Care of your HerdwickyTIE
First thing - we can't say this too often - DRY CLEAN ONLY. And we repeat, this is not to say that you can't sponge off the odd stain: just don't put it in the washing machine/tumbler drier.
The Herdwick is a hard-wearing sheep, and it follows that its fleece is equally robust. You'll find you won't be cleaning it that often, but you may occasionally want to crisp it up with a careful pressing. Lay a clean towel on the ironing board (this will help to preserve the texture of the moss stitch); soak a pressing cloth (handkerchief or teatowel will do nicely) in cool water and wring it out. Use a steam iron if you have one, but if not, the damp cloth will produce enough steam by itself.
Press from the rear side, lying HerdwickyTIE out on your ironing board - you will almost certainly need to do one end first, then turn it round (unless you have a VERY long ironing board). Lay the damp cloth between the iron and the tie.
Touch the iron lightly over the point end, and then peel back the damp cloth to make sure that the point is evenly balanced - tweak it slightly if it isn't. When you are sure it is fine, press a little more heavily, but don't thump it! You are not beating steel, you are merely lightly pressing a piece of frabric. And you are not ironing - no smoothing up and down. Your granny probably taught you this, but pressing means vertically lowering the iron on to the protected article; holding it there briefly, and then lifting it up again. All this is to preserve the shape, which might be stretched by the classic ironing motion.
If you can, leave HerdwickyTIE to dry on the iron board; if you can't (maybe there is a mound of ironing waiting), slip it over a chair back or a coathanger with a bar, and hang it somewhere out of trouble. Don't put it back in its tin until its dry! And you roll from the thin end, so that the main point is kept as flat as possible.... (Perfectionists will also make sure that the upper face of the rolled HerdwickyTIE is level, so that it looks really cool in its tin.)
