My uncle gave my parents a Pendleton wool blanket as a wedding present in 1947. When my mom moved to Florida, she passed it on to me. It is still going strong. No matting, hardly any pills, beautiful blue colors. She is 90, I am 50, and I suspect it will outlast me.

Definitely a BIFL.

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So it looks like it's wool, which means that you can hand-wash it unless the dye absolutely requires dry cleaning. Wool felts with heat/friction, so you want to wash it the same way you'd wash a nice wool sweater, except in a bigger container. When wool felts it shrinks. The blanket is probably already felted but if it's recommended that you don't wash it then it probably has the potential to shrink more and you don't want that.

The way I'd do it is fill my bathub partially with cool water (doesn't need to be ice-cold or anything and it doesn't need to be a ton of water), add a small amount of shampoo or gentle laundry detergent, and let the blanket soak for a few hours. Then swish it around in the tub without agitating it too roughly and when you're satisfied that the sweat and oils have had a chance to wash off, start rinsing. Drain all the water out, squeeze the blanket out gently and replace with clean water. Do this a few times. (This is why you don't use large amounts of shampoo or detergent, because you'll be rinsing it out forever.) When you think it's rinsed clean, squeeze the water out without wringing.

If at all possible, lay it flat to dry. If not, you can get most of the water out by rolling it up in some towels and squeezing, and then try to support it as much of the weight as possible while it's hanging so it doesn't stretch out. Wool is *heavy* when it's wet.

If it gets stained, spot-treat the stain and dab it out, don't rub.

The good news is that wool is a fantastic material. It's breathable in a way synthetics aren't, so it wicks sweat away and doesn't seem to get nearly as smelly as synthetics do. It still feels warm even when it's wet. It's biodegradable.

The bad news is that it is scratchy. Virgin wool is better than some heavy-duty wool I've knitted with, which has the approximate texture of a heavy-duty dish scrubber. And it will get softer over time... but it's not going to be as soft as acrylic or microfiber. If it continues to bother you, use it with a top sheet or duvet cover and then you can have the benefits of wool without the itchiness.

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It's a quality product made from natural fibers, with non-slave labor, and it lasts for a generation or more with proper care. If you want to be warm, there's a lot of options. If you want the particular attributes I listed in the first line, there aren't many. Hence the excitement when someone finds one at a thrift store for pennies on the dollar. More on reddit.com

Tl;dr: Don’t get Eco-wise A wool blanket is so much more comfortable than a fleece or cotton blanket, even in summer. I would not recommend the washable model. The process which makes it washable removes some of the inherently desirable features of wool: thermal regulation and moisture management. Washable wool also lacks the elastic recoil of regular wool, and gets stretched out and baggy. A wool blanket rarely needs to be laundered. For routine care, shake it out vigorously once or twice a year. Spot clean, steam or dry clean if there’s been a major spill. Do not use an Army surplus blanket on your bed. They are treated with chemicals to protect them from insects and rodents. Even the one issued to me direct from Uncle Sam was tagged to indicate that it had been treated with DDT, which was long after this chemical had been banned from civilian use. If you want to go the thrift store route, wool blankets are easy find. Often all they need is a cleaning and a new binding. Blanket bindings are simple to apply, and are available in multiple colors at fabric shops. These are typically made of a satin-like synthetic fabric, which can feel cool on the skin. I prefer to make my own replacement bindings from a strip of flannel. If you don’t want to do this yourself, hire a seamstress. If you’re really into re-use, you could also make a patchwork quilt using wool pieces cut from thrifted blankets. They make a lovely top layer on the bed. If you don’t care for the colors you find, it’s easy to make coordinating colors by using kool-aid powdered drink mix as dyes. For a real treat, also get a wool mattress pad. I have a washable wool fleece pad on one bed, which is heavenly, and just use a wool blanket under the bottom sheet on the other beds. This makes the bed much cozier in the winter because the mattress isn’t pulling off all your body heat, and makes it cooler in summer because the wool absorbs and dissipates your body moisture. Another option if you have time and/or money to burn, is to take up knitting and make your own blanket, either as a monolithic panel or a patchwork design. A hand knitted blanket is an heirloom you can use and enjoy every day, and—knitting is fun! And just a rant: I don’t know what process Pendleton uses to create their Eco-Wise product, but that name is a laughable marketing gimmick, if for no other reason than that it’s an unnecessary adulteration of a natural product, neither eco- nor wise. Moreover, the typical process used to render natural wool washable involves a lot of synthetic chemicals which eat away the outer fiber tips of the spun yarn. It’s these tiny fibrils which latch onto each other and pull tightly together which cause shrinkage. But that’s also the feature which makes natural wool such a superior fiber. More on reddit.com