How I take care of my handknits

I wish I could say that I have a wardrobe full of handknit items made throughout the years, but I don't, or at least not yet. I have a few handmade items that I wear in heavy rotation and a list of things I want to make for myself. I have been culling my wardrobe lately and figuring out what I really enjoy wearing and what I feel comfortable in and my plan is to slowly replace my old and ruined store-bought sweaters with handknits.
Handknits almost feel like objects from another era, when things took time to make and raw materials were expensive so the objects had to be long lasting and well made. That is what I love about them. That, and the fact that they are unique pieces that I can make exactly the way I want them to be as far as color, shape, size and pattern are concerned. When properly taken care of (there have been a few accidents in the past, I have to admit) my handmade items have always stood the test of time and lasted very long.

To store the items I never hang them in my closet as this can ruin their shape, I keep them folded and add moth repellent sheets in my drawers and on my shelves to avoid finding tiny holes in them. Some people choose to store off-season items away in boxes and keep their handknits in air tight plastic bags when out of season but I have a small enough wardrobe  that I keep everything out all year, I have separate shelves/areas for warm and for cold weather items. What I do though, is I try to keep the shelves clean by regularly dusting them and wiping them down with a surface cleaner.

When it comes to washing the items, it depends on what it says on the yarn label.
(Side note: except for a few older items where this information is only written on the product listing, all the items in my shop have tiny tags on them where I add the information written on the yarn label regarding the way it has to be washed and cared for).
Depending on what the yarn label says, I divide my handknit pieces into two categories: things that have to be handwashed and things that can be machine washed. The method I use for handwashing and machine washing my items is the same both for warm weather cotton items and cold weather woolen items.

If the item has to be handwashed, I fill a basin with lukewarm (actually just barely warm) water and add a mild detergent to the water. I soak the item in the water, leave it in for a few minutes and then swirl it around a few times. Then I empty the basin and rinse the item with lots of lukewarm water making sure never to wring the item, only to squeeze it to allow the soap to get washed out without ruining the fabric.
Once all the detergent has been washed out I squeeze the item well one last time and lay it flat on a light colored, dry and clean towel. I roll the item up in the towel as if it were a falafel wrap (yum) and press it down with my hands so that the towel absorbs as much of the water as possible.
Then I place the item on a flat breathable surface to dry, usually my drying rack (I don't own a dryer, I hang all of my laundry to dry on a rack), making sure to place it in a way that doesn't alter the normal shape of the item.

If I already have clothes hanging on the rack and I am afraid that the colors of the hanging clothes might run off onto the handknit piece, I place a light colored towel underneath it to protect it.
I never hang my handknit items to dry when they are wet because they might stretch out and lose their shape because of the weight of the water. If that were to happen however, washing the item again and laying it flat to dry in its correct shape should solve the issue and bring the item back to its normal shape.
Sometimes, once the item is almost dry, I will hang it for a bit on a hanger to give it some natural drape but this is totally optional.

 As far as the machine washable items are concerned, I wash them using the quick wash 15 minute cycle (or, if I have to wash them in a washing machine that doesn't have this option, the delicate/wool cycle) and lower the spin cycle speed to 600 rpm. Also, I always adjust the temperature to 30° celsius (which is 86° fahrenheit for reference), even if the yarn label says you can go for more. I do this both to be absolutely sure not to ruin the items and to save on electricity and be a little more eco-friendly.
I use a mild detergent and fabric softener and put a little less than what the label says.
When I take the item out of the washing machine I either lay it directly to dry the same way I do with the handwashed items, or, if the piece of clothing comes out of the machine soaking wet (which can happen since the spin cycle is on low), I will do the falafel wrap thing I do with the handwashed items and then lay it flat to dry.

One last thing I'd like to mention is how to avoid having clothes that smell like a wet dog in winter and epecially in fall when the heaters aren't on yet. It's all nice and easy in summer when you can put your drying rack outside and have your clothes dry nicely in the fresh air (but make sure not to place the drying rack in direct sunlight as some yarns may lose some of their color if dried under stark sunlight), but what about those coldish humid days in early fall before the heaters are turned on?
The only thing I can suggest in this case is to space out the things on your drying rack, trying to avoid putting too many things at once on it, so that as much air as possible can flow between the items.
If it's not raining open the windows for a bit and let some fresh air come in and once the handknit item is just slightly humid and no longer wet, hang it on a clothes hanger and let it dry off completely before putting it away. This allows the item to dry quicker because there is more air flowing around it, but it should be done when the item is no longer heavy with water to avoid stretching it out.

