Caring for wool is surprisingly easy once initial phobia is gotten over. Your woolies will need to be washed and lanolized. Wool care seems to be as highly varied as cloth diaper washing – ask a dozen different moms and get a dozen different answers. All should work fine, but the following method is how I prefer to care for my wool.
Washing
Wool should be washed when it becomes soiled or smelly and does not require the frequent washings of other cover types - typically every one to two weeks depending on how much it is used.
Basic wool care supplies include towels, gallon jug, baby food jar, lanolin, wool wash and measuring spoon.
Start with a clean sink.
Gently pre-rinse woolies under the faucet with lukewarm water to remove most of the “dirt”.
Depending on how many woolies you need to wash, fill the sink with 1-3 gallons of lukewarm water. Use enough water to fully submerge all the wool.
Next, add 1 teaspoon of Eucalan Wool Wash per gallon of water and swish around to mix. Wool wash bars may be used if extra scrubbing is required. (Eucalan preserves the lanolin already present in the wool, but does not add sufficient lanolin if the wool is already stripped or is in need of extra lanolizing.)
Submerge woolies in water and gently massage out air bubbles from between the fibers.
Allow woolies to soak for 30 minutes.
Carefully remove woolies being careful not to let any part sag too much. Fold and gently squeeze out water but do not wring or stretch.
Lay woolies flat between towel and press to remove even more water.
Lay flat to dry. If you have a fan you can point it at your drying woolies to speed up drying time dramatically.
Lanolizing
Lanolin is a waterproof wax that is naturally produced by wooly animals and is necessary to keep your covers from leaking. It is available from most natural product shops and many online stores.
Wool should be lanolized when it begins to lose its waterproofing, or seems to become smelly more quickly than usual.
Steps are basically the same as washing except to add lanolin to sink water instead of wool wash. You may also wash and lanolize at the same time by adding the appropriate amount of wool wash. I usually lanolize every time I wash. If I am going to the trouble to filling the sink up anyway, I might as well lanolize too!
Dissolve your lanolin before it is added to the sink water or else it will stay solid and stick to the wool in big clumps instead of evenly coating the surface. I use about ½ teaspoon of lanolin for every gallon of water. Put the lanolin and however much wool wash you need for your sink in a baby food jar with water and microwave it until it just comes to a boil. It will boil over very quickly so watch closely the first time you do it. The wool wash MUST be added to the jar or the lanolin won't dissolve and you will have clumps. Remove jar from microwave with an oven mitt and stir gently until it is a solid white liquid with no yellow clumps.
Add dissolved lanolin mixture to sink water and swish around to ensure your woolies get an even coating.
Finish with same steps as washing.