How to wash wool for rug hooking

This is just an excerpt from 7/6/17. You can watch the full replay inside  The Rug Hooking Journey.

There are several other times that I talk about washing wool inside The Journey. Check out the list below the 7/6/17 lesson.

How to wash rug hooking wool:

1. Wash the wool with other items to fill up the load.
2. I like to add blue jeans.
   1. Blue jeans are heavy and help to fluff up the wool.
   2. Blue jeans do not show the lint from the wool.
   3. I get some “normal” laundry done.
3. Use laundry soap WITHOUT bleach. Bleach is used to test if a piece of wool is 100% wool — it dissolves it.

These articles mention bleach

If you are not enrolled in the course that the lesson is in, the link will not work for you.

• 004 – Washing wool for rug hooking
• Linen Rug Hooking Backing
• Don’t Miss the Last Step – Label Your Rugs
• How to Marry Rug Hooking Wool
• Dyeing Rug Hooking Wool is Messy
• Dye Methods: Marbelizing Wool

4. Wash using the full cycle. You want your jeans clean, right? but you also want to remove any residue that may be in your wool.
5. Dry the jeans in a hot dryer. No mercy. You want the blue jeans to be soft and dry. Wool dried on the line comes out just like a pair of jeans would – hard and stiff. My dryer has a moisture sensor and turns off quickly. If you are not using that feature, just dry until the wool is dry, remove the wool and then continue to dry your blue jeans.

Label your wool

I label my wool with a code number that I can use to track inventory. I recommend you create a label that tells you:

• The date — when you bought the wool
• The vendor — who did you buy the wool from, you might need more later and that is a good place to start.
• Item number — did the vendor call the wool something? For my wool it would be an inventory number or a dye name.

You could also reattach the vendor label if one was on the wool.

Get the label back on the right wool

When a vendor sends me unwashed wool samples I have to wash them to see how they change after washing. Getting the tags back on the right wool can be difficult.

I lay the wool out on a table with their labels and take a picture. If the wool is very similar I will cut notches in the wool to help to identify which wool goes with each label so I order the right one.

These articles mention wash wool

If you are not enrolled in the course that the lesson is in, the link will not work for you.

• 004 – Washing wool for rug hooking
• Rug Hooking Wool
• Dyeing wool using the season’s hottest colors using PRO Chem dyes
• How to Marry Rug Hooking Wool
• Order Half Yard Pieces of Rug Hooking Wool Textures
• A Fast Way to Dye Rug Hooking Wool
• Dyeing Basics: The Science of Dyeing Wool for Rug Hooking
• Dye Methods: Marbelizing Wool
• Rug Hooking Supplies Recommendations
• Fold Forward Finish For Hooked Rugs