I'm a grown-up, and you'd think I'd have a handle on this by now, but it mystifies me. How do I wash my sweaters without the sleeves becoming a mile long, or the waist part getting stretchy? I rarely wash my sweaters (because once I do, they never look nice again), but sometimes I have to! Here's my method (obviously something is wrong with it): Put in the washing machine, cold water, gentle wash cycle, gentle/slow spin cycle. Take out of the washer and lay flat on a towel to dry.
Can anyone help me? I love my sweaters!

By Colette on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 12:26 pm:

What are they made out of? Cotton? Wool?

By Janet on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 12:36 pm:

Not wool (I destroyed one of my dh's Irish wool sweaters last year, though... )--some are the cable type, one is a loosely woven one you have to wear a shirt under,...I'm feeling pretty dumb right now that I can't give you a good answer.

By Marg on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 12:40 pm:

Are they part acryllic? Or however you spell it! If it is mine keep getting longer and longer and longer...

By Janet on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 01:03 pm:

Oh, probably...I'm at work, and I don't remember what the labels say. So Marg, what do you do?

By Marg on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 01:10 pm:

You're gonna laugh Janet, I've tried it both ways, your way, and in hot water and the dryer only thinking they will shrink, even doing the instructions on the sweater, nothing worked for me

Sorry, I just thought they might be made of that stuff, it just seems to grow on it's own;)

By Marg on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 01:11 pm:

However, I must tell you, I had a favorite sweater made of that stuff, and I would have it dry cleaned, and I used those at-home dry cleaning bags. It took years before it grew!

By Colette on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 02:20 pm:

I hand wash mine and dry them flat either on a rack or on a towel.

By Kathym on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 02:36 pm:

Ditto Colette

By Amy~moderator on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 03:37 pm:

I use the hand-wash cycle on my washer, then lay flat to dry.

By Janet on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 03:54 pm:

OK, dumb question alert!! If you hand wash, how do you squeeze all the water out before laying it flat? (Those puppies can get pretty heavy)

By Feona on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 03:56 pm:

Try hand washing them. I messed up a nice sweater in the washing maching. Flat try sounds right too.

By Eve on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 03:56 pm:

I'm really bad then. I just wash in the regular cycle and hang on a drying rack. I usually only buy 100% cotton sweaters. I think they wash better than acrylic. Silk, I just toss in the wash. (I'm not the best example, I know. LOL!)Wool, just dry clean.

By Ladypeacek on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 03:58 pm:

when you take it out of the water to dry get a towel and lay it loosely on the towel and the roll the towel up and then push down on it gently, then lay it out on a dry towel to finish drying, thats what i do!

By Mommyathome on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 04:18 pm:

My DD has a wool sweater that we dry clean. I'm not even going to attempt doing that myself LOL

The rest of the sweaters I just wash in the washer on the delicate cylce. Then I lay them flat on the counter to dry. That way I can shape them if I need to.

By Marcia on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 - 08:29 pm:

I wash them with the regular wash. Some I hang to dry. The ones I hand knit I throw in the dryer. My friend lays them on the dryer, and I used to, but now I just throw them in. They're all fine, and they've been worn for years.

By Bea on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 12:40 am:

I wash all my knits, no matter what the fabric content is, in lingerie bags, in cool water, on the regular cycle. I toss them in the dryer for 5 minutes to release the wrinkles, and hang, or dry them flat, as instructed. If they can be dried in the dryer, I always dry them on low heat. The lingerie bags keep the knits from pilling.

By Janet on Wednesday, April 14, 2004 - 09:27 am:

Thanks for all the advice...I think I'll try the hand washing/roll in towel/lay out flat technique and see if anything changes. I'm hoping to put my sweaters away soon!!! This winter in April business we're having in Illinois is downright idiotic, if you ask me (which nobody did, LOL).