Caring for Hand Knits

While I make a point of saying all my items are made of acrylic yarn (at least by default), which allows you to be pretty rough with them, I thought I would take this opportunity to explain how to prolong the life of your hand knits and how to care for other fibers.

Washing

Most people will recommend hand washing an item, regardless if it is machine washable (the yarn label will indicate this, and I will pass that information along with any item I make). If hand washing, gently agitate your item, but do not wring or scrub as it will cause distortion and wear. Rinse your hand knits with cold water until the water is clean. (Some wool washes say you do not need to rinse. I usually opt to rinse anyway.)

If you do choose to machine wash an item, I would recommend using the gentle cycle with cold or warm water as well as putting your item in a garment bag to prevent snags and pilling.

You will want to use a gentle detergent, baby shampoo, or a wool wash on your items. My favorite wool wash is Eucalan (which does have an unscented version, for those of you with fragrance allergies) and I use it for all of my personal hand knits. If you have a lanolin allergy, do not use wool wash--choose your detergent according to your needs.

Items made with acrylic can be generally thrown into the washing machine on a regular cycle. Hot water will not cause acrylic items to shrink. However, for longevity, I would recommend following the machine washing suggestions above.

Items made in cotton (or other plant fibers) can be machine washed as well in cold or warm water. Again, follow the machine washing suggestions above. Hot water can be used for particularly dirty items, but keep this in mind when it comes time for drying.

Items made with wool (or other animal fibers such as alpaca) will full (or felt) when washed in hot water with high agitation, causing shrinkage. Woolen items are best hand washed in cold or lukewarm water with little to no agitation. Hot water may be used, and is sometimes necessary with particularly dirty items, but make sure to avoid agitation. Superwash wool is designed to be machine washable (gentle cycle), but I would recommend erring on the side of caution.

Drying

Always support your wet knit items from underneath, as they will stretch when being held from the top only.

Not all yarns can be dried in a machine (this is also indicated on the yarn label and passed on to you with your purchase). If you do use a machine, taking the item out while still slightly damp will help keep the shape*.

If you are air drying your item, gently squeeze out excess water after washing. You may also want to roll the item up in a towel to further remove excess water.

I would recommend against hanging any knit item. The weight of the wet fabric will cause the item to stretch, and sometimes the items will stay in this distorted shape never bouncing back to their original form.

Most knit items benefit from blocking, or being laid out to dry in the desired form (you can use either a dry towel or a drying rack). Knit garments particularly are apt to stretch out as they are worn, due to gravity. Larger items may only get one wear before needing to be blocked back in to shape*.

*Small and infant items are not as susceptible to losing their shape, so if you do choose to completely machine dry or hang dry, you are not likely to have these issues.

Acrylic items can be put into a dryer, but keep an eye on them for pilling. While this is a normal occurrence with knits, and some commercial clothing, you may want to avoid it if possible. Pills can be removed afterwards if necessary with a tools like a sweater shaver or velvet clothes brush.

Cotton items can be machine dried. Sometimes this will actually help restore the item to its original shape. If you needed to used hot water to clean a particularly dirty cotton item, be aware that using a machine dryer may cause shrinkage.

Wool items should not be put in a machine dryer. They do best with the air drying method described above followed by blocking. Superwash wool can be machine dried, but again I recommend watching your garment for shrinkage or erring on the side of caution and skipping the machines.

Storage

Knit garments lend themselves to folding better than hanging (gravity strikes again). I would recommend not folding the same way every time to avoid potential permanent creases. Rolling is another viable option for storing your hand knits.

Acrylic items need no special storage beyond what I recommend above for all hand knits. Acrylic yarn is very resilient and since it is synthetic, it does not maintain moisture as long as natural fibers nor does it attract pests.

Cotton items should not be put away until completely dry. Damp cotton has the potential to mold, and nobody wants their special items lost to mold. Because of this, you also want to make sure your cotton items can be set out to dry quickly after washing.

Wool items again need the most care. Wool items are susceptible to moths. To avoid moths eating your items, make sure you wash them before storing. Routinely clean the area you store woolen knits (i.e. dust dressers, vacuum closets). You may also opt to store your items an an airtight environment, but make sure the bag/box you use is completely dry first.

If your items do get infested with moths, laundering them is the best attack. In this instance, you may want to take your item in to a dry cleaner, as woolen items should not be washed in high temperatures. Other options involve freezing the item below 18°F for several days or putting it in the oven at 120°F for at least 30 minutes. Afterwards, you will want to hang your item in the sun and brush it out.

What about dry cleaning? Most knit items do not need dry cleaning. However, rayon yarns may benefit from dry cleaning as the fibers get weak when wet.

What about stains? As with any other clothing, stains set over time. Due to the nature of yarn, stains may be a little more difficult to get out over time. Try to catch stains as quickly as possible and wash the item as soon as possible to avoid permanent stains. Keeping the stain moist, or using travel stain removers (e.g. Tide sticks, Eucalan wipes) also help prevent setting.

A Little Info on Tunisian Blankets

I recently made a tunisian blanket for a customer. The blanket was ordered as part of a gift for a newborn living in Texas, however this kind of blanket tends to be heavier than a normal knit or crocheted blanket. Luckily it was a local order so we got together so I could provide her with a few swatches of varying thicknesses in order to make sure the little girl would not be overly warm this summer.

