My hand knitted wool sweater has stretched out over the years. Is there anyway I can shrink it just a little without it becoming a sweater for my Son? I know nothing about knitting so I thought maybe someone here did and would be able to help.
Thanks in advance!
Jen...

I saw on martha stewart one time where she showed washing the sweater (I think in warm water) and then laying it flat to dry, she took a shirt that she knew fit her perfectly and laid it on some cardboard and traced the outline , then put clear contact paper or something on it and then used that as a guide to lay her sweater on for drying, fitting it to the image on the cardboard...........maybe if you google martha stewart and wool sweater you can find somehting.........it was a few years ago that I saw it, it was on her old show I think before she went to jail.

It depends on how stretched out it is. If it's only stretched out from normal wearing, I'd either steam block it or wet block it. Here's a blocking tutorial from knitty.com that explains both processes in more detail.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter02/FEATdiyknitter.html

For wet blocking - swish the sweater around in lukewarm water with a bit of detergent. Rinse well - squeeze don't wring. Roll the sweater in some towels and step on them to get the excess moisture out. Lay the sweater out on some plastic (I cut open trash bags for this and I lay the plastic on either a mattress or my carpet). Smooth sweater into shape/size you want. I'd use some stainless steel pins on the sleeves, the top and bottom edges and your button bands (if you have them) to make sure the sweater keeps its shape while it dries.

Good luck!

Thanks guys! I will deffinately try those tecniques!
Jen...