Care and washing

Read the label

The yarn label carries the same symbols as clothing: a tub for washing with a temperature or a hand in it, a triangle for bleach (usually crossed out), a square for drying with a circle inside for tumble drying, and an iron with dots for temperature. Keep the label or photograph it. If the yarn is a mystery, treat it as the most delicate thing it might be: cool hand wash, flat dry.

By fiber

Hand washing

Machine washing

Use a mesh laundry bag so the piece does not stretch against the drum or snag on zips. Cool water, gentle or wool cycle, low spin. Take it out immediately and lay flat; a wet sweater left in the drum sets its creases. Front-loaders are gentler than top-loaders with an agitator. For anything you are unsure about, wash the gauge swatch first; it is the same yarn and it tells you exactly what will happen.

Pilling and fuzz

Pilling is fibers rubbing loose and tangling on the surface. It happens most on soft, loosely spun yarns and at friction points like underarms and where a bag strap sits. It is not a fault; it is what soft fiber does. Remove pills with a sweater comb or a fabric shaver, gently, with the fabric lying flat. After the first two or three washes most yarns stop pilling because the loose fibers have gone.

Storage and moths

• Fold, never hang. Hangers stretch shoulders into points within weeks.
• Store clean. Moths are attracted to skin oils and food traces, not to clean wool.
• Wool and alpaca go in a closed container or bag for the off season, with cedar or lavender. Neither kills moths reliably; the closed container does the work.
• If you find moth holes, freeze the item in a sealed bag for a week, then wash. Check everything else stored with it.
• Cotton and acrylic are not attacked by moths but pick up damp; keep them somewhere dry.

Toys

Amigurumi with polyester stuffing and embroidered or safety-eye faces can be hand washed in cool water and squeezed in a towel, then air dried standing up; it takes a couple of days. Many acrylic toys survive a mesh bag in the machine on cool, but the stuffing can shift and clump. Never tumble dry a toy with safety eyes; the plastic can distort. For a toy that is loved daily, an occasional surface wipe with a damp cloth is usually enough.

Every pattern in the shop suggests care instructions for the sample yarn in its notes, and it is worth writing them on a tag when you give something away. The person who receives it wants to keep it as much as you want them to.