Last week I stopped by the Hive to browse their new fall arrivals and saw an absolutely gorgeous collection of hand-knit sweaters from Stella Pardo. They are all exquisite and made from natural materials like Suri Alpaca (knitters call that “fancy” alpaca), alpaca, and merino. It is important to properly care for these items, as they are timeless pieces that can last a lifetime if taken care of.

Here are some tips on caring for natural fibre hand knits:

Storing: Hand knits will have a crease where they are folded. They will also stretch and become misshaped if hung on a hanger. I recommend folding them flat on a table, with sleeves folded over first and then in half from the bottom up. Avoid folding them down the middle, where it may leave a crease that runs vertically through your chest area when wearing. Folding the sleeves in first will put the most extreme crease on the armhole line and then soften the crease that may occur across the middle.

Maintaining: Natural fibre sweaters will sometimes show wear and tear, especially after a few washes. We have a few hand tools that “shave” the fuzzies off the sweater while not damaging it.

The Lily Brush and Gleener work in similar ways by gently grabbing lint and fuzz from the garment and shaving it off. We even have a “to go” sized Gleener that I like to keep in my travel cosmetics bag.

Cleaning: While many of these hand knits we buy in a boutique will be labeled as “dry clean only,” no one in our fibre industry would recommend ever dry cleaning merino, wool, or alpaca. First, remember one simple rule - don’t do anything to an animal fiber garment that you wouldn’t do to your own hair. No dry cleaning, no harsh detergents, no hot dryer - that’s how you end up with either a scratchy sweater or a really bad perm. 

Instead, you want to select a product that will gently clean away dirt and excess oils without stripping the fibers completely. You could use shampoo if you wanted, but you can save yourself time (and water!) by going with a low suds, no-rinse wash. (Let me mention also that Woolite is full of harsh chemicals that are not suited for washing animal fibres, so please avoid that product for your knits). There are three wool-friendly soaps at our shop right now, two of which contain lanolin. Lanolin is the natural oil in wool that also softens and conditions the fibres. (You have probably been using it for years as a moisturizer in your beauty products). All of these washes work wonderfully for washing your pets too!

• Soak Wash: Soak is eco-friendly, biodegradable, made in Toronto, and comes in five awesome scents as well as scentless.

• Eucalan: This wash is named for eucalyptus and lanolin, ingredients in the original formula. It is non-toxic, biodegradable, and doesn’t contain phosphates, synthetic fragrance, or dye. The four scents contain essential oils – there’s a scentless option also. 

• Tuft Woolens Bar Soap:  Tuft soap is all-natural and contains lanolin. No artificial surfactants or detergents are present in this soap. You can also use this as a softening shave or body bar in the bath or shower!

And just like hair, your sweater doesn’t need to be washed all the time. Since you are usually wearing it over another garment, there is no need to wash a wool or alpaca sweater after every use. Unless my sweaters get a strong smell from food or smoke or have actual spills or dirt on them, I only wash them once a season.

Once you’ve picked out your wool wash, just fill up your sink, bathtub, or wash basin with some lukewarm to cold water, add your no-rinse wash, and gently submerge your sweater. You can wash more than one at a time but be sure they are similar in color so that one doesn’t bleed onto the other. Let the sweater soak for 15 minutes or more. When you come back, you may see some dirt or excess dye floating around in the bottom of your wash tub - that’s totally normal. Gently lift your wet garments out, press out as much water as you can (don’t wring, you’ll break fibers), and roll in a towel or put in a gentle spin cycle to get out the rest of the water. We have this nifty high absorbent towel that is designed to help dry your knits!

Once you’ve removed the excess water, lay the item flat and pat into proper shape, being sure to not stretch it too much in any one direction as it will maintain that shape. I like to throw my Dyson fan in the room where I dry my knits or spread them out on a plastic sheet on the bed under a ceiling fan. Both will get them drier faster.