My wool yarn has an odor; is this normal?

[GammaV]

I recently purchased some wool yarn for felting, but it smells so bad I can't even work with it. I have placed it in a plastic bag with a fabric softener sheet, but am wondering if it is normal for the wool to smell bad when new, and will the smell go away?

[xampx]

Yeah 100% wool will smell. You dont really get the problem with superwash, but the more raw the wool is (the better it felts ) the smellier it can be because it hasnt had all the lanolin cleaned out of it. It usually feels greasy in your hands too.

 

Im not sure what you can do about the smell, there was a post around here that said put unused, unbanded balls into a pair of pantyhose, tying a knot between each ball, and washing it. Not sure how that works for wool... I guess you could try the pantyhoe method and soak in cool water (DO NOT AGITATE) and some fabric softener or wool wash for a while. Not sure how you would dry it though without inravelling it :s

Im not much help lol

 

If you can stand the smell long enough to crochet the item and then hand wash it, that would be easiest.

 

Lets see what other people suggest