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| ‘We are knitters’ hackney cardigan in meriwool |
I have knitted 4 garments in meriwool, 3 of which are the Hackney cardigan. I have meriwool in grey for another Hackney, but since it is knitted in double moss stitch and it really takes forever, I decided to test the meriwool in the machine wash before I invest more time and money.
I knitted this is large, but runs small since my tension is obviously tighter. The garment measures 18” wide, 22” long, and the sleeves are 16” long. The garment had never been blocked and had been worn about 6/7 times. See pics below.
My washer is a Maytag Bravos and I set it to hand wash cycle, which automatically programs to cool water. It is 36F outside, so I would say the water is definitely cold. I use Woolite detergent which I had used for years to wash wool and cashmere in the machine. This is my second washer with a hand wash cycle. See pics below.
The water level completely covers the garment, and in the first spin before the rinse cycle, the garment was spinned very fast. I usually choose an extra rinse but because I am skeptical I decided to stick with the one rinse since my garment is not dirty.
The garment came out to 20” wide, 25 inches long, and the sleeves 21 inches. So it had expanded quite a bit. I then put it in the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes with 4 wool dryer balls inside. I have never had to put my cashmere or wool in the dryer in the 20+ years of washing them in the machine. But I feel that I have no choice here. (I always blame the dryer for shrinking my clothes instead of my stomach getting bigger due to my life motto of ‘live to eat’. ) The garment now measures 19” wide, 22” long, and the sleeves at 18.5”. So as you can see, the length is back to the original measurement. The cardigan is about 90% dry at this point, but I do not want to risk shrinking the length more by wanting to shrink the sleeves.
Conclusion: I will think long and hard before I buy any more meriwool. I probably will not knit another hackney until I really have nothing to knit. I do not know how I am going to wash these garments going forward, especially the sparkle raglan cardigan which I knitted in sparkle purple, which the base color is ivory. Debating if I should contact customer service.
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