Knitting instructions

Barbara Breiter

After spending untold hours laboring over knitting a sweater, you'd like it to look as good after ten washings as the day you finished it. Here's how I care for my hand knits.

Filling the basin with tepid water, I use a teaspoon or so of shampoo to wash the sweater with. I've always thought that if shampoo was made to eradicate oils and yet be mild, it was the perfect product for washing sweaters. Let the sweater soak for fifteen minutes at least. I "agitate" the sweater with my hands for a bit.

Drain the water and press the sweater against the basin to extrude some excess dirty water. Rinse with more tepid water as many times as it takes until the water is clear. I add a small amount of liquid softener as this point, particularly with cottons; without the softener, I find cotton stiffens up considerably after drying unless it's a fine Egyptian cotton.

Again press the sweater against the basin to extrude some excess water. Lay a towel out flat and place the sweater out on the towel. Roll the towel up with the sweater inside. This removes a great deal of water from the knit.

I always use a screen type sweater dryer, available from many mail order catalogues. I have never measured out the sweater, made cut outs of the sweater on butcher paper prior to washing, or any other such time consuming steps I've seen written about. Frankly, I've never had a problem with the sweater not returning to its original shape. After laying it on the screen, I just gently shape it and try to "push in" the ribbing, particularly with cottons. Cotton ribbing will eventually spread out and I've not thought of a way to avoid this; I always end up using elastic thread in a color to match the yarn and it works great.

Common sense will tell you to never hang a sweater, not even on padded hangers. To fold so that there are a minimum number of creases, I first lay the sweater flat. I then fold in the arms. Then, on the horizontal, fold the left third and the right third until they meet in the middle. Finally, fold in half vertically.

Knitting instructions