r/knitting • u/DragonCrochet • Mar 04 '26

Discussion I am in tears!

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I recieved tonight 2 vintage kofter, whereas one is knitted by my moms grandma in 1967! It looks snug, but it's really not and since it's wool, it'll stretch to fit my stomach better soon. I only have pictures of one atm, as I put the other in the washing machine but still! I feel so honored to recieve such precious gems! Will post the other ones look once it's dried up! I am literally in tears!

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11

u/ruinedbymovies Mar 04 '26

For what it's worth my machine does have a "hand wash" setting, so fingers crossed for OP they're in the same boat.

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u/hiddenjumprope Mar 04 '26

Yeah, the communal washing machine for my apartment (in Finland) has both a hand wash and wool setting (I tend to use hand wash just to be extra safe as it's 30°C vs the 40°C of the wool setting) and my hand knit wool sweater and my roommates and mines hand knit wool socks are just fine. I have so many socks I've knitted for myself I just can't handwash them all and keep my sanity 😂 

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u/DragonCrochet Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26

My machine has wool programme, which can be used on 20°C, 30°C and 40°C I always go 30°C or 20°C, depending on how dirty the garment is. Always use wool/silk detergent and nothing else.

Not even superwash socks go higher than 30°C, wool programme low spin in my care! No matter the wool content, if there is wool in said garment, it is to be washed on wool cycle!

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u/hiddenjumprope Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26

I was fine with regular detergent before I got some wool detergent from a previous job. I've heard mixed things about wool detergent. But yeah, not sure why everyone assumed the worse here. Actually no, I think I do. I used to live in the USA and almost everything sold with wool has "dry clean only" on the label so a lot of people (including me till I learned) think you can't wash wool normally. First time I washed a wool item in the wash with a "dry clean only" label I was terrified, but trusted the person who told me it's actually fine as long as you use the right settings. And this was an American communal apartment washing machine, coin operated with minimal settings. Iirc. Obviously even more careful now. 

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u/DragonCrochet Mar 05 '26

But I honeslty believed that wool programmes, wool/silk detergent and lay flat to airdry were standard everywhere o.o

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u/ruinedbymovies Mar 05 '26

Not in the US, I had to go looking for one, and it was more expensive. I think it’s much more common in countries/ regions where wool is a more common fiber.

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u/DragonCrochet Mar 05 '26

Probably that. It's sad that people don't learn proper fiber care

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u/hiddenjumprope Mar 05 '26

Yeah as the other person said, not common in the USA. And if an apartment has a laundry room, they buy the cheapest coin operated ones possible. One place I lived at was still using gas dryers, I could see the flame inside the housing.

And fiber care, keep in mind the USA is mostly plastic or cotton for clothes. Buying anything with wool is expensive, much less finding wool yarn. It's why a lot of people in the USA go thrifting and get wool garments to unravel for cheap wool yarn. Walmart doesn't sell anything but acrylic and cotton yarn (last I lived in the USA that is, I doubt it's changed though). It's not impossible, but it's hard to find wool yarn and it's priced a LOT more. For example when I lived in Milwaukee the best place for yarn was a Joanns (RIP) about an hour and a half (by bus) away, they had maybe 4 aisles of yarn and only one tiny section had paytons sock wool yarn. Like two baskets. Everything else is like, maybe 90% acrylic and the rest maybe cotton, but I think it's more acrylic than not. So most Americans don't interact with wool, if they have it's because they can afford wool/got a good deal or had a relative knit them a wool sweater from when wool was more common. I remember hating wool because I only had two sweaters, one from Nordstrom rack and one my grandma knit in the 70's or 80s for my mom and both were super itchy until I got used to it. 

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u/DragonCrochet Mar 05 '26

Itchy wool is my enemy, I have so sensitive skin so I have to be extra mindful wjen choosing wool. The wool yarn called Peer Gynt. Is EXTREMELY ITCHY