There is a reason Cowichan sweaters knitted in the 1970s still turn up in wearable condition, while a machine-knit sweater bought last winter is already misshapen. Real wool, knitted by hand, is built to last decades. The catch is that almost all the damage happens in a single afternoon — usually in a washing machine.
Here is everything, in the order it matters.
1. Wash it far less than you think
This is the most important rule and the one people find hardest to believe. Wool is naturally antibacterial and self-cleaning to a remarkable degree. A heavy hand-knit cardigan worn over other clothes needs washing perhaps once or twice a season — not after every few wears.
Between wears, hang it outside for a few hours, or simply in a room with the window open. Odour and light creasing disappear on their own. Every wash is wear; skipping unnecessary ones is the single best thing you can do for the garment.
2. When you do wash it, do it by hand
Not the wool cycle. Not the delicate cycle. By hand.
Machine agitation is what causes felting — the fibres lock together permanently, the garment shrinks, and the surface goes hard and flat. It cannot be reversed. A “wool setting” is gentler than a normal cycle, but with a bulky hand-knit the risk is not worth it.
The method:
- Fill a basin or bath with lukewarm water — roughly body temperature. Not hot. Sudden temperature changes are what shock the fibres.
- Add a small amount of wool detergent, or a plain baby shampoo. Avoid anything with enzymes or bleach; enzymes are designed to break down protein, and wool is protein.
- Submerge the sweater and leave it. Ten to fifteen minutes. Press it gently under the water once or twice. Do not rub, wring, twist or scrub.
- Drain, refill with water of the same temperature, and press gently to rinse. Repeat until the water runs clear.
3. Getting the water out
A wet chunky cardigan holds an astonishing amount of water, and its own weight is what stretches it out of shape. Never lift it by the shoulders while it is soaked.
Instead: press the water out gently while the garment is still supported in the basin. Then lay it flat on a large dry towel, roll the towel up with the sweater inside like a swiss roll, and press down along its length. The towel takes most of the water. Repeat with a second dry towel if the first is soaked through.
4. Dry it flat, always
Lay it flat on a dry towel or a mesh rack, away from direct sun and away from radiators. Gently push it back into its proper shape while it is damp — this is your chance to correct the sleeves and the collar, and wool holds whatever shape it dries in.
Never hang a wet wool sweater. A heavy hand-knit hung wet will stretch several centimetres and stay that way. Never tumble dry it either.
A bulky cardigan takes a day or two to dry fully. Turn it over once during that time so the underside airs.
5. Pilling is normal — and fixable
Small bobbles appear where the garment rubs against itself: under the arms, at the sides, along the cuffs. This is not a fault, and it is not a sign of poor wool. It happens most in the first weeks and then slows down considerably.
Remove them with a sweater comb or a cheap fabric shaver, working in one direction on a flat surface. Do not pull them off by hand — that drags the fibre and can open a small hole.
6. Storing it for summer
- Fold, never hang. Coat hangers create shoulder bumps and, on heavy knits, permanent stretching. Fold it and store it flat.
- Store it clean. Moths are not attracted to wool itself so much as to sweat, skin and food traces on it. A washed sweater is a far less appealing target.
- Use cedar or lavender, not naphthalene. Both work, neither leaves that chemical smell in the fibres.
- Let it breathe. A cotton bag or a box, not sealed plastic. Trapped moisture causes mildew.
7. Spills and stains
Deal with them immediately and locally. Blot — do not rub — with a clean damp cloth, working from the outside of the stain inwards so you do not spread it. For most things, cool water and a little wool detergent on the spot is enough. Washing the entire garment because of one small mark is almost never necessary.
The short version
Wash rarely, by hand, in lukewarm water. Never wring it. Never hang it wet. Dry it flat, back in its own shape. Fold it away clean.
Do that, and a hand-knit wool cardigan is not a seasonal purchase — it is a garment that gets handed down. Ours are knitted by hand by women in a mountain village in Türkiye, one knitter per garment, and they are made on the assumption that you will still own them in twenty years.
New to this kind of knitwear? Start with what a Cowichan-style cardigan actually is.