How to wash a tennis sweater

I’m reflecting once again about how easy our lives are, whether it’s cooking and eating, shopping, washing up and washing clothes, keeping our homes clean… it is just so simple.

‘The Happy Housewife’, a collection of writings from Ruth Drew journalist and broadcaster published in over fifty years ago, has some advice on how to wash a tennis sweater… not a thing many of us need to deal with, and even tennis players probably have sweatshirts not sweaters. Even if we do have a tennis sweater, not many of us would be able to follow Ruth’s guidelines…

Here is a tip from a Scotswoman: If you have to wash a tennis sweater – a great heavy thing belonging to a lanky boy or girl – you may wonder how to dry it. Well, turn back the big hearth rug, spread out some strong brown paper, and arrange the sweater on the floor, pulled into the right shape. Then put more brown paper on top. And finally put back the hearth rug and don’t bother about it for a few days! And for four days you must resist the temptation to tweak back the hearth rug and look, but when you do, you will find a perfectly dry sweater – not a fraction of shrink – and pressed to perfection.

I won’t be trying this at home…