When I heard Knitpicks was launching a machine washable version of one of my favourite wools… Wool of the Andes… I rushed out and bought some. My stepdaughter gives me a perfect excuse to buy colours that I would not normally buy for myself, but would still like to knit with. Which brings us to Grass”, “Columbine”, and “Marina”. These will become a stripey hat experiment. If it’s too itchy I can just line it with fleece. Itchiness and shrinkiness are all part of the new wool testing:)
I swatched… then machine washed/dried the swatch. When I say dried, I mean I cooked that thing in my autoclave of a dryer.
Here is the result:
Swatch of Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Superwash in “Grass”, AFTER washing/drying
There were some irregularities in the fabric that I thought would go away with washing, but did not, as you can see from the images. I don’t believe this is all that uncommon for Superwash. I certainly don’t think this is a reason NOT to buy the wool. I personally have become a little disenchanted with Superwash because in spite of myself, I’ve become a bit of a wool snob. I find Superwash has a bit of an acrylic texture and has kinks…. leading to the irregularities seen in these swatch. I guess there’s no free ride. Beauty in knitwear is inversely proportional to ease of care 
Regarding itchiness:
I’d say… soft enough to wear with short sleeves, but too itchy to wear over tank tops or to make turtlenecks.
Regarding shrinkage:
Gauge BEFORE WASH:
30 sts/5.33” = 5.62 sts/1” = 22.5 sts/4”
30 rows/4” = 7.5 rows/1”
Gauge AFTER WASH:
Exact same!!!!!!!!!! Wow… that’s never happened. Impressive.