if your yarn says it is machine washable,

[dakatzmeow]

so i have some wool that says it is machine washable. i'm knitting a hoodie for my 4yo so i know it will take some abuse.

my question is: would you hand wash? or do you think machine washing is ok, in general, if the label says the yarn can handle it.

edited for clarity.

[lissalue]

i am all about anything that makes my life easier, which is why i bought machine washable in the first place. i would wash it on gentle though, and probably lay flat to dry. depends on the fiber content and what i made for those.

[Ingrid]

I don't think a yarn will say it's machine washable unless it definitely is. I've seen more yarn go the other way--say to hand wash and it turns out to be machine washable.

I'd wash it on gentle, and if it's acrylic, or an acrylic blend, dry it in the dryer until just dry. Sometimes acrylics stretch in the washer and go back to size in the dryer.

[Lieke]

Just knit a swatch and wash it like you are going to wash the sweater. If you ruin the swatch, you now know at least you shouldn't wash the sweater that way and you've only ruined your swatch.

[SandraEllen]

Just knit a swatch and wash it like you are going to wash the sweater. If you ruin the swatch, you now know at least you shouldn't wash the sweater that way and you've only ruined your swatch.

Now why didn't I think of that???

[cookworm]

For me, it depends on what the FO is. If it's kind of delicate with lots of laciness to it, I hand wash it. If I'm "suspicious" that the yarn might pill if it's machine washed (even if the label says it's safe to do so), I'll machine wash a swatch of it, and if it changes the fabric at all, I'll hand wash the FO. Typically, I like to machine wash stuff because it's easiest to do, but with stuff that I've taken the time to knit, I want to make sure it stays nice a long time.

[AnreeAce]

I've used the knit-a-swatch-and-wash routine... so far so good!

[MaryS]

I'll usually machine wash it, but inside out, in a sweater bag, and lay flat to dry. For some items I'll only buy washable yarn - like socks. I love to knit socks, but I don't like to hand wash socks.

As Dr. McCoy would say,

"Darn it Jim, I'm a knitter, not a laundress!"

Hurray for superwash wool!

Mary

[psammeadred]

Public service announcement in case anyone else ran into this woman: A lady who runs a LYS in my city (whose store smells like tobacco smoke !) told me that "all sock yarn is machine washable." Not so!

I would wash it by machine, because I'm lazy like that.