Wonderful Wool Blankets

I knew the high desert would be cold, but nothing could prepare me for how cold it truly gets here. People often say that Californias are spoiled with their good weather, but I never fully understood what they meant until I experienced winter in the high desert of Nevada.

On the morning we had our steer butchered, it was -8 degrees Fahrenheit. I have never experienced cold such as this in my entire life. I walked outside that morning to help load our steer into the trailer and the moisture inside my nose began to freeze! 

That's when I discovered wool. 

Growing up in the Bay Area and Northern Sacramento Valley in California, I never had any need to wear wool. I had the impression that wool was itchy, scratchy and smelly, and I never understood why anyone would ever want to wear it. Where I came from it might freeze once or twice a year and that was only during the night. 

From November to today (it's currently March), it has not frozen once or twice during the night, on the contrary, every night it gets down to freezing and there was a to two-week stretch where the temperature never got above freezing during the day. 

My love of wool began when my mother-in-law sent me a small pink vintage throw blanket with satin trim. When I opened the box, I wondered what I was supposed to do with this small woolly thing. It was visibly old, a little smelly and slightly scratchy.

I decided to wash it and see if I could get some of the smell out and maybe soften up the

blanket a bit. I followed the handwashing directions found on the back of the bottle of Eucalan Laundry Soap I had bought specifically for the blanket.

I was super surprised with how well the soap helped to condition and soften the blanket as well as remove the smell and the dirt! After that I was hooked! 

I started asking friends and loved ones if they had any extra wool blankets that they were willing to part with. My grandma sent me a care package with a cozy cream-colored wool blanket with a waffle texture, which began my wool collection. 

The last two wool blankets I was able to snatch up at my favorite online thrift store, Shop Goodwill. Both of my thrifted blankets have beautiful designs on them. One is peach and cream with a floral print and super soft and warm. The other is pink and green with a really neat art deco design. I purchased the green and pink art deco blanket knowing it needed some TLC, the edges are torn and there are some small and medium sized holes in it, but I just couldn't pass it up. My daughter and I have been working on repairing the holes, but in the meantime, it makes a wonderful blanket to wrap up in at picnics and while sitting on the deck while the kids play. 

Note: I've provided links to some of the items mentioned in this post and these are things, (or similar items) that I have used and enjoyed. If you choose to purchase these items from Amazon, that's great, but just know that I do not expect you do. I buy most of my items second-hand and I hope you can do the same. I've included links to certain items so you can gather more information about the products I'm referring to or you may purchase them new if you wish. Rest assured; I do not earn any commission from your purchases on Amazon for the items I've provided links to.