When Non-Knitters Get Knitted Gifts
A good friend of mine is bald and always complaining of feeling cold. So last year I knitted him a brioche stitch watch cap out of Bartlett Yarn fisherman weight in a nice heathery brown color that I think is no longer around. He loves it. So much that he was wearing it every day after moving to Boston this fall. Yesterday I received this message from him: "I just did a stupid thing to the hat you made for me... I washed and dried it, of course it shrank. So, I tried to stretch it and made a hole. I have been wearing this forever (literally everyday)and I was so disappointed. It's been protecting me from chilly Boston weather."
Of course today I am running out to my LYS to pick up some thick wool (Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride bulky for fast knitting) to whip up a hat as fast as I can. And I'll have to knit in a warning system that reminds him how to wash it! Has this happened to any of you? How do you tell non-knitting recipients to wash the gifts you've made for them?
2 comments:
That's happened to me, too. I'm sure there are more elegant, prettier ways to do this but when I give a knitted (or crocheted) gift, I include an index card that lists the pattern name, what I made it in, the date, and specific washing and drying instructions for this item. I punch a hole in the card and thread a yarn sample on it and tie it to the gift or tuck it in the gift. I figure if you're giving a guy a gift, he'll tuck the index card in a drawer but when he needs it, he'll remember which drawer and if you are giving a gal a gift, she'll tuck it in her recipe box (if people still use them) or someplace where she'll remember where it is.
I keep a little recipe box in my laundry room for just those kind of things and make cards up for the more-special projects of mine that I might not remember specific laundry instructions on. I_am_, after all, at an age where my memory is not as reliable as I'd like---but then, I've been at that age all my life. lol
Hi Yvonne,
I told my friend but didn't do what you did. I already made the new hat; I'm sending the ball band with it. It has washing instructions on it. Hopefully he'll be more careful, since he's upset at the loss of hat #1.
My washer has a hand-wash cycle. Anything I'm not sure of I do on that cycle. A card box would get knocked over by the other family members doing laundry. Anything that works, right?
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