Few things
Everyone at work has been admiring my new green shirt – we’ve gotten to discussing laundry, actually, as nearly all of my button-downs have shrunk frustratingly (as indicated by the cuffs).
Apparently, it’s pretty standard not to use the dryer with button down shirts, even if they’re ordinary cotton or cotton blends. I thought that was only true with silks and such.
So, if I want to maintain shirts that are the same length when I put them on as when I bought them, I guess I have to do a special shirt load that I hang dry. I’m not particularly excited about that – I’ll have to start using fabric softener, I imagine, instead of dryer sheets, as well.
This weekend is Construct in Ann Arbor, and I’m geeked. There are a number of panels I hope to be participating in, free food (with membership) I totally intend to nom, and people I want to chill out with unrepentingly.
From the internets: The Golden Institute was created by President Carter after he defeated Ronald Reagan, in order to make the United States the most energy-rich country in the world. Check out the video (click the full-size button!) to see some of the projects they worked on! Now that we harness lightning, can you believe we used to pay other countries to provide us with liquid fuel?
Hrmm, the hanging shirt concept sounds like too much a pain. I just buy my shirts way larger. 3xl shrinks down nicely to my size.
That’s weird – I put Kip’s cotton-blend button-downs in the dryer all the time, and they’ve never shrunk.
Putting anything in the dryer usually leads to shrinkage. I will put things in the dryer on a cold setting. Shirts I will hang dry. I have also bought them in a larger than necessary size in case they do shrink.
You should be able to get away with washing your shirts on warm and drying them on low — I do it with my office clothes, and they hold up okay.
Unfortunately it looks like I probably can’t make Construct — my friend is in town and my husband is coming down with something — so, AWWW DAMMIT, I really wanted to.
But still I want to drag my boy to another potluck (one where perhaps we can bring something with a bit more introductory value than goat cheese), and I still hope we can help out with Pengui(n)Con!
I’m sorry to hear you won’t make it – we intend to do some serious relaxing!
I hope to see you again at a wednesday after Construct, and to meet your mister!
After I finish up my costume tonight, I believe I”ll be going down there to hang out with the people putting it together. I took Monday off, too, so I think sunday will be a smaller version of the con itself. miniconstruct, if you will. :D
You guys and your naming conventions…in my mind, this is starting to become a convention about building things with matchsticks and magnets and tape–!
See, if you were coming, you could totally run that panel. :D
We used Toobers and Zots.
:)
FANTASTIC. \o/
If you dry things on Low for slightly less than the time it takes to dry them fully (so they come out slightly damp) you can then gently stretch them back to size a little after each wash – hang to dry the rest of the way.
I agree with Jer though, that you should shop for shirts that start out a little big, and anticipate some initial shrinkage in the wash.
I need to do laundry tonight – for tomorrow I head to Construct! Hopefully the weather will clear enough to mow my lawn tonight as well.
The problem is that larger shirts aren’t necessarily “larger” in the ways that they will compact. Also, that if I’m buying 2x shirts that fit me, 3x shirts are entirely unavailable unless I go to Big and Tall (which is mucho expensive).
I was things currently on warm, and use the mid-range cycle on the dryer at home (permanent press, I think it’s called).
yeah, try switching to cold water for washing anything except sheets, towels and underthings (undershirts, socks, etc), and you could probably stay on permanent press but go grab your clothes out after 20 or 25 minutes. Or switch to low.