This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. I went to a talk last week when the chemist speaking referred to proteins as polymers … I was just as surprised as you! (I won’t use it). Untreated merino yarn has structure with fewer plies and less twist. Also receive daily new post notifications, Knitter’s Notebook: Warm Hats and Good Friends. Caring for Superwash Wool The smoothness of the superwash comes from the trapping and smoothing of the scales in the O-Wash process. Whereas regular wool will shrink in the wash (and may also felt), superwash wool will come out of the machine pretty much as it was when you put it in. The main reason why superwash yarns are environmental harmful is the treatment method itself: the chlorine-Hercosett process (read last week’s blog post for specifics). Spud and Chloe worsted weight. Altering the scales eliminates some air (and space) between the fibers and plies of yarn, making the yarn more dense and less elastic. The military uses a lot of wool and helps keep wool farming viable in the United States. O-Wool uses a newer style of anti-shrink treatment on their fiber, one that is more environmentally friendly. Many articles I read (this, this, and this, for example) mention the pollution of wastewater in the superwash treatment process, so that is certainly something to be aware of. Scouring: The fleece is washed with water or solvents to remove dirt, debris and wool grease. Just at a glance I can see how dissimilar they are. I’m so happy to have superwash in my life and I am glad they’re making waves in discovering new ways to make it more friendly to the planet! This post provides an overview of superwash wool and how to treat it, as well as a few things to consider before purchasing it. I have to admit that now, as an adult … I LOVE superwash! I’ve done my time with wool and felting … now when I knit with superwash, I don’t care that my 5yo kid tosses their jumper into the washing machine as it never shrinks! It will be dry cleaned, and sitting around not being worn as often as my daughter envisioned. Part of what contributes to the swing and sway is the density of the yarn, or my friend and yours: grist. The process, which uses large amounts of water as well as dangerous substances, leads to significant pollution of wastewater with organic halogen compounds (AOX). There are very strict rules on processing the fibres and the treatment is a resin rather than a plastic which bonds permanently with the wool fibre and biodegrades along with the wool. This wool is produced using an acid bath that removes the "scales" from the fiber, or by coating the fiber with a polymer that prevents the scales from attaching to each other and causing shrinkage. Wow! Eco-friendly Superwash Yarns (Yes, They Exist!) A big reason is washability. Details. While some brands say that they are fine for the washer and dryer, I have found that even superwash yarns tend to felt a bit in the dryer. One of the pleasures of knitting with wool is its ability to stretch and then recover to its original shape. That’s one of the many reasons I try to stay away from it for anything but shawls ir socks. I was enamoured with the colours, soft touch and washability. Felting can be intentional, for things like hot pads, mittens, and cozy slippers, but this is less desirable for many garments and delicate shawls. One is to strip or dull the scales of a fiber, then fill the irregularities left behind with a polymer to smooth the fiber. Ever popular, this 100% wool yarn is durable, yet soft to the touch, making it ideal for family and homeware projects of all types. Because the superwashing process smooths out all of the tiny fibers, it has a sheen to it that non-superwash wool does not. Wool for military wear is praised for its durability, its suitability in a variety of climates, and its fire resistance. But, there’s a lot more to consider than just this, so read on to get a lot of info on yarn and its care. The superwash process is actually a series of processes wool goes to chemically remove the scales on each individual wool fiber (the ones that cause felting when warm water and agitation are involved) and then coat these fibers in a petroleum-based polymer. Thank you so much. Agitation makes the fibers scootch closer together so that the scales hang on to each other. Knotions Magazine. Where is the scratch and sniff app when you need it!!! Having made several sweaters with both types I must say I enjoy wearing superwash more than untreated wool. One is to strip or dull the scales of a fiber, then fill the irregularities left behind with a polymer to smooth the fiber. A few weeks back I wrote a post about the processing of superwash wool, it’s use of chlorine gas and plastic. To further reduce the “stickiness” of the fiber, the strands are sealed with a polymer or resin called Hercosett 125. Most superwash yarns are created by eroding the scales with acids and then coating the fibers with a synthetic resin. Superwash is a treatment applied to wool fibres which makes more resistant to shrinking. Thank you. That’s nice to call it drapy instead of droopy! I just placed the superwash swatch on top of the regular merino swatch in both photos, and both times the superwash swatch molded itself around the edge of the plain merino swatch like a sleepy kitten. If you take fine wool, like merino, and superwash it, the resulting yarn will be pretty soft. Spectacular color on 100% superwash merino milled with 8 plies—making for