soap can be found here.
Above is a screen capture of the three items I would consider for washing my knitted items. You can see you get about twice as much Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap for the same price.
I’ve become a huge fan of Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap for just about everything that involves soap and I would love to use it on my knitted items, but, does pH matter in the detergent I use on my knitted items? I believe it does. Both Soak and Eucalon are advertised as pH neutral. Dr. Bronner’s soaps, for the most part, have a pH of 8.9.
In this article at Fiberarts, their advice is to use a soap that has a pH of 7 – 9 so, Dr. Bonner’s, though at the upper end of acceptable for woolens, should be ok. I am comfortable using Dr. Bonner’s for wool.
Silk is another story. I will only use Soak or Eucalon for anything that contains silk. Maybe I’m overly cautious but I so rarely wash my shawls. My cardigans get washed a bit more but not often, mostly because I have more cardigans than we have cold days!
One thing that I think does matter is that we avoid using a laundry detergent that contains protease, which is great for removing protein stains but wool and silk are protein based yarns and the protease could break down, or start to break down the protein based fibers.
The items that I wash the most are my socks but, I have so many pairs of socks that I don’t even have to wash those very often. I have a little trash can by the shower and I stick my socks in there. When it gets full, about 15 pairs, I toss them in the bath tub, add a little soap and water, wash them all at once, lay them out to dry and . . that doesn’t take long at all.
Do your own research please. The only reason not to use Soak or Eucalon would be the cost and after you figure the cost of the yarn and our time, I don’t think 25 to 30 cents is a lot to spend for laundering our lovely wool items.
Melody A. says
Thank you, this was really informative. I have a few hand knitted items my daughter made for me and a beautiful handwoven scarf that all need to be washed and what should I use, so it is fortuitous that you wrote about that very subject. Take care from Iowa
Sandie says
Totally agree Judy- when you consider the time and effort that go into the creation of a knit item, not to mention the cost of materials, it’s foolish to fuss over pennies when it comes to their care. (I mean really – a hand knit pair of socks is easily $20/$30 in materials most times. How many of us would pay that retail for socks? And not care for them properly?)
sharkiecat says
You’ll probably laugh, but I like to use baby shampoo. It cleans well and rinses out easily, no heavy perfumes either.
Anne says
What about Woolite? It’s supposed to be for delicate items like wool, silk and such.
Deb says
I love Soak wash – I do anything I’m not going to throw in the dryer with Soak, because I love the smell. I also use Soak Flatter (I think that’s what it’s called) — when I’m ironing my fabrics – especially quilting. Every now and again I’ll iron my husbands dress shirts….so he’ll smell good too 🙂 I’ve found it on Craftsy sometimes much cheaper than retail.
Frieda Z says
I have always used Eucalan. It does a really nice job. I would be willing to try the Dr. Bronner’s. I use the castile soap to make refill my bottles of foam wash(for hands). It works really well so next time I think I will try it for washing my knits.