Okay, for those of you who may not know, I have dogs. Three dogs. Three large dogs that go outside and inside and outside many times a day.
Grace, Duncan, Jack
I also like to knit more than I like to clean house. Those two things mean that my socks typically have quite a bit of dog hair attached after I’ve worn them, and hand washing them in Eucalan just doesn’t feel like it’s getting them clean. So now that I’m down to my last clean pair of handknit socks, I’m asking for advice: how do you care for your socks? Do you hand wash? Machine wash on delicate? Lay flat or put in the dryer? What’s been successful for you?
On my needles this weekend is a new cowl, called the Growing Leaves cowl. I spotted the yarn in my stash recently and it immediately made me think of a work friend. I could make her a gift, I thought! Well, it’s a lace cowl in fingering weight yarn and I have other projects calling my name too, so it might not get done by Christmas. But since she has no idea it exists, I think I’m okay.
And the best news of the day?? The girl comes home tonight for winter break! That’s almost a whole month we’ll have her home! Maybe I’ll even get her to sit and knit with me one evening! I bet if I share some good yarn with her, it’ll happen, don’t you think?
Happy Friday, friends!
bonnyknits 
That cowl is going to be gorgeous! It’s great you have your daughter to knit with!
Thanks! It is pretty neat, though I wish she hadn’t waited until after she went to college to get into it! 😉
Well better late than never!
I machine wash with cold water in the delicate cycle and I hang dry them on this hang dryer I ordered from Amazon.
Inoutdoorkit Folding Travel Clip & Drip Hangers, Portable Plastic Clothes Underwear Socks Laundry Drying Hanger Rack With 12 Clips For Home Or Outdoor FPH12 (Light Purple) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071HK2NB5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_oqScCbX3NGAAG
That’s so cool!!! I love it! Thanks for sharing!
Yay daughter person!
I wash a bunch of my socks in the machine on delicate in one load. I used a mild dye-free laundry soap. Then I either hang them on the clothes line outside (my knitting neighbor loves when I do that) or hang them to dry on a clothes rack. Recently I bought some lingerie bags and I plan to use those in the machine after having a sock get snagged.
I was mine in lingerie bags in the washer on cold, and lay them flat to dry on top of the dryer.
I have knitting friends who wash them in the washing machine, but I’ve always been too afraid of accidentally felting them to do that. (I know, use cold water… but I get forgetful about washer settings.) Personally, I hand wash mine in Soak, then lay flat to dry. And I consider any cat hair that remains to be a design feature. 😉
Well, I took the plunge and put them in the washer on delicate in cold. Good news: they didn’t felt! But there was still plenty of dog hair left, lol!
Great that they didn’t felt! One of these days I will get up the nerve to do that (and will hopefully remember to set the machine to cold). Pet hair does tend to embed itself in handknits, though, no matter what we do.
Beautiful cowl! I handwash my socks. I just soak them in soak for about 20 minutes, sqeeze them gently, roll them up in a towel to get more water out, then hang on a rack. It doesn’t take long, and I like that they look new longer.
The question isn’t how to wash your socks. It’s how to get the dog fur off😵