That's all I have for you but there are many articles online on how to store and take care of handknit items that you might want to read if you want more information.
These are the methods I use and they are quite easy and not too time consuming and help me keep my handknits lasting as long as possible. Good luck!

Paris details

Last month, right after New Years, we took a train to Paris to go visit a few friends who live there.
I had been to Paris once before when I was 12, and I remembered it being a gorgeous city, yet it managed to blow me away with its beauty as if it were the first time I went.
Since anything I could possibly write about how beautiful Paris is would just end up being cliché and trite, I though I would just show you a few pictures I took of small details that grabbed my attention while I was there. My boyfriend was perplexed at the amount of pictures I took of the rooftops in Paris, but how could I not when they looked like this... 

It was freezing cold but I proudly wore my black merino hat I made last fall (I had been wanting to make myself a black hat similar to this one for ages, and finally managed last November, as evidenced by this instagram picture I took of the work in progress).

An F.O. for myself

I finished this hat and scarf set for myself over the summer (I somehow managed to get a little winter knitting done even though it was really hot) and plan on wearing it all winter...The scarf came out a little short because I didn't have that much wool, but it looks cute and I can wrap it around enough to keep me warm. I had originally made a slightly different hat but it came out too big for me so I ended up giving it to my mom and making a new one...I think this set will get worn very often this winter!

Ho finito questo completo di sciarpa e cappello durante l'estate (stranamente son riuscita a lavorare anche un po' per l'inverno nonostante il caldo) e penso che lo porterò molto quest'inverno...La sciarpa è un po' cortina perchè non avevo moltissima lana, e inizialmente avevo fatto un cappellino diverso che però era venuto fuori troppo grande...ma la sciarpa riesco a girarmela intorno al collo abbbastanza da tenermi caldo, e il cappellino nuovo è venuto fuori perfetto (l'altro ho finito per darlo a mia mamma) e son contenta...mi serviva un completo di questo colore, penso che lo userò un sacco quest'inverno!

 

My own handmade stuff and a sneak peek!

Most of the things I own that I knit for myself are really really old, this sweater for instance, that I actually wore yesterday, dates back to when I was in middle school. The yarn is a thick cotton and the quality must have been amazing because it doesn't pill and it didn't stretch or sag anywhere...maybe maybe it shrank a little, that could be the case because the sweater is very short, but maybe that's because of a combination of me being too lazy to make it long enough and the fact that it was in the late nineties and we wore our sweaters short, remember? And I must have grown too, I guess..

La maggior parte delle cose che possiedo fatte da me a maglia son vecchissime, questa maglia rossa che indossavo ieri, ad esempio, l'ho fatta ai tempi delle medie. Avevo usato un cotone spesso la cui qualità era incredibile se si pensa che la porto e la lavo da più di dieci anni e non si è ne infeltrito ne smollato. Forse forse si è un po' ristretto perchè la maglia è molto corta, ma quello potrebbe anche essere perchè uno ero troppo pigra per farla più lunga e due erano gli anni novanta e le maglie si portavano corte, rammenterete...e poi magari nel frattempo sarò anche cresciuta!

This is a project I'm working on now, it's going to be a triangular shawl/scarflette, and it is the first time (or second, after a failed attempt) I'm making a triangular scarf using the traditional method of increasing with YOs. For some reason I found it confusing (it really isn't at all), and I could never really figure out how it worked...but now I got it and the scarf is coming along just fine, and let me tell you, after months and months of wool, working with fresh cotton feels like heaven...and the cotton I'm using is really lovely, it's really shiny, don't know how much you can tell from the picture...but trust me, it's great.

Questa è una cosa alla quale sto lavorando al momento, si tratta di una sciarpina triangolare ed è la prima volta (o meglio, la seconda se conto un tentativo fallito) che faccio una sciarpina triangolare usando il metodo tradizionale degli aumenti centrali e laterali con maglie gettate. Non è per niente complicato ma per qualche motivo non riuscivo a capire bene come funzionasse, ora ho capito e la sciarpina sta pian pianino prendendo forma. Inoltre dopo mesi e mesi di lana lavorare con del bel cotone fresco è una sensazione bellissima, poi questo cotone in particolare è molto bello, è lucido e fa risaltare bene il punto coi buchini che sto usando...non so quanto renda dalla foto ma fidatevi, è fantastico.

