Maintenance Is The Key
Knitting fabric takes a lot of time and involves a lot of sweat and toil. Wouldn’t it be devastating if the sweater you spent hours knitting didn’t last more than a few washes? I certainly would be shattered if I was not able to use something I have created with such effort waste away too quick. Mostly we would end up blaming the yarn and cursing ourselves for not picking better quality stuff. However, most of us do not ever consider bad maintenance as a probable cause of the fabric’s short life.

Maintenance is the key to long life for any kind of fabric, specially the kind that you have  spent hours knitting. Just a few careful considerations and you can ensure a long life for your knitted fabric. Trust me, it is easier than you can imagine! All you need to do is keep the following things in mind while taking care of you knitted fabrics.

1)    Always wash you knitted fabric in luke-warm water. Cold water makes the garment stiff and hard. It can also cause your fabric to disintegrate. On the other hand, hot water too can be bad for your fabric. Therefore, luke-warm water is ideal for washing your knitted fabrics. Gentle on the fabric, it keeps your knits soft increasing their life manifolds.

2)    Strong detergent might be good for your cotton pants but it certainly is not good news for your delicate knitted fabric. A very mild detergent or even your shampoo would be ideal for your knits.

3)    In addition to using mild detergent, do not let your knits soak in the soapy water for too long. This could be harmful for the fabric and might end up in the yarn breaking up. Soak them in plain water instead for a good 15 minutes after you’ve carefully swirled them around in the soapy water.

4)    Don’t hang your sweater to death! Yes, hanging your fabric, even on a padded hanger, to let it dry will end up stretching and disfiguring your knit. Lay it down on a clean dry towel instead. Be sure to change the towel once it gets wet and to turn the sweater over. It may be a time-consuming process, but it will ensure a long life for your fabric.

5)    Once you’ve taken it out of the luke-warm water, you must rinse it too. However, don’t twirl that sweater to drain the water out or you will probably end up disfiguring it. Gently press it against the corners of the bowl to drain excess water from the fabric. Another trick that works is rolling it in a dry towel and gently pressing.

Keeping these basic things in mind, you can start improvising with the techniques you want to follow for maintaining your knitted fabrics. All in all, anything you knit is delicate and therefore requires a little bit of special treatment so it can last you a long time!