Gear Review 100% Wool Blankets (Master Listing)

Among my college courses of the past I took a course on felting wool. I have to say, it's easier than I expected.

Required items to felt:

• large, flat surface that can get wet ( a serving tray works well)
• hot water (just tolerable for your hands)
• liquid dish soap
• wool batting (roving)
• felting needle/tool (optional) and felt pad (optional)

How to felt:

You want to separate your wool roving into thin, flat, wispy strands and set them aside. I found pieces of approximately 6" in length and about 3" wide to be adequate. You have to kind of pull and stretch the wool to the preferred size, keeping it thinned out. Prepare your hot water after you have separated enough wool. Begin layering your wool onto the tray in the size and shape you wish your project to be, or slightly larger. Lay down the wool in one direction per layer (do not cross weave on the layer). Next, lay the subsequent layers in alternating directions for added strength. The more layers you add, the thicker the final project will be. After you have completed your task of layering, dip your hands in the hot water and begin to apply it to the wool. After you have soaked it enough, gently massage the wool with your fingertips as if you were shampooing your hair. Use a few drops of dish soap to permit the process to bind, adding soap and hot water as needed. You cannot add more wool after this point, so be certain your thickness is attained before you add the soap and hot water. I just add some liquid soap to the hot water, keeping the process simple. The idea is to "felt" the wool, so quite a bit of massaging must take place. As you progress and the wool is well saturated, you can add more firm pressure with your fingertips and continue to massage. You will eventually feel the wool firm up, this is the felting process. Once the wool has been felted, you can gently squeeze out the remaining water, rinse in room temperature water until soap is gone and hang to dry. After the felted wool has dried, you can fold and stitch with the felting tool or sew for clothing.

You may also dye the wool and gently wash after it has been fully felted and dried. An alternate method to dying is to do so before felting, but care must be taken not to overwork the wool or use hot water or it will not felt correctly.

Pictures of a felting needle tool, felting pad and wool roving (1 lb. bag):


Repairing old wool:

If your storage hasn't been adequate, and moths have destroyed portions of your wool, you can use the do-it-yourself felting described above to make patches. Once you have felted a patch and dyed it accordingly, using a felting tool and pad, you can actually stitch a patch onto the original wool. If your work is exceptional, very little will be noticeable, but this doesn't always work on wool blends --and you will need practice with the felting tool. Be sure to patch both sides and then stitch!

The felting tool uses tiny needles with barbs to 'pull and hook' strands of wool fiber together, without the use of thread. It takes practice to use one of these, and a felting pad for it to work. If the wool is too thick, the felting tool may not always work.

 

The warmth factor really isn't comparable since both blankets are quite similar. However, the Swedish is softer and a little more fluffy, while the Italian blanket is a little more rugged and firm. I have an Italian officer's wool blanket on my bed in the winter, it is quite warm.

You should be fine. I keep my thermostat at 70, use a comforter and the Italian wool blanket. We are different people, however. I will say this, I use 100% wool socks (the thick kind) I got from Sportsmansguide made for walking around in the house, and they have little rubber dots on the bottom. I get very cold toes in winter, too. I contribute this to years of standing in the military, but who knows.

My advice: Go with either, but the Italian will be easier to find. Also, get some thick 100% wool socks or even Merino wool if you don't like the itch factor. The socks you end up with shouldn't be too tight, and wool socks commonly fit loose anyway. Try sleeping in the socks, it will help tremendously.

 

@Brokor, this has become quite a popular thread - check out the page view count

 

I think you just caught us at the right time, but there's always somebody around here who is willing to help.
Good luck finding a Swedish wool blanket. They are very tough to find, and even if you do, you're looking at $80 or more for one. You might be better off searching Ebay for a marketed brand, which I listed on page 2.

One other suggestion I have, is to use what I also use. It's called "Earth Ragz" and it's a fleece throw made from recycled materials. It's actually surprisingly warm, and I use it in conjunction with my wool blanket and comforter. I use one sized 53" x 77" and it is tan in color, but there are all kinds of designs available.

 

Soft or stiff seems to me to make little difference. If you are going to put it over the sheets anyway, just get one and double it up over the foot end of the bed if one isn't enough. What I've found is that socks simply make your feet sweat, which cools them off by evaporation rather than keep 'em warm. YMMV, of course.

 

If you find them again, please let me know. I'd like to buy 100