Squeaky Clean Sweaters

I’ve been pretty grumbly about the weather lately. It has been oddly warm and dry, much to my annoyance. At first I was cranky about not being able to wear tons of hand knits, but then I realized that I had the perfect opportunity to wash all of my things. When I spent my summers in California, I used to wash all of my hand knits and pack them away for fall. When I came back to Washington for school, I’d unpack everything clean and ready to wear. Because of Seattle’s chilly summers, I’ve been wearing my sweaters off and on, washing them as needed. That usually means I’ll have a sweater or two hanging out in the laundry hamper at any given time.

drying

The dry weather made me realize that I had the perfect opportunity to wash everything all at once. I’ve washed everything waiting in the laundry, and I’m moving on to the stuff that would normally have one or two wearings left before I washed them. I love that feeling of putting on a freshly washed sweater. I only have room to dry one sweater at a time so I’ve been washing one every day. It’s not quite as exciting as digging my sweaters out of storage when fall hits, but maybe this will become my new fall ritual.


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3 responses to “Squeaky Clean Sweaters”

  1. Do you have any tips for washing your hand knitted sweaters? I’d love to hear any you have. I’ve just finished my first (a Miette actually) and would love any tips for caring for it and any future knits (this one is cotton yarn).

    1. I don’t do anything too fancy. I hand wash mine in room temperature water using lingerie or wool wash, depending on what I have around. I fill the sink and add my soap. The sweater goes in once the water is off so there’s no extra agitation. I give it a few squeezes to get the air bubbles out, and then I let it soaks 3-5 minutes. I hold my sweater out of the water, refill the sink with just water, and repeat the squeeze and soak. I roll my clean sweater up in a towel to press some of the water out of it, and then I lay it flat to dry like in the picture.

      Sometimes cotton will need to be thrown in the dryer because it stretches out and needs to be shrunk a little to get it back in shape.

  2. I think that’s a perfect new ritual. I bet you’ll get some cooler weather soon! I was pleased to wake up Monday to temps in the fifties. But of course, we are back in the eighties now. But I’ll take it!

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