What's it made of?

I shrink cotton sweaters by washing in hot water & then letting them dry
flat.  Hanging will stretch them back out.  A tumble through the dryer might
not be bad, but it will lead to pilling.  I have one of those shavers that
works pretty well.  Wool sweaters will shrink in the wash since most are dry
clean only, but again you have to be careful of pulls and pilling.

If it has any polyester, it probably won't shrink.

Jenn

You don't mention what the yarn is... Wool?  Mohair?  Cotton?

Purposely shrinking something is a crap shoot since it might not shrink
uniformly.  One arm smaller than the other, one side shorter, uneven
neckline - you get the picture.  My DH once put a mohair sweater of mine in
the hot wash/dryer an it came out about the size of a 2 year olds.

Since you can't wear it "as is", you don't have much to lose anyway.  Just
know that if you do shrink it that the knit will become much tighter and it
will be a much firmer texture (not as pliable if that makes sense).  Also,
if the thread doesn't shrink it could effect the integrity of the stitches.

Let us know what happens.

Em

Hark! I heard Chris Braun <braun_chris@mindspring.com> say:

Heat! Hot water in the washer, hot air in the dryer. But be careful, you
might wind up with a toddler-sized sweater... ;-)

That's quite a size drop. I had a wool blend sweater that was an extra large
I tried shrinking to about a medium (I'm also an 8 now) and although it did
shrink, it shrunk 'up' too much, and I couldn't get my head through it any
longer! After I failed miserably, I told a friend about what I did, and she
wished I had given it to her instead :(

-Cooper, wishing Chris a better sweater shrinking experience

Yes, I washed one of my cashmere sweaters in hot water and put it in the dryer -- it
did shrink down enough for me to be able to wear. Good luck!

Mary