That being said, I thought I could provide a little more information about this style of blanket to my online customers. I did not want to clutter up my swatch gallery with this information, so I am making a separate post.

Tunisian style crochet (or afghan crochet) is a style of crochet that is often compared to a mixture of knitting and crochet, technically and visually. The process itself involves picking up a row of live stitches along a long hook, much as you would pick up stitches along a knitting needle, and then crocheting across these stitches one by one until the end of the row. This means that I am essentially working each row twice. Also, if you look at my swatches, you will notice what appear to be columns of Vs (which are characteristic of knitting)

The fabric created using tunisian crochet is considerably less elastic and substantially thicker than a typical knit or crocheted item. I do want to point out that while this means the fabric is dense, the blanket itself will not be stiff. This may affect your decision in a few ways:

• The blanket will not stretch out much, so you may want to consider this when choosing your size (particularly if you want it to be used into the toddler years)
• This means no little holes for fingers and toes to poke out, which is ideal for harsh winters
• Dense fabric may not be ideal for warmer locales, particularly during summer
• If you do want a tunisian blanket for someone in a warmer locale, consider the large stitch option
• The extra thickness may be ideal for travel or changing tables, due to the cushioning
• Due to the extra time and materials, these blankets will cost a bit more than a regular knit or crocheted blanket of the same size. These blankets also take about twice as long to make.

I do not want to discourage this type of order, but I do want you to understand what you are ordering as well as why it costs more and takes longer to make.

Now, I did mention the large stitch option, so let's get into that a little bit...

Typically I make tunisian blankets using a thin yarn and an average hook (for those of you that are fiber crafters, this means baby/fine weight and H/5mm hook). This creates a pretty sturdy fabric that holds up very well to travel and washing machines. I live in the Chicago area, and this blanket was perfect for our winters.

For the blanket that would be winging it's way to Texas, I played around with different options. I used a much larger hook, but to avoid making the blanket very lacey/holey I also had to use a thicker yarn (again for you fiber crafters, this means worsted weight and L/8mm hook). This created a fabric that was a little less dense. Due to the increase of yarn thickness, it was about as thick as the regular tunisian blanket, but the increase of hook size made it a little airier (the stitches were not as tight together, making the blanket less dense and also providing a slightly lacey texture and appearance allowing for more air flow through the blanket).

You can choose either option, depending on your needs. I would like to point out some key differences in terms of time and cost however:

The regular tunisian blanket took me about 6-8 weeks to complete, whereas the large stitch took about 4 weeks. A typical knit/crochet blanket takes about 2 weeks, sometimes I can rush these and complete them in 1 week (if they are of a smaller/newborn size). I can make accommodations on occasion and finish your item faster than quoted, but it all depends on my other orders, my day job, and my homework load.

Due to the fact that I am using almost twice the amount of materials, and working at least twice as long on a tunisian blanket, the costs are going to be a bit higher. Do not be surprised to see your blanket priced $15-20 higher than a non-tunisian blanket of the same size. If you order a gift set, I will offer a large stitch discount (usually $5-10, depending on the set).

I hope you have found this information helpful. If you have further questions please feel free to ask and I will update the information to reflect them.

I will not sticky this post, but I am going through and updating my tags for easy searching. You should be able to type in the item you want info on (e.g. blanket or tunisian blanket), or you can do a general search for product info. I will also try to find a simpler way to provide you this information in the future, as I begin making more posts about other products.

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or requests. I regularly check my blog for comments, my etsy shop, facebook, and my email n_n

Recent Baby Gift Sets

This past month I had 2 custom orders, one of which was rather large, and two baby gifts for coworkers to work on. Now that they are all complete and my real life has settled down, I finally have the time to make a post about them.

My first custom order was a Stars & Stripes baby cocoon and hat. The customer's husband is an ex-marine and she had seen a picture of something similar online and thought it would be a wonderful idea for their newborn pictures. Knowing me from work, she contacted me and asked me to make one. How cute and sweet is that?!

If you have any great stories to go with your purchase, please feel free to share. I really love hearing them, plus I get to know you better and the items feel more special once they are made n_n

Another great story, although on an order from February, was the one behind the twin dragonfly booties. The customer was having twin boys, but really wanted to do a dragonfly theme because she had a chest painted by her late mother that she wanted to put in the boys' room (it was painted with dragonflies). She saw my original yellow dragonfly booties and contacted me. The two of us worked together to get her two pairs that would fit the bill.

Anyway...going back on track. My large order this past month was a doozy! The customer wanted a Tunisian blanket, and while beautiful they take a lot of work and time to make. The gift was for her boyfriend's niece who was having her first baby  (a girl!). The customer wanted to go all out, so she ordered the blanket, a pair of mary janes, a sun bonnet, and a fairy plush.

Since the deadline for my large order got pushed up 2 months (after making all arrangements, the customer found out about the baby shower! so I rushed to get it done early), I hit a bit of a time crunch the last two weeks and was knitting and crocheting away like made to finish some gifts for two of my coworkers, both of whom are having their first baby (and they are both having boys).

~*~

As always, if you see something you would like duplicated (or changed), please contact me. It doesn't matter if I sold it in my shop or just shared it here as a personal project--I want to make you the perfect gift!