This is one of those times where “I have some good news and some bad news.” Which do you want first? I’ll go with the good news. I finally gave my dad’s sweater to him! Just in time for summer LOL. He and Mom were both very pleased and impressed with it. Pictures here are of Daddy in his sweater:
And now the BAD NEWS:
Mom told me that she washed her sweater. I had specifically told her when I gave it to her that it was to be dry cleaned or hand washed in cold water only. She put it in the machine and washed it. It shrunk a little bit and is now slightly felted. She is very upset about it because she knows how much work I put into it. So of course I couldn’t be mad about it. I just kind of laughed it off and told her something like, “Oh well, things like that happen.” All the while I was secretly crying inside because I HAD put a lot of work and effort into that sweater. So I told her that Daddy’s sweater is to not get anywhere NEAR water. It needs to be dry cleaned ONLY. I think (if I understand the label correctly) that the Cumo yarn can be hand washed in cold water, but I don’t want her to mess his up too! Oh I really am quite upset over it.
May 13, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Oh no. That’s simply horrible. I know how that feels, you’re crying, but you don’t want to make the other person feel guilty, but then again, you’re screaming at them on the inside, saying “Don’t you realize how hard I worked on that?”
May 24, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Oh dear! I can’t imagine how awful that must be. And after all that hard work on such a beautiful sweater, too. I am so sorry that happened.
July 26, 2008 at 5:44 am
Well, we have a problem, now what are we going to do about it? That is what my mother would say to us kids, whenever there was an incident or whatever. Then we would discuss how this could be avoided or what was going to have to be done about it.
So, your MOM is used to washing everything in the machine, and she is probably very proud of how clean she keeps everything, including her sweaters. This is a Red Heart Moment, or some other mostly acrylic moment, and your mom will love her new sweater and wear it with such pride. When my daughter was sticking up her nose at Red Heart, you know she had become a yarn snob and a needle snob, I knitted a few things with nice yarn with little wool in it, although she is very aware of the need to wash the knitted things with added care and time, I still try to use person appropriate yarn.
Now that I have been knitting for a little time, I do prefer to knit using the gorgeous yarns that are available to me.
I once painted a porcelain vase with red poppies, they were the first red poppies I had tried, and the vase was gorgeous. I was so excited I pulled it from the kiln went out to my car, opened the door and set it on the seat, reached for the door, to close it and the vase rolled out onto to the curb. It only bounced once and on the 2nd landing it shattered. I think I felt the same way you did over the hand knit sweater for dear ole mom.
NUFF
Sally
July 26, 2008 at 5:48 am
Your Dad’s sweater is very handsome. Wow, you knit beautifully.