No, I haven’t gone out and gotten a new beast for the menagerie…I’m referring to yarn of course. There has been some discussion here and other places on the web regarding the best way to care for a garment knitted out of Shokay yak down. Naturally, the busybody in me decided to conduct a little experiment and share the results with you here.

The first thing I wanted to know about was blocking. There are a few schools of thought regarding blocking methods, and though I normally make things up as I go along rather than follow the recipe exactly,  I will try to adhere to some basic guidelines for the sake of the experiment.

 Steam blocking as I know it goes something like this: In a part of my house that can be closed off from kids and pets I lay a blanket or towel on the floor and pin my piece out based on the measurements of the schematic. I cover the knitting with a doubled pillowcase next and because I’m still searching for a steamer that operates horizontally and has good reviews, I use my steam iron on the highest setting to lightly “float” the iron over the piece. I concentrate on not pressing the iron down but allowing the steam to penetrate the garment. This method makes me a little uncomfortable because I’m always afraid I’m going to flatten the stitches with the iron so I only use it when I’m dealing with a time crunch. When I used this method with the Shokay swatch it had no adverse reactions, but It also lacked that really finished look.

 Damp blocking for me requires the same process of pinning the piece out somewhere where it won’t be disturbed. I then use a spray bottle and water with a few drops of glycerin (for extra moisture and to prevent pilling) to dampen the garment and let t dry overnight. What I hate about this method is that I feel the need to brush my hand over the fabric to help speed along the dampening process since water wants to just sit on top of some garments. When I did this with the Shokay, there was some minor shedding which brushed away easily. Maybe if I didn’t feel the need to hurry the process along it wouldn’t have happened, but I still didn’t think the end garment had the finished look I want.

Wet blocking is my favorite method with every other fiber I’ve tried and yak proved to be no different. I usually spend a good amount of time with any knitted project so it’s common for the pieces to do a lot of traveling as I go about my day to day life. Even though I like to wash my hands before handling my projects, I think its important to give them a nice bath when they are completed. I usually draw a lukewarm bath in a clean sink or bathtub depending on the size of the project. If you don’t have any wool wash I like to add a squirt of lavender bedtime baby shampoo. I submerse the project and leave it alone for probably 30 minutes or so. Next I drain off the water and press (never wring) any remaining soapy water from the piece(s). I then remove the garment while I draw more of the same temperature water for rinsing. I add several drops to a cap full of glycerin to the rinse water and submerse the piece(s) again. I usually do this once my kids are in bed so I can leave it to soak overnight. I have found that soaking relaxes the stitches and makes for a beautiful finished garment. The next day I drain off the water again and place the piece(s) in a mesh lingerie bag and put it in my washing machine’s spin cycle to drain off any excess water. If you don’t put the pieces in a bag of some kind it will stretch and you will want to cry. It is fixable but it’s better to contain your knit pieces in something before using the spin cycle.Then I pin it out to measurements on a towel and leave it to dry thoroughly. The stitches will be perfect and you’ll be surprised how finished it looks. This method worked like a charm and it made the yarn even softer if you can imagine that.

I always wet block the individual pieces and then spritz them for a light damp blocking as they need after seaming is done. It’s not the only way but it is my process.

Now for the issue that I’ve been dying to resolve…is it machine washable?

First I measured my swatch so I would know if there was any shrinkage going on.

5.5 inches wide X 5 inches tall.

I tossed one of the swatches loose into a load of laundry and set it to wash with regular laundry detergent and fabric softener.

 Many, many minutes later it came out looking perfect and measuring exactly what it did pre-wash once I set it straight (5.5 wide X 5 inches tall). It is definitely machine washable though I would caution anyone that it is always a good idea to buy a mesh laundry bag for sweaters (identical to smaller lingerie bags) to put it in. This will keep it from snagging on anything or stretching uncontrollably. It isn’t necessary, but I would also use your machine’s gentle cycle.

After sharing my findings with my contact at Shokay she assured me that there had been much lab tasting on their end as well. She sent me the following:“While we originally thought our yarn could only be dry cleaned, we’re also now aware that it’s totally fine to hand or machine wash gently.  We are removing the “dry clean only” label from our line when the next manufacturing shipment arrives!” 

A bit about drying…

I do not dry knits EVER–even my kids random acrylic items get laid flat to dry. This is the best method to use with Shokay as well, but for curiosity’s sake I threw caution to the wind and tossed it into the dryer with the rest of the laundry to see what would happen.

 As you can see from the photo, it didn’t suffer terribly or end up the size of a postage stamp, but it did shrink a little.

The width shrank to one-eighth of an inch less than the original swatch.

 The length did shrink a good inch though it looks like less in the picture.

The swatch wasn’t as soft and the stitch definition was slightly less so I guess it could be determined that it is a bit susceptible to fulling–felting–whatever.