durability without nylon. Sign up for our weekly newsletter full of MDK fun, and you'll save 10% on your next order. It's also more ready to take up the dye, so it's easier to get brighter, more saturated colors with superwash yarn. So that some call it untreated, anti-felting or other, I will speak here of "Superwash" even if it is the same product: a treatment received by the wool which allows it, in principle, to be washed. Machine Washable (Superwash) treated wool is used to make machine washable knitted products which meet Woolmark Standards for Machine washable (Test Method 31) or Total Easy Care (Test Method 31/254). You can often find her on the couch, eating snacks and knitting furiously (in both senses of the word). Don’t they all break down eventually and end up in the environment as pollution? I find superwash grows a lot. What has influenced your decision? If you’ve ever knit and then felted a bag or slippers on purpose, you know exactly how much the felting experience can change knitting. Thank you! Superwash producers use a chlorinated gas to erode the scales from the fiber strands. This is true about yarns processed in North America and the rest of the world. Traceability. The other is to coat the fiber to suppress the scales. Enter superwash wool, sometimes called “washable wool”, those these terms are not necessarily interchangeable. I am a very tactile person. First a couple answers on the why of superwash wool. In the 80's superwash treatment got a bad rap because in some countries the effluent was not recycled. They use a natural (and proprietary) polymer to coat the fiber to keep scales from interlocking. Carding: Rolling with a roller that is covered with teeth to tease apart the staples of wool, laying the fibres nearly parallel to form a soft rope called a sliver. Thank you! That being said, you can’t just toss a pair of superwash wool socks into a very hot, super-aggressive load of laundry and expect things to turn out just fine. The other is to coat the fiber to suppress the scales. Superwash 100% Merino Wool Yarns Extra fine (19.5 micron) merino is used for these yarns. Each individual wool fiber is covered with tiny scales, like a snake’s skin. Yarn: 220 Superwash Effect Code: Q202 Description: 220 Superwash Effects is in the same family as our most popular 220 Superwash yarn. The perfectly purple yarn is O-Wool O-Wash in the shade Blue Thistle. The coating smooths and softens the fibers, preventing felting during the washing process. If you peruse the sock yarn section of your local yarn store (LYS), you find an array of brilliant, deeply saturated colors. A word on the superwash process. link to All about Knitting Needle Sizes (Hooray! If the scales can’t lock together, then the knitted item can be tossed into the washing machine with reckless abandon (sort of). This means that superwash garments can feel little draftier and less insulating. It washes beautifully, and feels just as smooth and slinky. I thought all polymers were plastics. It’s a polymer that keeps paper from reverting to pulp when it gets wet. Looking at skeins and swatches is one thing, but looking at two strands side by side really shows how the regular merino (gold) is matte and velvety looking, and the superwash merino (purple) is smoother. Maybe you’ve heard that superwash wool is toxic and should be avoided at all costs. Looking at the swatches stacked both in stockinette and garter stitch, we see that the superwash swatch wants to drape. However, as I mentioned, superwash is a controversial topic in the knitting community. Much of the US-made superwash wool goes to ready-to-wear fashion, and to the military for uniforms. There are loads of opinions and a lot of questions about how superwash yarns get super-fied. Chlorine gas is the most toxic way to make superwash, both for the people working in the plants and the environment. Polymer mostly just means that the component pieces repeat, but the component pieces don’t have to be plastics. If you’ve ever removed an impossibly tiny, shrunken sweater from the washing machine, you know that most wool does not fare well in the laundry. It is a natural fiber that is easy-care meaning you can machine wash and dry it! Your purchases support everything we publish here at MDK. After growing up with sheep and shearing sheep, washing fleece, spinning wool and knitting handspun …. As the fiber dries the scales slam shut, locking out the ability for fibers to move past each other and locking in the new shrunken size. I knit furiously, meaning that I am a fast and prolific knitter and that I swear loudly every time I drop a stitch. With new technology in yarn, this all changed, and now we have superwash wool, which is a natural fiber that has been treated so that it can be washed in the machine. One environmentally friendly method is used by O-Wool. Description. Is Superwash Yarn Environmentally Sustainable? Superwash wool is made by exposing the fiber to a chlorine gas that erodes the scales and then it is coated in a plastic called Hercosett 125. So science-y, thorough, and thoughtful. Dyers and knitters also love the intense color produced by dyeing on superwash. Interestingly, it is possible that the prevelance of super-wash goes hand-in-hand with the ubiquity of merino yarns. Purchasing is, at a very small level, voting with your money. Checking in with Auntie Grist, if I made a 1,ooo yard sweater out of the regular merino it would weigh 1.3 pounds. Hand-painted while braided which can