Knitwear that doesn’t go bobbly

The bobbles pick up little bits of dust and look dirty even after washing

I use a razor on some of my jumpers and cardigans but after a while even that doesn't work and I have to throw them away. It's very annoying as bobbly clothing looks bad.

I wear two jumpers at a time all winter and I get given new ones every Christmas. They come from M&S, Seasalt and other makes which used to be good. They never now last for a second winter. Throwaway fashion, bad in every way.

I don’t buy woollen cardigans any more. Cotton or a cotton and silk mixture don’t bobble and last for ages.

Woo lovers, Seasalt, Mand S all have bobbly knitwear. Seasalt used to, not so sure if they still do, offer a service at their shops to debobble. I always wash inside out and by hand. Seems to lessen bobbling but I still resort to careful use of a razor.

Also, cheap yarn is unlikely to be produced to good animal welfare standards.

good pure local wool costs me £70 for a jumper weight, to hand knit. The cheaper brands like woolovers and m and s must source cheap yarns from mass produced merino and lambswool and they get the jumpers made in slave labour far east countries.

I only buy cotton or merino knitwear because they’re the only ones I’ve found that doesn’t bobble. Cotton for preference, more comfortable and washes better. No matter how much I like the look of something, if it’s cashmere or lambs wool I don’t buy.

A lot of the makes John Lewis stock including their own is as bad as M&S .I bought a green cardigan and was asked after only three wares where I had got it from...it has gone. I traveled to DD's in a White stuff brand new Fairisle and it had bobbled all down the arms and I had only sat in the car.
It seems you have to go toward £100 to get one that will last at least two seasons and who can afford to?

I can’t wear wool, it itches. I always go for pure cotton knitwear, and actually M&S do have a reasonable selection but you have to seek it out by reading all the labels. Other good sources are Crew, and if you’re feeling rich (and chic as they have a very restricted colour palette of cream, white, and black, occasionally navy) the White Company always have some lovely ones.

I am very fond of plain lambs wool crew neck sweaters and used to buy them from Edinburgh Woollen Mill. They washed beautifully, never bobbled and lasted ages. Then they changed the manufacturer and it all went down hill. I bought two of the original ones in Oxford in 2017 and am still wearing them. Others I’ve bought since have fallen to bits!
M&S are shocking - when will they ever listen to their customers!

blue balou, I bet that woolovers top has a machine washable label and has been made from chemically processed yarn. Natural wool has to be hand washed, either by hand or in a machine that does the gentle rocking motion.

I love pure wool. I have finally sourced a locally made yarn which is merino/bfl 50/50. It should be promising. I will try it as soon as I have spare money

I hated the feel of machine washable merino when I knitted with it. It was slippery and very difficult to keep the ends from unwinding. I only used it once. The merino that I bought was falklands merino. Bfl is blue faced leicester, it has a long silky staple and is drapey, rather than poofy

I love Woolovers merino/cashmere jumpers, I don’t have a problem with them at all.
I’m wearing a 8 year old one today and it’s fine.
I wash them only when dirty, in a net bag, Woolite detergent 30° wool wash.

karmalady

machine washable merino should not bobble, a chemical process changes the wool. I don`t use that sort of merino

Oh, I didn't know that.

Don't get me started on Woolovers karmalady!

I just put some, not very old, in the rag bag for the charity shop.

machine washable merino should not bobble, a chemical process changes the wool. I don`t use that sort of merino

woolovers are bad too, I find they cannot be worn much. I threw an expensive one out last year, only one winter of use and another, thinner one went out last month, again a short use. De=bobbling would not have been enough, they just looked tatty

wrt wools, long staple wools are best for not bobbling as the ends don`t come free so easily. Merino is bad and so is lambswool. Bfl is a good wool. Having said that, I do knit some jumpers in merino because they are so warm,soft and light. I just put up with the bobbling on those

The only jumpers that I find which do not go bobbly are M&S fine merino wool jumpers - they're a fine knit, rather boring and come in rather odd colours now!

Every other make, yarn, whether cashmere or a cheaper yarn, end up bobbled.

Watching this thread 🙂

M and S are horrendous a couple of weeks jumper looked not worthy for the charity shop, indeed we would have thrown it in the rag bag
I ve taken two back to Mand S and had a refund I will never buy another from there until things change and nearly £30 isn’t cheap well not to me anyway
I bought a de bobbler off Amazon and that’s totally useless too doesn’t touch them
A real problem ‘George’ is no better and we can’t all afford the more expensive shops like joe browns and seasalt which may be the answer

I'm following this thread. I swear M & S are the worse offenders. Bought two woolley hoodie and despite washing them exactly as instructed they looked old after about 3 washes and they weren't exactly cheap. As for the recycled material ones they look like a bit of old rag after a few washes.