Ruined hand knitted blanket

[FinallyFTM]

My husband has just confessed to putting the beautiful hand knitted blanket his step mum made our newborn daughter in the washing machine. This took her months and was absolutely the most beautiful handmade thing I’ve ever seen and she described it as a ‘real labour of love’. I don’t ever want to tell her. I know nothing about knitting. Can it be saved without her ever finding out?? He’s told me it’s ruined although I am too scared to look… I have a picture of the book she got the pattern from and a WIP pic she sent us. Are there people in the world who would make a replacement?! How would I go about finding a service like that?

Is it actually ruined. Depends what it's knitted from. My knitted baby clothes were fine in the wash. Unless it's real wool

Aare you on Facebook? If so, try searching for Knit n Natter groups, or knitting/crochet groups- they may be able to point you in the right direction.

Have you got a picture of the poor ruined blanket?

Can you post a photo on here so we can see the damage?

Oh I'm so sorry, my DH did something similar to a wool sweater I'd made my DS and it had shrunk and felted so much it had to become a teddy sweater.

You need to check how much damage has been done - some partial shrinking can be undone by hand washing with conditioner and gradually easing it out, but you may have lost stitch definition.

Of course if it was made with synthetic yarns it may have survived! In terms of replicating, it would be very difficult to do, especially if you don't know the yarn choice. It could also cost a lot based on yarn cost and time.

If you have the pattern and an idea of the yarn she used, you can get a replica made. Reach out on local Facebook groups and you'll find someone , or in Facebook knitting groups. He is a Muppet.

I did this to a fair isle jumper I had made for DS. It ended up on a teddy 😭

Have a look at it and see what you can do. If I were your mil I’d prefer to know so that I could make something else. These things happen.

Oh no! If its synthetic you can probably save it?

How ruined is it? How hot did you husband was it at? Like I have two soft hand knitted jumpers, ones 25-30 years old and one's maybe 20 years old. They are still good despite washing at 40. While it's sad if it is ruined, given babies' propensity to sick, wee, poo over stuff, if you mum made it from non-washable wool, that was her mistake.