My own handmade stuff

Today I'm wearing something that is handknit, but this time not by me...this is a sweater my mom made for me back when I was in highschool. The yarn is beautiful as far as the colors are concerned but sadly the quality was not so great...it started pilling straight away after the first time we washed it. Every once in a while I'll shave it a little, which helps, but we've both used better yarns in our long years of knitting. She used a pattern in an old magazine but changed the sleeves a bit and the pattern included some colorwork which she did not do because the variegated yarn was pretty enough by itself. Regardless of the pilling I still love this sweater and keep wearing it often, it's also really really warm!

Oggi sto indossando una maglia fatta a mano, ma questa volta non da me bensì da mia mamma, quando facevo ancora il liceo. La lana è stupenda per quanto riguarda i colori ma purtroppo non era di buona qualità...ha iniziato a infeltrirsi e a fare i pallini già dal primo lavaggio. Ogni tanto ci passo un po' un rasoietto e questo aiuta (tecnica infallibile quella del rasoietto bic) ma diciamo che entrambe abbiam lavorato lane migliori nei nostri lunghi anni di lavoro a maglia. Aveva usato un modello preso da un vecchio giornale, cambiando un po' le maniche e non facendo lo jacquard indicato nel modello visto che la lana mélange era bella abbastanza da sola. Nonostante la qualità della lana questa maglia continua a piacermi molto e continuo a portarla, e poi guadagna punti extra perchè è caldissima!

F.O. but this one's for me!

For the first time in a very long while I have finished a project for myself! This scarf and hat are made with yarn my parents got me a while ago from the mountains, I love the color, and I kind of really needed a matching scarf and hat...yup yup, happy with the results!

 

Per la prima volta in molto tempo mi sono fatta qualcosa per me stessa! La lana per questo cappello e questa sciarpa era un regalo dei miei di un po' di tempo fa dalla montagna, il colore è molto bello, e mi servivano un cappello e una sciarpa uguali (per quanto possano servire questo genere di cose), eeee posso ritenermi soddisfatta del risultato!

My own handmade stuff...

 Today I am wearing a top I made ages ago, as in, about ten years ago, and that I have hardly ever worn. It is definitely the strangest thing I ever made for myself. I got the idea from a knitting magazine, but I didn't use the pattern from the magazine, I just flat out copied the idea of a top made up of two pieces held together by fringes. The double shoulder strap was my idea though, even though it's a little annoying because the strap that is supposed to stay up falls down like the other strap that is supposed to stay down. And another annoying thing is the yarn: it's actually a very pretty ribbon yarn, but it gets caught in everywhere. I think I never wore this outside of the house, it's not that I don't like it, I enjoy the fact that it is a little out of the ordinary, it's just that it's a little odd and I haven't really had the courage to wear it outside. Today might be an exception though...I don't know what I'm doing this evening, if I'm staying in or going out...we shall see...

Oggi sto indossando un top che mi son fatta un sacco di tempo fa, circa dieci anni fa, e che non ho praticamente quasi mai messo. E decisamente la cosa più strana che io mi sia mai fatta. L'idea l'avevo presa da un rivista di maglia anche se non avevo usato il modello, avevo solo spudoratamente copiato l'idea di un top formato da due pezzi tenuti insieme da delle frange. La doppia spallina però era un'invenzione mia, anche se è un po' fastidiosa perchè la spallina che dovrebbe stare su cade in continuazione come l'altra che invece dovrebbe rimanere giù. E un'altra cosa fastidiosa è il filato: si tratta di un filato a fettuccia, molto bello in realtà, però che si impiglia ovunque. Penso di non aver mai indossato questo top fuori casa, non perchè non mi piaccia (apprezzo il fatto che sia un po' particolare) ma perchè essendo un po' strano non ho mai avuto il coraggio di indossarlo per uscire. Oggi potrebbe essere un'eccezione, ma non so, non ho idea se stasera uscirò o se starò a casa...ah, le mille incognite della vita...

