How to care for your knitwear
how to care for your knits
Knitwear is not delicate. It is, however, specific. Most of the damage people do to their knits — stretching, pilling, shrinking — is avoidable with very small adjustments to habits you already have.
This is the condensed version. No filler, no scare tactics about ruining everything.
Knitwear doesn't need to be washed after every wear. Airing a piece out overnight after use will extend the time between washes significantly — and fewer washes means less wear on the fibre. Hang it somewhere with airflow, not stuffed back in a drawer.
Cold water, always. If machine washing, turn the piece inside out, put it in a mesh laundry bag, and use the gentlest cycle available. A standard wash cycle will stretch and pull the structure of the knit.
Press water out gently. Then lay the piece flat on a clean towel, reshape it to its original dimensions, and let it dry flat. Hanging a wet knit will stretch it permanently — gravity is working against you.
Hanging knitwear on a hanger — even a padded one — will cause the shoulders to stretch out over time. Fold knits and stack them. If space is limited, a shelf beats a rail every time for anything with structure.
Pilling happens when short fibres tangle together at the surface due to friction — usually underarms, sides, anywhere your bag strap sits. It does not mean the piece is low quality. It means it is being worn. A fabric shaver (a small handheld device, widely available) removes pills cleanly and restores the surface. Use it.
Cedar blocks and cedar rings repel moths without the smell that mothballs leave behind — a smell that is nearly impossible to get out of knitwear. Cedar loses potency over time; sand it lightly to refresh it, or replace annually.
If a loop gets pulled out, use a blunt tapestry needle to ease it back through to the inside of the fabric. Cutting it makes it permanent. A little patience with the needle makes it invisible.
Knitwear that's cared for properly doesn't just last longer — it looks better. The structure holds, the colours stay, and the piece continues to do what it was made to do. That's the whole point.
