Caring for your knits
After seeing my pristine show samples – which get worn daily as regular items in my wardrobe – people sometimes ask me how to care for their precious Kettle Yarn Co. finished objects to keep them in such good nick, so I thought I’d jot down a few tips.
1. Always wash by hand. I use shampoo as the ph is suitable for protein fibre. If you can’t wash by hand, soak your item in a tub or machine and then spin on a wool cycle or in a spin dryer. The key is to avoid agitation and wringing. You can also roll the item in a towel and step on it to remove excess water.
2. Block to schematic dimensions till completely dry.
3. Remove pills with a good sweater shaver.
NOTE: Do NOT use a sweater brush as these just break up the fibres in the plies more and cause more pilling in the long run. What you want to do is chop off those fine ends once they have balled up. In a good yarn the balling up will decrease over time as those delicate ends get removed. In a bad yarn these pills are actually coming out of the spun yarn and the strands will weaken as more and more of the plies end up in pills.
I’ve tried quite a few of these shavers and find the large Phillips one in the video above to be the best thus far. I am not associated with Phillips in any way… It is just a great shaver. 
4. Periodically inspect your items for holes and mend as soon as you see anything, before it unravels.
5. Store in air tight zip top bags to keep them moth free.
And that is it. Simple steps that will keep your knitwear looking new for years. After all your work it is worth it, right? 