give a tie-dye effect where the dye cant reach the white wool Dyed with acid dyes and We talked about the drape of superwash in the last post. Pure Wool Superwash DK. Upon browsing through the Ravelry comments for the yarn, I discovered that this is a common issue with that particular yarn. For approximately 1 200 t/a of “Superwash” quality wool produced per year, this process consumes the following quantities of environmentally hazardous substances: It is also machine washable, meaning it is versatile and easy care. Alternatives to Superwash. For example, in most countries there are strict regulations on the cleanliness of water that gets dumped from any  industry, and there are companies that go beyond what the law requires to remove chemicals from their wastewater. Author. Anecdotally speaking, I also find superwash yarns to look a little bit shinier than those made of natural wool. China, perhaps surprisingly, is the world's second-largest producer of wool. Considering these two yarns in strands, I know I would choose my yarn based on the texture I wanted in my knitting: smooth or velveteen fuzzy. This results in a yarn that is generally stretchier than natural wool because the strands slide past, rather than cling to, each other. You probably got here by searching for “superwash wool,” and along the way, I’m guessing that you encountered many a article or blog post about the evils of superwash wool and its plastic coating. Each strand of wool is covered in microscopic “scales”. When you're knitting something that needs to stretch, you need the right stretchy cast-on to match. I do appreciate your addressing the environmental concerns. Her go-to method for balancing ease of use with durability is to wash the superwash socks on the gentle cycle with cold water (and normal detergent). Their O-Wash superwash yarn acts just like any other superwash I’ve used. Lots of folks also say that superwash yarns are softer; they are certainly smoother. There are two ways most commonly used to make a superwash yarn. Streat Instruments Moisture Measurement and Control systems have been applied to Superwash Plants around the world and we were involved with the initial Superwash development at the IWS and then the Woolmark Company. Many knitters choose yarns made of superwash wool for projects that will need to be washed frequently, such as a pair of socks or baby clothes. / Superwash Yarn. The reintroduction of the superwash process and the Buy American movement has increased the interest and commitment of the American wool-sock industry to buying American wool. Does it depend on which process was used? This is a lot to digest, but so very helpful. The two yarns pictured throughout this post are both from O-Wool and both are 100% certified organic merino. Experienced knitters know that using the right needle size can mean the difference between a well-fitting and overly large sweater. Why do people want it? Superwash is a process that makes wool less susceptible to felting when it is washed and dried by machine. There are many scientists working on developing new ways of shrink-proofing wool. However, I also am glad to have learned about the superwash process so that I can decide to purchase it for a specific reason. “Superwash wool was the answer to our desire to machine wash and dry our knits. I simply and wholeheartedly appreciate your posts. The superwash process is also, of course, very large-scale, so Blacker Yarns and The Natural Fibre Company would not be able to use it. The Hercosett treatment uses hazardous chemicals in both the de-scaling... #2. I am so seduced by the superwash colors but then end up frustrated when it doesn’t have the bounce and body of non-superwash wool. When the fabric was wet, it grew A LOT. Wool relaxes in water, even more if it’s warm or hot: the scales open like the hatch on the back of a car. Organic cotton and linen are MY current favorites. Also it seems using non-superwash or only organic superwash might be much better for the environment. You may have seen “Superwash” wool written on the label of a yarn hank and wondered what exactly this distinction meant. Superwash wool also resists felting in items that are exposed to a fair amount of moisture and movement, like socks. How I love the tweaking that is possible with wet wool, or steam, and the ability to shape (either stretching or pinching) the individual areas of a sweater or dress or skirt. They do not remove or reduce scales, but only smooth them down—like using pomade on unruly hair. I love that about wool. Growing up, I could never wear wool because it would make me have a rash and sometimes welts. The yarn is then coated with a synthetic coating (Hercosett is the industry standard) which smooths the exterior of the yarn. See you next time, yarn explorers. the diameter of the fiber, measured in microns. On the other hand, I don’t think that it is necessary to feel ashamed by your knitting purchases either. It just reminds me of how much I DON’T know about yarn! Thank you! Adding Nylon. I heard superwash eventually loses it’s superwash proerties. Superwash is a process that makes wool less susceptible to felting when it is washed and dried by machine. Toxins end up in waste water . Cliff Cox is the Plant Manager at Chargeurs, a multi-national company with a plant in South Carolina that produces superwash and non-superwash wool sliver (combed and carded top). If the hand doesn’t feel right, back it goes. I first heard about superwash wool in the knit.fm podcast. I’m such a nerd that I love these articles. 