You found, or even made, an exquisite sweater. It looks like it was designed just for your body and fits you perfectly. The color is perfect, it brings out the blush of your cheeks every time you swipe. You wear it confidently, proudly, and often. But you are so afraid of throwing it in the washing machine that you have been washing it by hand for months. There must be a better way, but is there?
If you are busy and active, you may need to wash the sweater often. Playing with children and pets can get clothes dirty very quickly. If you don’t have time to hand wash your sweater, it may end up on the laundry pile. Then one day your husband or another benefactor may try to help, throw him into the washing machine and be ruined. This is not the way to care for a hand-knit sweater.
It’s not just husbands and benefactors who can irreparably damage your sweater. If you have a cat playing in the laundry pile, its claws can easily catch the sweater. When they try to escape, they will grab your sweater in a big way and untie it.
There are some sweaters you don’t even need to worry about. They’ve never been hand-washed and can be safely thrown into the washing machine. Acrylic sweaters can be washed and dried, but it’s best to pull them out a few minutes early and then string dry. Superwash wool is designed for washing machine and dryer. Cotton can deteriorate if dried too long, so pull it out when damp and hang to dry. Also be aware that colors can flow through cotton.
Some sweaters should never be thrown into the machine. The wool will get wet and shrink. Mohair sweaters should be hand washed, although they are considered safer than wool. Bamboo swells when wet and will never be the same.
If you need to hang your sweaters in the closet, never use metal hangers. There are wide wooden hangers that will ensure that the hangers do not leave marks on the sweater. However, these will take up more space in your closet, so it’s best to put the sweaters in your drawer after washing and drying them.
There’s no reason to ruin any sweater again. With these simple guidelines, even your expensive mohair sweater is safe from accidents. Keep sweaters that require special care separate from your other laundry. If you are going to machine wash your sweaters, be careful not to have anything bleeding on them. I’ve heard horror stories of bleeding colors. Even something as innocent as a pink hat can do a lot of damage, so be careful!
Leave a reply
