I admit, we were a dry cleaning family before I was introduced to the wonderful world of knitting. We didn't do it often but we thought that was how to get a wool sweater clean. Anyway, I have 2 cardigans that got dirty almost immediately after being dry cleaned (baby peed on one, got some sort of foodish type something on the other). I recently decided to hand wash them after they sat around the house, unused, for a few months. When I washed them you should have seen the stuff that came off them. It was gross! Lots of fine dirt, the water was a terrible color, the color of water that has given a dirty dog a bath. And I remember that I hated the way they smelled when we picked them up from the cleaners (that chemical smell, not that they did something unusual to them). So it got me thinking, how clean do they REALLY get things?

I don't think they "clean" at all - I think its all chemicals masking the underlying problems (dirt, smell, whatever). I do have things I dry clean of course, dont get me wrong. But I have learned - don't ever send one piece of a suit - they come back different colors. Those chemicals cannot be good!

I've had the same experience. I never dry clean sweaters because of it. The filth that came out and the softness that returned after washing made me a believer. The only things I'd dry clean would be something like a wool coat or jacket.