100g / 3.5oz 23 micron Superwash Merino wool Colourway: Apple blossom Colours: pink, green, cream, peach Not suitable for felting crafts as this is a superwash treated fibre. Most superwash wool is made in two ways (or a combination of the two). When wet, the garment stretches out beyond any reasonable “shapability,” leaving you with a garment made for a giant. FK is a mostly self-taught knitter who has opinions on things. Do I lie in bed at night feeling guilty about this? Very informative. machine up to 30 degrees without risk of felting. Felting needs moisture, friction, and sometimes a change in temperature. The most common way to create a superwash yarn is to remove the scales and then coat the yarn to smooth it (more about this process in an upcoming post). It's the same light worsted/DK, 100% Superwash Wool yarn with a subtle color changing variation that's sure to please. Many years ago, when I started knitting I stocked up on super wash wool. Keep up with her exploits at jillianmoreno.com. The type most commonly used is also used in paper processing. I'm the Furious Knitter (FK), and I write KNIT FURIOUSLY to share what I've learned from over 15 years of knitting. She wrote the book Yarnitecture: A Knitter’s Guide to Spinning: Building Exactly the Yarn You Want so she could use all of the fiber words. All about Knitting Needle Sizes (Hooray!). It seems to be a hot-button issue in the knitting and crafting industry, with many strong opinions about avoiding anything plastic. Thank u so much for this as I have been in a dilemma over superwash. Now, I’m more aware of the intrinsic qualities of super wash and regular wool thanks in large part to knowledge gained from articles written by experts such as yourself. #1. If wool in its natural state felt, it is because - or thanks - to its composition. These two methods are often combined. Depending on your personal tolerance for plastic, you may decide that superwash wool is not something that you are interested in buying. Superwash producers use a chlorinated gas to erode the scales from the fiber strands. As this elasticity is affected by the superwash process, adding nylon really helps. Superwash wool (or washable wool) technology first appeared in the early 1970s to produce wool that has been specially treated so it is machine washable and may be tumble-dried. Superwash treatment can affect the weight of  a knitting project. We do process superwash treated tops into yarns for some of our trade customers. Your beautiful knitwear is now smaller, stiffer, and not so soft. Do you use or shun superwash wool? And you should generally not put superwash wool in the dryer. Superwash has made it great for me to wear wool. Snippets is the Saturday newsletter full of MDK news, specials, and first look at new offerings. All of this work is industrial and secret. Obviously it is a science too; the whole enchilada! These two yarns are close enough in gauge to be interchangeable in most projects, the Merino Chunky is 15 stitches to four inches, and the O-Wash Chunky is 16 stitches to four inches. Harmful chemicals are used in the process . However, it doesn’t quite address what I find so very frustrating about super wash wool. What a great explanation- especially regarding the grist involved and drapiness of superwash. How about you? Fine yarn from the United Kingdom and Europe. Even tho I habdwash all my knit stuff regardless. Then the modified fibers are smoothed with a coat of a polymer. That gives me hives! great article. She then removes them from the load, reshapes them gently, and lets them air-dry. Read More. I encourage you to read up about it and make the decision based on your personal preferences. Thank you for another very informative article. The gorgeous golden yarn is O-Wool Merino Chunky in the shade Mustard Seed. In addition to rendering the wool free from any potential for felting the machine washable treatment also enhances both softness and brightness of the wool fibre. The Chlorine-Hercosett method is the most effective, cheap and popular superwash process with about 70% of all “machine washable wool” being treated with this method. The factories that process Superwash wool are located in areas that produce a lot of wool, such as South Africa 6, and also in Germany 7; the latter is worth noting because of the strict environmental protection rules in Germany. It’s not the first time I wish I could hand you yarn to touch through the screen, or just invite you all over to my house to touch all of the yarns. The purpose of this post was the compile the information I’ve learned from various yarn, fiber, and knitting resources over the past few years. These two methods are often combined. Absolutely not. In many cases that’s a partner who accidentally puts things in the dryer. Over the years, I’ve knit a lot of socks for my mom, mostly out of superwash wool. It’s hard to find merino and superwash merino close to the same gauge from the same company, so it’s a real treat to be able to compare these kissing cousins in detail. When chlorine reacts with organic compounds (such as wool… I’ve read about some scientists experimenting with heat, and others working on a coating that biodegrades quickly, making the shrink resistance temporary. The texture of each yarn is completely different from the other, even though they are made of the same fiber. Is that true?
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