Not me - I live in Florida - no wool here!

Donna

No wool for this Florida quilter either, but I'm really attracted to the look of wool quilts. The one in your picture is beautiful. I have a small wool throw blanket that's been washed and dried many times; it probably shrunk the first time or two but it's been the same size for years.

I have a wool quilt that my Mother gave to me for my son at least 20 years ago. Someone in the family made it - I wish I knew who or the history - I should have paid more attention at the time :(
It is made of wool squares and the squares are crocheted together. I will get a picture for you.

Our Guild is making next year's Raffle Quilt out of wool. This is the only fundraiser that supports the Guild & the Quilt Show. They also have started a Wool Bee & have had workshops using wool. One lady is particularly interested in wool and she makes absolutely gorgeous wool quilts.

I grew up as a Navy Brat, living in Naval Housing and getting shipped all over the place. That meant we had Navy issue everything.....including heavy wool blankets stenciled "Property of U.S. Navy" in the middle. I suppose my 89 year old father still has a few of them. I know they were washed often, and lasted more than a lifetime.

Somebody on here does wool quilts and uses wool battings. I have a wool quilt on my wanna do list and the wools to do it, so I am also waiting for some comments from folks who have made wool quilts. My MIL made most of her quilts out of wool, recycled from coats and suits and there is just something so basic and traditional (and functional in cold, snowy Missouri winters) about wool quilts. Ultimate warmth. Love that pattern too. I think one can get too fussy with a heavier fabric like wool and simpler is better.

That wool blanket should have never come back from a dry cleaner shrunken and felted. I'd have screamed bloody murder. I'm old enough, and lived outside the U.S. long enough to have lived a lifetime around wools and love them. Wools are to be done (if you're washing them) not in hot water. I do mine by hand so agitators won't stretch them either, and I lay them to dry to block them. I think that's why they fell out of use so much in American rush-rush society. But a good wool garment or blanket can last a lifetime and was certainly durable enough they were used in the trenches in two world wars and probably Korea as well.

Thank you for the info. I was too young and too passive to say anything with that wool blanket - one of those things I would 'do-over'. I always washed my wool sweaters on cold, in a front-load machine on gentle and laid flat to dry, but they still shrunk. So how do I know if I can wash wool fabric?
Karlene

One side:

The other side - notice the centers (yo-yo's?) are different on this side.

Close up:

I have to admit - I never noticed the design & detail of this blanket/wool quilt - until I laid it on the floor to take a pic. I always thought it was random. Since I don't do yarn work, I was never terribly impressed with it, except that it was made by someone in the family and it is wool.
I should give it to my son now that I have pulled it out of its safe keeping space :)

Karpet, most American machines do not have a wool cycle. It is actually different than a gentle cycle. Wool has scales, and they can kink together causing shrinkage and felting even by low water levels, over agitation or spinning. I do believe that some American machines are now starting to incorporate them, but I doubt it's going to appear on most models. On wool cycles, the drum rotation stops intermittently to let the material 'rest' before it continues. The water level is higher as well and I'd assume it doesn't go through the rapid spin/dry stuff. You are talking to a woman who uses a wringer washer and therefore not 'up' on American front loading machines, but I have used my kids' machine in England and fell in love with it. If I could have duplicated the quality and options of their machines here, I'd have gotten a front loader.

Marsha, that is actually very pretty. Someone obviously laid out the colors very carefully.

Having lived in Florida almost all my life, my only experience with wool was the old WWII Army blankets that we had to use as kids. They were very scratchy and I think I was allergic to them. I have no idea how my mom laundered them. Between those and the lint-laden Chenile bedspreads that were abundant back then, it's no wonder that I suffered so much. I have seen articles about the old Amish quilts and how they often used wool, the colors are so rich and lustrous.