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Rescue an itchy wool sweater

 
Pearl Sutton
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I have a very pretty purple wool sweater. It itches.
It feels like I used lanolin on it already.
What can I do to it?
I have around the house lanolin, vinegar, two kinds of fabric softener (one that's really good for dyeing, one grocery store type) glycerin, coconut oil, I don't know what else to list, I tend to have lots of oily and acidic things.

What can be done for this? It's really pretty.

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I'm going to assume there's no indication on the tag? Unfortunately, some sheep breeds aren't really suitable for next-to- the-skin wear, and it can be difficult to know what you have, if there's no tag - sometimes even if there is a tag, the breed isn't listed, unless it's a selling point, like merino, Icelandic, Angora, or other critters, like cashmere or mohair (goat fibers), alpaca, camel, Llama, yak (oddly, one of the softest, most luxurious fibers I've had the joy to touch!), etc.

You can try a 50/50 vinegar/water soak, for a while, checking it every few hours, for color and texture. I'd not do more than overnight, without checking, in case the vinegar eats too much of it. The lanolin you said is already in it should help protect it from excessive damage, from the vinegar.

Sometimes, hair conditioner will help more than fabric softener, for something like that, and I'd probably start with the vinegar/ water, rinse well, then go to the conditioner. Obviously, no guarantees... Good luck!

"The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin
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Pearl Sutton
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Tag says wool. Tag should probably have said "Hey, Thrift Store, don't throw this in hot water with soap"

:D

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May Lotito
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If none of those treatments help, maybe you can add knit lining to it. I have itchy wool sweater knit fabric and I underline with tissue weight knit to avoid skin contact.

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Pearl Sutton
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I tried it on today with a polyester turtleneck under it and it still itched. I have worn it once since I got it, with a silk shirt under it, and it drove me crazy. It got tossed in a box, I saw it today and said "ooh! purple wool!" Tried it on "Oh ow..."

I'm not allergic to wool, and this isn't an allergic reaction, it's just plain sharp fibers poking me.

I'll try the vinegar and conditioner bit tomorrow. Seems like there oughta be a way to make it not bite.

Gardens in my mind never need water
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Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!

 
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Some wool sweaters are better suited as potscrubbers.

Way back I had a woolie that I wore daily for work (had to, no synthetics allowed for safety). For the first while it drove me nuts, but it mellowed out somewhat with exposure to my sweat and natural oils.

I wonder about turning it inside out and tossing it in a cold dryer (air fluff setting) with a bunch of shoes for an hour to sort of felt it.
 
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I have a weird wool sweater: some days I can wear it directly on my skin, and other days I can have a thick blouse under and it still itches.

Maybe if you only wear it on really cold days, the itching can actually make you warmer. By being annoying, but still ;)

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Douglas Alpenstock
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Flora Eerschay wrote:Maybe if you only wear it on really cold days, the itching can actually make you warmer. By being annoying, but still ;)


LOL, like the cayenne pepper trick!
 
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Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Some wool sweaters are better suited as potscrubbers.



Sounds like the wool blankets in the military.  They started my life-long hatred of all things wool.  I can't even look at sweaters without itching.  It matters not the slightest what they are made of.  Looking at sweaters makes me itch.  I may as well wrap myself in a nice soothing layer of pink fiberglass insulation.

Darn Tough socks are the only thing that has finally broken through the wool-hatred to a degree.  I love them, complete with merino wool.  I don't think I'll ever put a sweater on though.  There aren't enough years left in my life to get me there.

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Flora Eerschay wrote:I have a weird wool sweater: some days I can wear it directly on my skin, and other days I can have a thick blouse under and it still itches.


I had a "rustic" wool sweater like that in college. Warm as hell, and it saved me in the winter, but I ended up finally returning it because I could never be sure of whether I could wear it or not (*raises glass to the J Peterman company and the no-rules money back guarantee policy that probably bankrupted them).
 
Wendy Cohoon
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Make a beautiful Purple Wool Purse, out of it. I'd throw it in the washing machine and shrink/felt it first.
 
