Have You Put Your Sweaters Away for the Season?

My guess would be that for most people in the Northern Hemisphere, we are coming out of sweater season. Through the cold weather I don’t wash my sweaters every time I wear them (because they don’t need it) but it’s always a good idea to make sure everything is clean before you store them away for months. Sweat and skin particles on your sweaters can attract bugs, and it’s just nice to know when sweater season comes around again that everything is fresh and clean.

If you happen to have a top-loading washing machine, it’s actually really easy to bulk wash your handknit (or storebought but in need of hand washing) sweaters. Hunter Hammersen has a very detailed description of how she does this on her Patreon (you can view it even if you are not a supporter). I think this is brilliant, and if I still had a machine like this I would definitely do it this way.

I don’t though, so I use buckets. I have a bunch of five gallon buckets, though I still tend to only wash one sweater at a time. I fill them with lukewarm water and a couple of pumps of baby shampoo (if it’s good enough for human hair it’s good enough for sheep hair). Then I add the sweater and let it sit 20 minutes or so.

I drain the water and rinse in the sink, then press out as much water as I can by hand and then by rolling the sweater in a towel.

I have enough drying racks that I can wash four or five sweaters in a day, so working around drying times and when I need my dining room table, it takes a few weeks to clean everything at the end of the season. But it’s really satisfying when you know everything is clean.

Do you have a system for washing sweaters and other cold-weather stuff at the end of the season? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Hunter Hammersen.]

Next Pattern:

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.”

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them.

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits.

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves.

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit.

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy.

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]

Next Pattern:

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