My merino wool cardigan has shrunk in the wash - can it be saved???

[MamehaSan]

That's it, basically!

It got put in with the main load of 40° washing and has come out a couple of sizes smaller than when it went in.

Is there anything that can be done to save it, or does it need to go to the big laundry basket in the sky?

[MinesAPintOfTea]

Wash it on a delicate wool cycle and dry flat, just in case. But the structure of wool means that when its overly agitated it locks together tighter on every fiber. There is probably nothing ti be done.

[barleysugar]

I'm sure I saw somewhere that hair conditioner and cold water then gently teasing it back in shape works. But have never tried it sorry!

[DionChappie]

Nope. It's had its chips. I would put it on a favourite teddy as a reminder. sorry, I'm making light of it but I remember the desperate annoyance only too well. My experience. There's no rectifying it.

[TelephoneIgnoringMachine]

I (actually DH) did this to cashmere merino jumper of mine once. AFAIK there's nothing you can do. Perhaps it will fit a child, try to salvage something from it?

[RaisingSteam]

Nope, you can't unfelt wool and it will be too thick and out of proportion to be a jumper for a smaller size.

You can make all sorts of up cycled things out of felted jumpers though.

I feel your pain, DH shrunk my cashmere jumper the other week.

[MamehaSan]

Hm, I might try the washing and stretching but my gut feeling is that it's a gonner. The welt (?) where the buttons and button holes are seems to have shrunk less than the rest, so it's sort of crinkled up in waves. It feels different too, like it's been felted.

Ah well, thanks all for your replies, I thought it was worth asking in case there was a miracle cure I didn't know about.

[SixtyFootDoll]

Ha DionChappie I shrank a jumper that belonged to my husbands late uncle that was given to DH.
I have a very smart large teddy bear now, in a lovely green v neck sweater.

[looki]

The stretching using conditioner technique didn't work when I tried it on a wool jumper before. While the garment stretched a little, it stretched in the wrong way, it was wider (but not wide enough) still too short and one side was longer than the other and the overall texture was off. I spent days trying to pull mine back into a wearable condition but it ended up in the bin.

[MamehaSan]

That's my thought's exactly, looki: I'll spend hours stretching and pulling, only to end up with a sad, mis-shapen ex-jumper!

[MinesAPintOfTea]

Housekeeping tip: I now have a separate delicates wash basket stood next to the main one. Even 3yo DS knows that jumpers go in there not the main basket and I deal with it every week or two with a delicates cycle and wool wash. Not mentioning what I lost before I set up those system

[nipersvest]

what colour is it?, buy my book and make something out of it

[RaisingSteam]

These are from the book - you start to see shrunk jumpers as valuable raw materials!

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

I have been making a lovely woollen rag rug out of the old jumpers I have got through in the last ten years or so - very satisfying!

[nipersvest]

raisingsteam, they are lovely!

[DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn]

I would love a shrunken wooden jumper... I look for unshrunken ones in charity shops purely so I can shrink them but only ever find washable wooden ones.

[Footle]

I bags that poster's felted cashmere - gold dust to me.