As the warm weather settles in, now is the time to rotate and refresh your hand knits. Let’s face it, you’ve put endless hours, effort, and love into your knitting, so caring for the finished product is an important step in ensuring it lasts. Today I’d like to share some tried-and-true methods for caring for your handknits.
To air out your hand knits, I recommend laying them on a drying rack inside or outside, away from direct sunlight, for a couple of hours. It is never advisable to hang hand knits as this can cause stretching and distortion.
Wool is also naturally water repellant so small spills, if caught right away, can simply be blotted with a dry cloth. Larger spills and ones that have set, may require spot cleaning. To spot clean, wet the affected area and gently rub with a damp cloth and wool wash, lay flat to dry.
When it comes to final wash of the season before you store your hand knits, I fill a clean sink or basin with cool water and a small amount of wool wash, and then submerge the garment, pushing gently to get rid of all the air bubbles. Allow the garment to soak and relax for half an hour. To avoid stretching, carefully support your garment in both hands or gently hold it against the wall of the sink and drain the water completely. Using your hands, gently squeeze to remove as much water as you can. Place your garment on a towel and roll it to squeeze out any excess moisture. Now simply lay your garment flat to dry.
Steaming is another way to quickly refreshen and remove any wrinkles in hand knits in between seasonal cleanings. Remember to always support the garment by laying over a chair back or on a flat surface to avoid stretching.
When it comes time to storing your garment, take care when folding to avoid creasing, and store flat and away from sunlight. Also, a layer of tissue paper in between garments eliminates any possibility of friction or pilling.
To avoid the dreaded 4-letter M word (shhh, moths!), I use small blocks of cedar from my local hardware store, and for added protection, a new-to-me product from Raid that is specifically designed for garment moths.
Caring for hand knits really isn’t that hard and ensures that you will get to enjoy your works of art for many years to come!