A Successful Sweater Experiment

Whenever I read sweater care advice, the first thing I see after “DON’T PUT WOOL IN YOUR WASHING MACHINE” is usually “LAY FLAT TO DRY. DO NOT HANG YOUR KNITS.” If you hang knits, especially wet knits, they’ll stretch. Generally you want to avoid that, but I found myself wondering if I could use the stretching to my advantage when I last washed the first sweater I knit without a pattern.

tdr1

It had always been too short with the hip shaping starting too high on my body. The sweater didn’t get worn very often because it didn’t fit well so I didn’t see any harm in experimenting on it. After I washed my sweater, I MacGyvered a way to hang my sweater that still supported the yoke because the armpits are already pretty deep and I didn’t want them to stretch any larger. I left my sweater to dry and then I packed it up for school without ever trying it on.

tdr2

Today was the first time I’ve worn it since I hung it to dry and I have to say that my experiment was a huge success. The hip shaping now starts where my hips start and the length compliments the slouchy, casual fit of the sweater. The only adverse side effect was that the sleeves also stretched longer and need to be cuffed, but I’m a fan of cuffs so that’s not much of a problem.

tdr3

I’m curious what will happen next time I wash the sweater. I don’t know if it will bounce back to its original shape and I’ll have to hang it every time I wash it or if that will just stretch it further. I’m glad I decided to risk ruining it with my initial experiment because I’m quite happy with how it looks at the moment. I’ll have to do a few more experiments to figure out what I need to do to keep it this length, but I think I’ll be a bit more careful with my sweater now that I know that it has the potential to fit well.


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19 responses to “A Successful Sweater Experiment”

  1. Perfect! Hope it stays that way for you.

  2. Wow! Super cool!

  3. Wow! Super cool!

  4. Ok, it’s Cascade 220, right? It’s likely that it will pop back into its original shape each time you wash it. However, I think that could be lessened if you just give it a nice soak in cool water instead of an actual “wash.” Aim for as little agitation and heat as possible, and hopefully it will hold it’s shape!

  5. I’ll bet the shape will hold now that you’ve stretched it. It looks good on you too!

  6. I’ll bet the shape will hold now that you’ve stretched it. It looks good on you too!

  7. It’s so cute! Thanks for sharing your wooly experiments. They’ll come in handy.

  8. It’s so cute! Thanks for sharing your wooly experiments. They’ll come in handy.

  9. I’ve always wondered about that. Good to know it works, thanks. A successful stretching!

  10. I’ve always wondered about that. Good to know it works, thanks. A successful stretching!

  11. It looks great – I’m glad the experimenting worked out. ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. It looks great – I’m glad the experimenting worked out. ๐Ÿ™‚

  13. Perfection! It looks so fab. What a great way to fix your knit.

  14. Perfection! It looks so fab. What a great way to fix your knit.

  15. It’s fabulous. I hope it stays! So so cute.

  16. It’s fabulous. I hope it stays! So so cute.

  17. Hey, kudos for going ahead with the experiment. It’s good to have aim at something when going ahead with experiments, unlike myself, I just washed the first sweater I made – 100 %WOOL in 60’C, thinking, what’s the worst that can happen…even worse happened..a good lesson taught though ๐Ÿ™‚ what material was it knit with though?

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