My own handmade stuff

As I mentioned before, I have very few handmade items of my own (handmade by me, that is) because I usually either made things for others or to sell them...
Today I wore this little green cotton sweater I made ages ago (seriously, I was in middle school...it's that old):

Come ho già detto un po' di tempo fa, possiedo poche cose fatte a mano da me perchè ho quasi sempre fatto cose per altra gente o per venderle...
Oggi però indossavo questa maglia verdina di cotone che ho fatto tantissimo tempo fa (stiamo parlando dei tempi delle medie):

It's actually quite funny that I still wear or even like this particular sweater cause, honestly, it's all kinds of wrong...it's way too short (always has been), way too wide and it twists on itself in a weird way, but yet...I like it! The effect of all these flaws combined is that it looks like a loose cropped short sleaved sweater and that makes it pretty wearable! I also wear it often in winter with long sleeved tops underneath. And what's really amazing is the quality of the cotton, this piece is more than 10 years old and the yarn is still perfect, no pilling, no stretching, still shiny and soft. I'm in awe. I remember I bought it from my favorite yarn store, next time I go I'm going to try to see if I can figure out which yarn it was and if I find it I'm going to buy a significant amount for my (dangerously ever-growing) stash.

In realtà è abbastanza strano che io continui a portare e anche solo aprezzare questa maglia perchè, sinceramente, è venuta fuori sbagliata in tutti i modi possibili...è decisamente troppo corta (e lo è sempre stata), troppo larga e si attorciglia tutta su se stessa in modo strano, eppure...mi piace!

L'effetto che creano tutti questi difetti messi assieme è che sembra una maglia corta e morbida, fatta apposta così e di fatto è molto mettibile...la porto spesso anche di inverno con sotto maglie a maniche lunghe. E la cosa straordinaria è la qualità del cotone, questo capo ha più di 10 anni e il cotone è ancora perfetto, non ha fatto pallini, non si è deformato, è ancora lucido e morbido, veramente notevole. Mi ricordo di averlo comprato nel negozio dove vado sempre, la prossima volta che vado voglio cercare di capire che filato fosse e se lo trovo voglio comprarne un bel po' da mettere da parte (come se non avessi già i cassetti che debordano di lane e filati vari).

Sometimes, rarely, I make things for myself too...

Even though I have been knitting for a long time I have very few handknitted garments of my own.
I learned how to knit when I was about 8 yrs old, at first it was just scarves and purses (I still have a really funny colorful scarf I made from leftovers from my mom's yarn stash, I might post a picture of that someday) then, later on, I learned how to make sweaters from patterns and made a few of those. But most of the time I would make stuff for other people, I liked trying to figure out other people's tastes in fashion and making things they would like and actually wear.
Then, two years ago, I decided to try and sell what I made...
In all this time I only made very few garments for myself, but I thought I would showcase my own handmade stuff on the blog every once in a while...

Anche se lavoro a maglia da molti anni, possiedo poche cose che mi sono fatta io. Ho imparato a lavorare a maglia quando avevo 8 anni, inizialmente facevo solo sciarpe e borse (ho ancora una sciarpa buffa tutta colorata che avevo fatto da piccola con avanzi di lana di mia mamma, magari una volta posto una foto) poi ho imparato a fare maglie seguendo i modelli e ho fatto un po' di quelle.
Generalmente però facevo cose per gli altri, mi piaceva cercare di indovinare i gusti altrui e fare maglie che sarebbero piaciute e che le persone avrebbero poi effettivamente indossato. 
Poi, due anni fa ho deciso di iniziare a provare a vendere le mie maglie...
In tutto questo mi son fatta poche cose per me stessa, ma ho pensato di mostrarne qualcuna ogni tanto sul blog...

Today for instance I was wearing this top I made five years ago...
The brown cotton was a gift, for the stripes I used leftover cotton from various other projects and I followed a pattern from a magazine but changed it up a bit by adding stripes, by adding panels on the side (because my gauge was wrong and the top was way too tight), by not using ruffles on the neckline like the pattern said and by using some strange lace pattern on the bottom.
On the whole think it's not that bad, and I keep wearing five years later...

Oggi per esempio indossavo questo top che ho fatto cinque anni fa...
Il cotone marrone era un regalo, per le righe avevo usato avanzi di cotone da altri progetti e avevo seguito un modello da una rivista ma lo avevo cambiato un po' aggiungendo le righe, aggiungendo dei pannelli di fianco perchè non avendo fatto il campioncino mi era decisamente troppo stretta, non mettendo ruche sullo scollo a differenza di ciò che diceva il modello e aggiungendo una lavorazione a pizzo un po' strana sul bordo inferiore.
Nel complesso non lo trovo male e continuo a metterlo anche cinque anni dopo averlo fatto...