frugal cleaning question--afghan

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I have a crocheted afghan that has been folded in an empty room that was not dusted for --A YEAR--! The afghan is very dusty. I want to clean it, but it is a huge one made by my son's great grandmother who has passed on. So it stirs sentiment and we want to keep it nice. It is so big I have to take it to a laundromat to use the super large machines, even though my home washer takes oversize loads. But washing an afghan is hard on it, so I'm trying to get by with just knocking the dust out of it without agitating it in water.

If it were not raining I'd take it outdoors and hang it on the line to shake and beat it the way people used to do rugs. Then I'd leave it to freshen in the breeze and sunshine.

I have a large dryer. Do you think running it on "air fluff," with no heat would be sufficient to work the dust out?

Any other suggestions for how to to de-dust this afghan? I can't vacuum it.

[simple987]

How about just handwashing it in the bathtub, and hang to dry somewhere.

[boefixepa]

Try the air fluff thing first, if that doesn't do what you want then I would simlpy soak it in the tub and work it with my hands some. Drain, rinse and repeat until the water was clear, or mostly clear. Once wet, because it it crocheted, do not wring it out and stretch the stiches. Carry it in a bucket to your washer to spin it the best you can. Then delicate until it is almost dry and then air fluff. You don't want to heat it.

Or you can squeeze it the best you can an lie it flat to dry, but with something that large it would be difficult to do. I'd be carful hanging it really wet, the weight of the water could pull and stretch the stitches.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I decided to try the bath tub washing. Oh, my gosh this thing is filthy! I had no idea how much dirt was in it. This might turn into an all day project with many changes of water.

I think I'd better wash the curtains from that room, too. Thank goodness they can go in the washer.

[FrugalFish]

I'm a knitter and crocheter. Most afghans machine wash very well- if you can manage to fit it into your machine even for spinning the excess water out. The main thing you would probably want to watch out for is if the afghan is made of wool yarn. Washing wool causes it to "felt" which is interesting, but will likely ruin the look of the afghan.

All the afghans I've crocheted (out of synthetic yarn), I just machine wash gently and dry on low- most yarn is designed to handle that kind of washing.

[Coleroo]

my granny made afgans for us all the time when i was little and my mom made quite a few herself.. we have many many of them and we've never hesitated to wash them like a regular blanket. i've always been under the impression that they machine wash quite nicely. of course ours have always been made of basic yarn stuff and nothing fancy like frugal fish is talking about the wool....

my 14 year old pink & white full sized afghan from my mom looks just as nice as the day she made it and it gets washed a lot.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Well, let me tell you about this afghan. My husband's grandmother made it when she was in the early stages of dementia. As part of her dementia, she had a compulsion to do the same "helpful" things over and over and over. And she really wanted to help, to be useful. Like, she made a huge pile of all-the same cloth items for her church altar ,always convinced that there was a great need that she could barely keep up with from day to day. It was an item where only a half dozen or so were needed, but she could not stop making them. This afghan was made during a period when she had been steered away from that activity, but she was similarly frantic and compulsive about making afghans.

The family kept her supplied with yarn and she made afghan after afghan. She had lost judgment about when to stop. That meant two things 1) She turned out dozens of afghans, and 2) she did not know when to stop a "row" (if that is what you call it with crochet. So this afghan is more than twice as long as is needed to cover a bed. We use it doubled over, lengthwise. It also is very wide, so it hangs down the sides of the bed. The thing is monstrously big.

The afghan has many colors, but also different types of yarn. It has acrylic and wool, both! I have machine washed it before and have to pull and reshape where the wool is, or else the whole thing becomes weirdly ruffled.

The bath tub washing went well, though it was a huge effort. I got in the tub with it barefooted and did the grape-stomp dance on it. I kept it draining there overnight and will carry it to the washer today to spin it out some. Then I think I can line dry it in the basement.

[Saving in So Cal]

Now that you have it clean, you might be able to maintain it with an at home dry-cleaning kit. I have used these for several years for my sweaters with great success. There is one brand, Dry Cleaners Secret, that does not require you to put the item in a bag. You just put the item in the dryer with the dry-cleaning sheet (looks like a giant fabric softener sheet) and tumble dry for about 20 minutes. When you pull it out, it is all clean and fresh smelling. They sell the sheets, both individually and in a box, at Albertsons.

[shelbylovesmelby]

I have a dd who is a crochet blankie lover (picture linus from snoopy ) and I'm always washing one of her several blankies. I usually wash them on gentle & dry them on low or air dry them over a chair ect. Never had any problems yet and I'm usually washing a few of them a week. I've got ones from my childhood that I wash in the same manor & they being 20-30yrs old are still kick'n