I Learned Something New This Week!!

   

This was the first week  that we had what I would consider winter weather here in California. I was waiting  to clean out my closet until I knew I would want to start wearing my winter clothes. With the onset of the rain, and cooler temps now was the time to begin the process!

The Spring/Summer items were put in storage boxes

(I only allow myself two boxes of extras clothes to be stored,) and the winter sweaters, and warmer clothing was brought out.

My uniform in the winter is cashmere pullovers with a   blouse underneath, solid, gingham, plaids and stripes are my favorites. 

I did not realize that I have quite a few cashmere sweaters that I keep stored in a cedar storage bench at the end of my bed.

 

When I bring out my winter clothes I like to freshen them up, and have them cleaned, or laundered. 

Once I counted how many cashmere sweaters that would need to go to the cleaners, I decided it is time to find an alternative method of freshening up my sweaters.

This is where the investigating took place and after reading several articles on how to clean cashmere, every single article said NOT to clean cashmere but to hand wash it , even though on every single label my sweaters say to dry clean.

Apparently the chemicals will break down the fibers in cashmere. I even watched a video done by Martha Stewart on how she recommends hand washing your delicate sweaters.

After reading all of these articles I came up with the best method for me.

First I de-pilled all of my sweaters with this……..

Yes you read that correctly …… A velcro roller for your hair. 

I can not tell you how well this worked. I was so pleased. It did take me awhile to do them all, but it was well worth my time. From what I read the shavers for sweaters are not the best thing to use on cashmere. They can, if you are not very careful,  create holes. I did not want to risk that happening.

Next I put 1/8 of a cup of this in my HE washer……

via

Don’t let the word CEDAR scare you! I don't want to smell like my cedar chest, but I found this to be a wonderful fragrance. They combined fragrances that are appealing to we humans, but not to those pesky moths…..

Our modern take on the traditional woody scent. Combining sandalwood, orange, and rose with a base of cedar, this sweet and spicy blend naturally repels moths and critters.

I found it interesting that it is called shampoo, don’t you? Once I thought about it, cashmere is hair so it is the perfect name.

I will say this, when I took out my cashmere it did have a wet hair smell, or at least it did to me, but that goes away during the drying process, and a very faint  lovely fragrance is left behind.

After adding the shampoo to the washer I filled the tub with water before putting in my sweater. I washed one color at a time on the hand wash cycle.

My machine does not have an agitator blade so it is gentle enough to do hand washing of delicate pieces.

The machine also extracts most of  the water out of the sweater so it is ready to reshape and lay on a towel to let air dry.

I have actually put the damp sweater on to get it in the right shape for my body, and that method works well for me. 

It will take a couple of days and for a couple of days my guest room looks like a laundress lives here.

After all of the years of having my sweaters cleaned, which I now find is the wrong thing to do, I am now a laundress in my own right.

I just had to share this discovery with you all, just in case you are taking your sweaters to the cleaners.

Happy Washing!!!