There's so many different types of bases out there for yarn, acrylic, wool, nylon, to just name a few. We love bringing in fun and different bases to the shop throughout the seasons, but our tride and true base is superwash merino wool. 

Superwash merino wool is found in almost all of our bases! But, why do we choose superwash merino? We wanted to dedicate a blog post all about the benefits of this base and also some care instructions for you as well so that you can care for your yarn and projects properly! 

 What is Superwash Wool?

Surprisingly, it's not a type of wool! It's actually a treatment method for wool that makes it possible for you to wash your projects in a washing machine without worrying about felting or shrinking! Although, we do prefer to wash our projects by hand with our wool wash! 

Wool is a protein fiber that has a lot of overlapping scales. Those scales don't like heat or drastic temperature changes! If you wash your wool projects that aren't superwash wool, those scales will open up and attach to each other causing that wool to felt. 

During the superwash treatment, the scales are removed and it's coated in a thin layer of polymer which protects it from high temperatures!

Why work with Superwash?

Since superwash wool is treated, your projects will be soft to the touch and not as itchy as a full wool project! It's extremely smooth to work with and offers a beautiful drape to garments. It also holds dye extremely well so your projects will have gorgeous color for years and years to come!

Caring for Superwash wool

Yes, superwash wool is machine washable but you should still be very careful if doing that. Hand knits are extremely delicate, think of them like fine china! 

No matter how you wash your projects, we always recommend using a detergent specifically for wool, like our wool wash. 

Our favorite way to wash our superwash wool is to fill a tub with warm water and some of our wool wash and let the project sit in there for about 10 minutes. After that, take it out of the tub, roll it in a towel to get excess moisture out, then let it air dry! Your projects will be nice and clean and smell wonderful!