Quick review: Gleener

Every single time I buy a depiller I go on a rampage with it the minute I get home. Not just clothes, but sofas, pillowcases, cushion covers…Emptying the catcher of its little cloud of coloured fluff becomes the most satisfying thing in the world, like a teeny tiny lawnmower. It’s almost housework, but…not. 

I was always too scared to use any kind of electric depiller on my handknits though. Truly a first world problem, but a problem nonetheless.

Enter the Gleener! As recommended by scores of people on Amazon, and the Knitmore Girls. Jasmin said it made her handknits look like new, and I believed her.
  
Okay, so there’s no catcher. Or batteries. So it’s less fun. But it does work. It comes with three interchangeable ‘blades’ for different types of fabric, from fine to coarse, and a lint brush on the other end. It’s basically sandpaper wrapped around a bar.
My Amadeus, worn to death, was looking so ratty I was about to retire it. It was very hard to Gleen because it is quite a loose knit, but it came up well in the end. The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Stellar, 50% wool, 50% bamboo.
Halfway through, left side of body Gleened, right side not.
  
The Gleenings. So fluffy! 🙂

  
I did my Fireside cardigan too, wondering how it would go over cables and reverse stockinette, and it was surprisingly good. I would not say that it came up “like new”, but it certainly looks younger.

  
Of course I Gleened Atticus Finch. He was not amused.

  
Then Dougal Maguire. He fell asleep.

  
This thing is not cheap, and the floundering Australian dollar doesn’t help. But when it saves my favourite handknit sweater from the ’round the house only’ pile for another season, then I conclude it has paid for itself. 🙂

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