If knitting in pure wool here a a few points to remember, especially when putting your work on display in a dolls house:
– Use a mothproofed wool, such as DMC Broder Medicis (now discontinued) or Appletons Crewel wool. You can also use wool that has been dyed using Woad, as this is a natural mothproofing agent.
– If possible do not wash the article at the end of knitting as this will wash out the mothproofing and some natural spring in the wool. If washing has to be done then you may need to mothproof the item again.
– It can be heartbreaking to spend hours knitting an article to go on display and then find moth holes in it at a later date. Moth holes are not always apparent until it is too late. This is why the wool we sell and recommend for our patterns has been specially sourced for mothproofing.
– Pressing the article lightly with a warm iron and damp cloth often refreshes the work without removing the mothproofing.
– Make sure the wool you are using is strong enough to achieve the results you want. An Aran jumper (for example) with a lot of cables needs a very strong wool to withstand the twisting and use of cable needle. Both the Appletons and DMC wool mentioned above was originally designed for tapestry and has two twisted strands. This makes it extremely strong and therefore suitable for cable patterns. Some cheaper wool does not have this quality and may break if cable patterns are attempted.
– If you really want to wash the items you make, then opt for acrylic wool as moths do not eat this! However remember that you may not achieve the same results using acrylic yarn, as there is no natural spring to acrylic yarn.
– If possible place a few lavender flowers in or as near as possible to the finished item to deter moths, such as using lavender flowers to stuff a knitted cushion.