Pearl Sutton
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I ended up using hair conditioner on it yesterday. It worked!
When it got wet, I could definitely feel the lanolin I had put on it before.
I used the cheap commercial chamomile hair conditioner I use, because I know I'm not allergic to it.
After it had soaked in it for a bit, I decided it wanted a bit more and added some.
I haven't put the sweater on yet, it felt dry this morning, is still on the drying rack, but it felt lovely!
Thank you all!
:D

Gardens in my mind never need water
Castles in the air never have a wet basement
Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
Bright sparks remind others that they too can dance
What I am looking for is looking for me too!

 
May Lotito
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Nice tip! I am going to try that on an itchy rabbit hair sweater. If it's not lanolin, then what's causing the itching?

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
Carla Burke
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May Lotito wrote:Nice tip! I am going to try that on an itchy rabbit hair sweater. If it's not lanolin, then what's causing the itching?



May, are you possibly allergic to the rabbit? Many people are, so it's not an uncommon bit of sadness.

"The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato

 
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
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I often read the advice to put an itchy wool sweater in the freezer. It's said the itchy hairs are softened then. I never tried.

I know there are many different sheep breeds. Some of which have 'kemp' in their wool. That kemp is the itchy stuff.

"Also, just as you want men to do to you, do the same way to them" (Luke 6:31)

 
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Hey I may be late on this, but I do think I have the easiest possible suggestion to fix this... don't wash it!

I went to a military collage where civil war wool was the required uniform - the first week or two it sucked, and the wool pants rubbed out all the hair on the side of your legs. But after that they get a nice coating of ... well body grease and become not only warmer because of that, but also lose all the itch.

The fact is that is how they used to wear them in the time of the civil war. That was part of the appeal of wool - both both animals and people. Natural body oils get infused into the fibers and turn it into a warmer, more water-wicking, and softer material. We would still "old corps press" them by putting them between our mattress and the body plank you slept on so they looked creased and new. But everyone knew after your first year not to wash them. They really don't smell until 2-3 months too. So you can get away with it for most the winter.

Hope this helps!

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L Anderson
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It’s possible that the extreme itchiness is coming mainly from the ends of the fibers poking out of the yarn this way and that. The only idea I have other than what you have already done is to try to shave the inside of the sweater, focusing on the most bothersome areas.

I used to have a doohickey that I bought from Knitpicks years ago. Visualize a men’s electric shaver but with bigger parts (no one would want to use this on their skin!). It is designed to remove pills, and does so by cutting them off rather than pulling them off. So it wouldn’t be a go to tool for your nice cashmere,  but it might be the ticket for smoothing out the inside of the sweater on the theory that smoother might be more comfortable. It won’t make holes in your sweater (I used it on many sweaters, both hand knit and factory made).

They do still carry it. There are probably others I don’t know about, but here’s the link to the one I do know about:

https://www.knitpicks.com/lint-shaver/p/80635
 
Giselle Feuillet
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I twnd to buy my wool/cashmere/blend sweaters secondhand, so giber info can be iffy. I only hand wash them (lesson learned the hard way!) with moisturizing shampoo, then add conditioner to the final rinse. It softens everything but the coarsest fibers.
 
Donna Lynn
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When I was young, I got a beautiful deep blue cashmere sweater from my boyfriend's parents one Christmas.  I am allergic to wool.  Any wool, even if it feels wonderfully smooth to the touch.  I loved the color and texture so much though, that I wore it with a somewhat heavy cotton turtleneck under it and that kept the itch away.  Eventually I had to wash it even tho I never wore it next to my skin.  Being young and inexperienced with wool, I tossed it into the washer and dryer with all the other laundry... and out came a baby sweater, LOL!  

My thought was to felt your itchy sweater and make slippers out of it that you could wear over thick socks in cold weather.   The purse idea someone suggested is good too.

Sounds like the hair conditioner worked, hope that lasts... be interesting to hear back how long it stays itch-free!

The sweater shaver idea might help reduce the fibers poking out - I've used one of those too to remove pills from sweaters.  If you're careful and don't press hard, your sweater won't be harmed.
 
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