This weekend I finally got round to washing my hand knits. Many months ago, when I believed that warm summer weather was imminent, I collected all our winter woolens together with the intention of washing them and putting them away in vacuum bags to protect them from the moths (of which, in our house, there are many). Instead of just getting on and doing this I chose to store my precious hand knitted treasures first in a heap on the bedroom floor and then, when I was forced to tidy the house for James’s christening, stuffed on a shelf in the wardrobe. I have been very much aware all this time that I was providing the moths with an open invitation to come and have nibble. Fortunately, they seem to have resisted the temptation.
Being a novice sweater knitter and having only a select few handknits I was too scared to stick them in the machine. I’m not too worried about the wool. Most of them are knitted in Rowan Felted Tweed, which, according to the ball band, is machine washable. I have washed the boys’ Christmas jumpers this way and they have turned out fine. I am more concerned that if I subject them to the rough and tumble of the washing machine they might just fall apart. This isn’t really very likely as they are all knitted seamlessly, so there are very few places where they could come apart. Anyway, having spent so much time knitting them and only having had one winter’s use out of them I didn’t want to chance it. So, I handwashed them in the bath.
I find the idea of handwashing my knitwear also slightly terrifying (which explains why I have been putting off this task for so long). What if the water is too hot, or too cold? What if they shrink? Or the dye runs? What if I accidentally jiggle them about too much and they turn into felt? Fortunately none of these terrible things seem to have happened, so now I just have the challenge of getting lots of wet wooly jumpers dry in the less than optimal British weather.
Two Christmas jumpers, my shalom cardigan and Bobby’s tomten jacket (modelled beautifully in this post here). I couldn’t wash Bobby’s Christmas jumper as he decided to wear it. Yes, he wore his Christmas jumper in June. He loves it so much and the fact that he loves it and wants to wear it six months out of season really makes me smile.
Making, Baking and Raking 