Trade style wool blanket

[Hibrion]

I recently bought a wool blanket from a German seller on ebay and I was very impressed when it arrived. It's a hand woven trade style blanket in the immediately recognisable red and black pattern made famous by the Hudson's bay company. I've never owned the real deal, but this one is a tad bigger than a four point and a bit heavier too. It even has four 'points' woven into it, which is a nice touch and appeals to the traditionalist in me.

The link below is in German but you can copy and paste it to google translate, which does a reasonable job on this one. You might have to double check there is a space after the punctuation in places to get a good translation though.

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/231369865374...eName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

The blanket is plenty big to wrap oneself in the diamond style, even for me at 6'1". It's very heavy duty, coming in at over 3kg. This was a nice surprise since they are advertised as 2.9kg. There is also a good nap on the blanket, so it is quite warm.

*** There is is one thing I found weird though, it is just a bit tacky/ sticky to the touch. I did a bit of googling and as far as I can tell this just means there is a lot of lanolin in the wool. I know many of you have a lot of experience with wool fabric and blankets so though i'd asked if this is in fact what it is. Also, should I worry about it or will it wear off eventually?

Thanks

 

[Clouston98]

Cracking buy mate, they look great! I wouldn't know for sure on the lanolin but it sounds like it- a good pro for sleeping as it should stop the water getting to it as much

 

[Twodogs]

Just give it a good two day airing and get some sunlight on it ,

Then a wash in woolite it will be fresh as the day it was made without the tachy feel .

 

[Hibrion]

Thanks, guys. The thing is it is new, Twodogs? Have you ever come across them being tachy when brand new?

 

[Twodogs]

Yes I had some new old stock blankets from RTI a few weeks back seem to have a greesy tachy feel to them , aired to make shore that there were no mossie chems on it that only sunlight removes then washed and air dried ,,,,,good as new.

Thing is a lot of these blankets have been in store for years ..

 

[Hibrion]

I see. These seem to be made new and regularly as a cottage type industry. Their stock of colours are changing from time to time. I'll definitely start with a good air and see how things progress.

 

[Macaroon]

The clammy/sticky feeling of lanolin will quickly disappear of it's own accord and is in fact a good sign of quality yarn that hasn't been processed to death. I spend a considerable amount of time and effort each Spring "re-lanolising" a lot of my wool stuff; it lasts longer, feels better, is a fair bit warmer and water takes a lot longer to get deep into the fabric and therefore overcomes, to some extent, the old chestnut you hear all the time about how long it takes to dry out wool that has become very soaked, as the moisture will run out of the fibres much more readily. Twodogs has it right, the best treatment of all is to get them pegged out and let the UV do it's work; often I find that's all that's neccessary to rejuvenate good wool.

These look like very good blankets indeed to me

 

[sausage100uk]

Just out of interest how does one re lanolinise wool? Ive got a jumper, blanket etc that could probably do with it!

 

[Hibrion]

Thanks. It's certainly reassuring to hear that it is a good thing

I'll air it out tomorrow and the next day if the weather holds.
I can take some pictures of the blanket if anyone is interested. In my limited experience they seem like a good deal.

 

[Macaroon]

Just out of interest how does one re lanolinise wool? Ive got a jumper, blanket etc that could probably do with it!

I'll post a link here tomorrow for this, it really is well worth doing

 

[cranmere]

Wool is often processed greasy, either the natural lanolin or a small amount of mineral oil. The spinning and weaving machinery likes it that way. Then it's usually cleaned before final finishing and sale. It's possible that this blanket just wasn't finally cleaned. A normal wash will get rid of any oil.

I buy knitting yarn from a company called Rennie in Scotland and because their is mostly marketed to commercial machine knitters the yarn is still oiled. It knits up beautifully then just a wash cleans it and lets the yarn fluff up.

 

[Baelfore]

I'd be i terested in seeing a pic, as i have been considering a wool blanket for a while now.

What was the cost of p&p like?

Ste

 

[Hibrion]

I paid 15 euro to get it here, which is very reasonable given the size and weight of the package. Shipping was by DHL and very efficient.

I'll take a few snaps tomorrow for you.

 

[Macaroon]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106539

There's a discussion of the topic of re-lanolising here, and a description of how to go about it............Hope this is of use

 

[Hibrion]

Here are some pictures, as promised; albeit a little late.

I've included my small forest axe for scale and one picture of it tied to the knapsack I made. I expect this might be suitable kit for a Boone challenge in the warmer months.

 

[Twodogs]

I do like the colour

 

[Hibrion]

It's nice and bright. Sometimes it's nice to move away from green, grey and brown. As much as a I like them.

 

[Goatboy]

Oh that's nice, you just have to get a mule and make pancakes for breakfast with that with you. (Was it expensive?)

On the lanolin front you can buy lanolin and wash it into blankets and the likes. Though generally I use a cap-full of baby oil when I'm giving jumpers, Swanni's blankets a spruce up. (Sorry but after years of shearing and packing fleeces I have something of an aversion to being covered head to foot in lanolin - and boy do I dislike sheep.)

 

[Hibrion]

It was very reasonable, Goatboy. Check the link in my original post.

I have to work on my brain tan trousers and 'coon skin cap now. I have the moccassins made already.

 

[Goatboy]

It was very reasonable, Goatboy. Check the link in my original post.

I have to work on my brain tan trousers and 'coon skin cap now. I have the moccassins made already.

But do you have a grizzly bear to share your blueberries with?

Just looked it up and converted it to pounds. That's not bad at all compared to what I've seen similar go for.