Over the weekend I fulled the swatches from Wednesday's post, with only
equivocal success. The washing machine in this house isn't very good.
As you can see, there's a little fuzzing, some uneven shrinkage, and no
loss of stitch definition, even after trips through the wash/dry cycle
with all six of the family's weekly loads.
Swatch 1: Double strand, knit on US #10.5, 3.75 spi, 8 rpi. 15 stitches cast on.
- Pre-wash: 12mm wide x 10mm long.
- Post-wash: 10.5mm wide x 9.5mm long
Swatch 2: Double strand, knit on US #11, 3 spi, 6 rpi. 15 stitches cast on.
- Pre-wash: 13.5mm wide x 11mm long.
- Post-wash: 11.5mm wide x 9mm long. Very distorted
Swatch 3: Double strand, knit on US #13, 2.75 spi, 5 rpi. 15 stitches cast on.
- Pre-wash: 14.5mm x 12mm long
- Post-wash: 12.5mm wide x 9.5mm long
Swatch 4: Single strand, knit on US #10, 4 spi, 9 rpi. 18 stitches cast on.
- Pre-wash: 12.5mm wide x 10mm long.
- Post-wash: 10mm wide x 8.5 (to 11)mm long. Most distorted of all
Swatch 5: Single strand, knit on US #9, 4.2 spi, 10 rip. 18 stitches cast on.
- Pre-wash: 13mm wide x 9mm long
- Post-wash: 10.25mm wide x 8.5mm long
As to texture - all of the swatches firmed up somewhat. There was
very little difference in drape between #4 and #5, although of the two,
#4 was the more fulled. It had spots where the stitches were
almost melded together. Unfortunately it was also the most
unevenly treated, to the point where getting an accurate measurement on
it was very difficult.
I was surprised at how the heavier two-strand swatches turned
out. I really expected to see more shrinkage, and a tighter,
denser fabric with less stitch definition. While they're nice and
dense, I haven't lost the corrugation of the original garter
stitch. I also expected the swatches knit on larger needles to
shrink more in relation to their original size than the ones on smaller
needles.
I wouldn't consider any of the results I got suitable for producing a
knitted bag, but I also don't think my swatches have fulled to their
limit. I am going to try again tonight, working by hand with a
pot of boiling water and a pot of ice water, and see what I come up
with.
One aside - the color in today's swatch photos is much more accurate than the earlier photo.