Time to put away all the winter woolies, but they must be clean! So I have begun. I only have two sweater dryers, so I'm washing wool sweaters two at a time. I've used eucalan in the past, which I like very much and doesn't need to be rinsed. I ran out and was too lazy to drive to a yarn shop to buy more eucalan, so I've been using cheap Suave lavendar shampoo. It works well, smells nice, but I do have to rinse the sweaters. It's not really a big deal though.
After washing and rinsing, I squeeze out (don't wring!) the sweaters and lay them on a big cushy towel. Then I roll the towel up with the sweater inside and step it. A lot. Then I lay out the sweaters to dry. I have two mesh sweater dryers, which are just mesh stretched over a square-shaped frame and raised a little bit off the surface of wherever you put them. You should be able to see what they look like in the pictures.
These sweaters are store bought. You'd think that with all the years I've been knitting I'd have a ton of handknit sweaters. I wish! Most of the sweaters I knit are for the kids. I have 3 sweaters and a sweater vest (and a bunch of scarves, shawls, mittens, etc.) that I have knit for myself in my 38 years of knitting. I'm working on bringing that up to a more respectable number. I do have some kid sweaters to wash too, so I can feel like I've accomplished something.On another note altogether, I am anxiously awaiting a skype call from my daughter who has arrived at her host family's house in Sapporo, Japan! She has emailed to tell us that she arrived safely and it sounds like things are going well, but I will feel so much better when I have spoken to her. We have tried really hard to not be overanxious parents.
Perhaps I can find something on TV to watch while I do a little knitting. I haven't done much knitting lately and this is a good day for it.
Shelley in CT
hello Shelley!
ReplyDeleteI saw your comment on my blog and thought I'd come over and visit - we certainly seem to have a LOT of common interests!!
I'm very impressed with your sweater washing - I'm afraid here it's wool was in the machine and then drying flat. Generally very successful, but I did ruin the gorgeous cashmere zip cardigan that my husband likes to wear to the office....I don't know what went wrong, but it shrank and now fits me!! Luckily it was past its best anyway and he wasn't too mad at me!
I'll stop by again to read what your up to if I may!
Helen, I've done a lot of sweater washing in the machine on gentle as well, and last year a couple of my favourites shrunk up, so I'm being especially careful this year. I think I just have to figure out which ones are ok in the machine. It'll save me a lot of time.
ReplyDeleteYou're more than welcome to stop by occasionally. I'll try to do something interesting to merit the visit!