Thursday, January 24, 2008

Question for the Knitters

This question is about sock yarn.

I knit a baby sweater out of sock yarn. It's for a friend who needs a low-maintenance quality to her baby clothes, but appreciates the finer qualities of wool. I knit the sweater and now I'm to the blocking phase of the knitting process. I've soaked the wool (I know it can be machine washed, but I wanted the sweater to have that nice lavender scent wool wash has) and now I'm wondering--can I lay it flat to dry or would it be better off if I ran it through the dryer? Does this type of yarn really need to be dried in the machine? I remember reading that superwash wool really needs to be put through the drier so that it will retain its shape.

Can anybody help me?

Also, I'm wondering if anyone knows about the flame-retardant qualities of sock yarn.

Lord, I feel like a nerd.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it depends on the yarn... I would read the label. Some superwash wool should NOT go through the drier.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. I've never come across anything that actually advised putting superwash wool in the dryer. My experience and what I've read indicate that air drying is the way to go.

As for flame-retardant qualities, I have no idea. I'm sure it's no worse than regular wool (which is flame retardant), and definitely better than polyester.

Angoraknitter said...

I was hoping to see if someone else knew the answer...I would never put wool in the dry. I've only heard to lay it flat to dry on a towel...once my garments are all sewn together though, I usually hang them on the line.

Knittymama said...

I agree, I avoid the dryer, superwash or not. Whenever my superwash stuff sneaks through the dryer, it always seems to shrink a bit.

I'd guess it's still flame redardant, unless there is nylon in it. You can always take a few inches of leftovers, head to the sink and light it to see what happens.