Sock Update : Can You Unshrink Knitting ? 24 June 2024

I wanted to write an update on this pair of socks. I wrote about the final result of the making process here.

_{Exhibit A : bright colour, bright orange cuff of about 5cm in length.}

At the time I was really pleased with the result and got so many compliments so I gave the pair of socks to a friend.

My friend wore the socks for a few days and then put them in the wash with her other socks. Check what happened :

_{Exhibit B : less bright colour, less bright orange cuff of about 2.5cm in length.}

I tried to show a fair photo of the worn socks : one immediate point is that they're not so bright now. A more important point is the cuff which has shrunk about 50% of its original length. That length difference would not be such a big issue if it still fitted. The real problem that my friend pointed out is that the cuff was now too tight so sadly she can no longer wear them. She still liked them and asked if I knew of a way to unshrink them. That's precisely what I've been doing.

I should add here and partly in response to @casv's kind comment that the reason why there was 'shrinkage' is due to the fibre content of the yarn used to knit the orange cuff (100% wool) while the body of the sock was knitted with acrylic yarn. The former normally shrinks the latter does not shrink at all. This is because acrylic's a man-made fibre. I did not envisage having to deal with a shrinking problem. That's one good thing about the craft of knitting : there's always something new to learn - new techniques or details to improve. I certainly have learnt a valuable lesson.

In order to try and find a solution, I've been researching options and checking what to do with the pair I was knitting here. Fortunately I had not progressed a lot more because I've been really busy at work, but I'm tempted to just unravel what I've knitted so far to avoid potential fitting issues.

My search question was Can you unshrink knitted socks? It's found that the general advice is to soak the garment in either hair conditioner or fabric softener and then 'stretch' it to shape. Here's just one of the pieces of advice. I will investigate that option and come back to let you know what's happened.

I also found a very clear You Tube video on how to 'wash your knitted socks' to increase their longevity and preserve their colour:

---

One big consideration is of course that I personally may want to take the trouble to do all that to keep my knitted socks in 'pristine' condition, but if I give them away as presents, will my recipients have the time to do all that? I highly doubt it.

Thank you for reading !