Brutkey

Sini Tuulia
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe

Laundry tips and opinions which were requested:

Using fabric softener will make cotton feel clammy and greasy, and give it a mildewy smell. Fabric conditioning helps with staticky plastic fibres but isn't necessary for natural fibres! Just wash without. Never put it on towels, it stops their absorption powers. You can use a little bit of vinegar instead of fabric softener, it will have a mild smell when wet, dries odourless.

Line drying is less wear on clothes than dryer but live your life if you have no place to dry them!

Bedding needs to be washed super hot occasionally! Towels, too!

If your shirts smell terrible because you've been sweating into them, soak them in the sink with a cup of vinegar in room temperature water, rinse, wash normally. This kills a lot of mildew and helps break apart organic residue.

Liquid laundry detergent is silly! Just get detergent in powder form, you're spared the plastic bottles and no heavy liquids are ferried around.
Soap nuts are great if you're allergic to everything but soap nuts. They're not even nuts and are compostable!

A lot of the washing instructions are LIES. You can literally boil 100% cotton and it's fine! You'd be amazed how much dry clean only is not! Polyester and cotton will be just dandy in 60 Celsius - the manufacturers play it safe because some dyes fade in hotter temps. Cheaply made clothes may shrink, but if it's stinky, take the risk!

Marion Grau
@marion_grau@climatejustice.social

@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe what is your take on 100% hand-knitted wool garments and socks? Socks is difficult because most sock wool comes with polyester because otherwise they aren't durable. Still looking for better options. Tencel for example...


Maude Nificent
@maudenificent@aus.social

@marion_grau@climatejustice.social @sinituulia@eldritch.cafe

occasionally i have found 100% wool socks which were commercially made - in australia the ones from aldi are awesome. i have darned the heel before wearing them so they will last.

wool is great insulation for sheep because it contracts when wet - i chuck socks in the washing machine (they are half dry after spin cycle) then i stretch them before allowing them to dry on a line or clothes horse.

woollen jumpers/cardigans i rinse quickly in luke warm water with β€œwool mix” - i don’t know if this is a universal product - wool won’t shrink unless it is left wet or in water, or in water that is too hot. spin dry in washing machine, or wring gently in a towel if you live somewhere wet/cold

To make wool mix:
1/2 glass soap flakes or grated soap
1 glass hot water
1/2 glass methylated spirits (aka denatured alcohol)
1 tablespoon eucalyptus oil
Place all the ingredients in a large jar and shake well.
(Warning: keep wool mix out of reach of children as metho and eucalyptus oil are toxic.)

if i have any kind of stain i dab some wool mix on the spot and leave garment til wash day. over the years i’ve discovered this is great stuff for grease spots - (a friend once spilled olive oil in a silk blouse and we saved the garment with eucalyptus oil before the olive oil dried)

Sini Tuulia
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe

@marion_grau@climatejustice.social It's been a while since I knit or did crochet, but there's at least a couple of kinds of 100% wool that has been felted and treated in such a way that the fibres become harder, denser and more durable. "Superwash" or something, because they can also be machine washed after without shrinking. Will wear down eventually, of course, but. πŸ€”πŸ€”

I've handled some sheep wool yarn with linen, hemp, ramie, alpaca, nettle and/or silk mixed in, which apparently makes the yarn more abrasion resistant, but never worked with them! I know my mother has a wool & nettle jumper that is close to 20 years old and is in perfect condition and feels only slightly rougher and squished together than "normal" wool.

Worth mentioning is that you rarely wash woollen things, so they shed a lot less microplastics into the ecosystem even if there is polyester or acrylic in them!