Friday, December 13, 2013

Stash to Style

While clothes shopping a couple of weeks ago, I ran across a Tommy Hilfiger outlet store.
They had a sale on some long sleeve, v-neck T's.  They were nice...not that tissue thin kind I normally see in stores.  The sleeves and body were plenty long.  And, they had some shaping instead of being baggy and boxy.  I was thrilled.  I tried some on to figure out my size and I was ready to buy a few in various colors.  Unfortunately, they only had my size in one of the colors I liked, pink.

As I was driving home, I realized that a ball of yarn in my stash might go with it perfectly.
It did!  Yay!  I love the color in this "Cottontots" yarn and have been waiting for just the right thing to use it for.  I finally found it!  So, I cast 105 stitches onto size 7, 16" circular needles and got started.
I knit 10 rows, *purled one row, knit one row (*three times), continued knitting 
and repeated it in reverse on the other side and loosely bound off.  


I love the colors in this yarn!



I have one big problem!  I washed the shirt in cold water, dried it on low and it shrunk at least 3 inches!  ARGH!  I can't believe that!  It's a name brand too!  So frustrating.  I didn't even get to wear it with my new cowl yet.  I'm going to wash it again and try the trick I've used on some shrunken sweaters...hold the top of the sleeve in one hand, the bottom in the other and S-T-R-E-T-C-H!
I'll do the same with the body.  Wish me luck!  I really want to be able to wear this shirt!


I'd take it back to see if I could exchange it but the store is about 45 minutes away.
And, since it's holiday shopping time, there probably aren't many left.

15 comments:

Cindie said...

Oh, what a disappointment - hope rewashing and stretching does the trick - especially with that great cowl to wear with it.

I wash so much in cold and hang to dry these days just because of that problem, doesn't seem to matter what the item costs, there can always be too much shrinkage.

Delighted Hands said...

Beautiful job on the cowl! Too bad about the shrinkage...they should know better! Hope you can save it!

Mereknits said...

Gosh I sure hate it when that happens, and frankly it happens all too often. Love your cowl, great colors.
Hugs,
Meredith

Lija Broka said...

Poor you, though mind I personally like your cowl a whole lot more than the top. Good luck with stretching.

judith said...

Shrinkage is the worst. I've been known to hang an item and then weight the bottom of the item by clipping skirt hangers on the bottom and then hanging boots of the hangers on the bottom. The things we do for our fashions...

Teresa Kasner said...

I often stretch my cotton turtleneck shirts to make them feel better on. Try stretching it now, you can do it when it's dry. LOVE the Cottontots yarn.. can you believe they discontinued making it? Good job on the cowl!

❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
*M*E*R*R*Y* *C*H*R*I*S*T*M*A*S*!*
❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉

((hugs)), Teresa :-)

Art and Sand said...

I hate when things shrink - I actually don't dry any of my shirts. I hope the stretch method works.

September Violets said...

The cowl looks wonderful ... I love the colours too :) So annoying that the shirt shrunk, especially for a nice simple T! I ruined a pair of beautiful dress pants once (thankfully I wore them for the special occasion I needed them for), but I washed in cold by hand, hung them to dry, and the pants shrunk about 3 inches shorter than the lining! I was furious ... quite pricey too. Sometimes you can't even trust the label. Wendy x

roxie said...

That just sucks rocks. Hope the stretch-out works. That cowl is the perfect color to go with that shirt!

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

That really is disappointing but I hope you can stretch it out. It sure will look pretty with your new cowl. Stay warm and enjoy your day!

Sandy O' said...

I had the same problem with LL Bean shirts and now am buying from Duluth Trading Co. I think the fabric quality is better and their service is very good. Great looking cowl! You give me really good ideas! Thanks

Neesie said...

Oh that's such a shame and annoying to say the least!
You really have inspired me to get my knitting needles out, if only I knew where to find them.
It's been (cough) years since I did a little knitting.
Your cowl is gorgeous and a beautiful pink too :D

Patty Antle said...

I line dry most of my clothes as do your other readers..hope you can fix your new top. Love your new creation. Nice easy directions too..

benita said...

Besides if you bought another, it'd shrink, too. I do wish factories would prewash fabrics before making things out of them.

lynn cockrell said...

That is really too bad about the shrunken garment, but that scarf is gorgeous!