are your sweaters ready for a new season?
The other day I pulled out a favorite argyle sweater from last winter, happy to see my old friend again. But then I caught a side view glimpse in the mirror and realized that this cashmere baby was majorly pilled, with little balls of fuzz in many inappropriate places. To the rescue? Piripicchio! A cute and clever clothes shaver from Alessi. Lint enters his plastic container body after being gently shaved off by a set of blades. It has an auto-stop safety feature, and three blade settings, which you can adjust depending on the type of lint. Operates on two batteries, included. It’s $38 — but aren’t your favorite knits worth it? Now, lets get cozy.
A nail file will work too! And it’s a lot cheaper. :)
I love this. Living in Oregon we have a lot of sewaters to take care of and I can never find a nail file when I need it. Love your blog will include in my “morning coffee visits”. k
A nail file is a little ineffectual when it’s an entire sweater, which is all too common with softer (shorter-staple, therefore more inclined to pill) fibers like merino wool and cashmere. There’s a product called the Sweater Stone that will last for years that works pretty well, but I don’t think it’s for use on manmade fibers. It does make the surface a little fuzzy after the pills are removed.
I’ve never had an electric sweater pill shaver that worked, so it is probably worth paying more than $5-10 for one. Most that are out there are flimsy li’l things.
In general you should do the depilling as seldom as possible, because it does remove fibers from the sweater, eventually thinning those areas.
(Can you tell I knit a lot?)
All i want to know is what kind of fabric to buy in a sweater so it does not “pill” ??????????? Please help me.
Rosemary
Hi Rosemary…. i worked on articel a couple years back on this. It comes down to gauge, yarn density, etc. It’s the cheaper stuff, unfortunately, that pills.