Gaaa! Laundry crisis chez Sock Knitters!
A select number of our handknit socks are festooned with crud! Like, dusty crud embedded in the knitting that puffs out in little clouds when you pull the sock over your heel. One sock was so becrudded this morning that it was a different color from its mate.
Now, we have hard water and we machine wash the socks and then air-dry them.
In the summer, when we dried them on a clothesline, we had no dusty crud.
We tried drying them on a rack in the basement, and got dusty crud, so we surmised the dusty crud was in the basement air somehow (scary, but not impossible).
So we tried drying them on the rack upstairs, and still, dusty crud. But only on some, which is leading me to think our washer is somehow faulty.
Ask The Blog, the Fool said.
I'm asking - this is a bad, bad turn of events. Winter is coming and we need warm feet.
Now, we have hard water and we machine wash the socks and then air-dry them.
In the summer, when we dried them on a clothesline, we had no dusty crud.
We tried drying them on a rack in the basement, and got dusty crud, so we surmised the dusty crud was in the basement air somehow (scary, but not impossible).
So we tried drying them on the rack upstairs, and still, dusty crud. But only on some, which is leading me to think our washer is somehow faulty.
Ask The Blog, the Fool said.
I'm asking - this is a bad, bad turn of events. Winter is coming and we need warm feet.
Comments
You probably have similar deposits on other clothing, but you're noticing it more on your socks because the nature of knitting and wool traps more of the particulates.
Lisa the Riveter
I second/third what the wise posters said. And also, you may want to consider an in-line water softener in addition to a whole-house filter. If this is a result of really hard water, a filter may only do so much on its own and you'll need to add the right minerals to counteract the problem. Soil alteration is similarly fiddly. Which reminds me I have to plant one million bulbs right now. Crap.
Of course, if washing with distilled water does not make a difference, get the air tested for particulates in the house.
I love the way you think - maybe it was a "trick" by "The Fool" in order to have a perfectly rational reason for needing MORE sock yarn!!
I also agree with the others on the hard water cause