Rules For Caring For Summer Yarns…

This is taken directly from Handknitting.com’s newsletter, here: http://www.handknitting.com . Be sure to sign up, lots of good stuff!

If your yarn is a natural fiber, you should be able to avoid dry cleaning completely if you want, because all natural fibers have been processed with water somewhere along the production process.
Don’t put it in the dryer unless the ball band specifically says to do this. Even then, don’t put it in the dryer with anything that will cause friction (heavy fabrics like jeans) or snagging (velcro, bra hooks, big buttons, etc). Never use “hot”–the “low” setting is best for knits.
When machine washing any knit item, always turn it inside out.
For best results use a mesh lingerie bag, on gentle cycle, at the stated temperature. The temperature you see on ball bands underneath the washing machine symbol are in Celsius degrees. 20 degrees = cold water, 30 degrees = warm water, and 40+ = hot. If its going in the dryer, keep it in the bag.
Always set your rinse cycle to cold.
If your yarn is synthetic or silk, you should follow the laundering instructions on the ball band. Silk should never be put in a washing machine.
If you want to machine wash and/or dry you must do a gauge swatch, and then launder the swatch as you plan to launder the finished item. Even in preshrunk yarns, there may be some change in the gauge.

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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