Knitwear is normally made of wool, cotton, acrylic or silk yarns and are loose knitted which gives a soft fluffy handle, good for keeping in the warmth. This also means that heavy treatment is likely to damage the garment and that they are likely to distort very easily.
Do up any buttons on cardigans before starting to iron.
It's most important to always get knitwear into position before ironing and to use as much steam as possible to ease the fibres into position, you don't need to and shouldn't press hard on the garment with the iron. Start with the sleeves, flattening from the bottom seam up and smoothing out the fabric on both layers.
Use a cloth and dampen it well with a spray before ironing lightly. The aim is to get steam to go through to the material softening it in its place. Remove the cloth and feel the sleeve, making sure it's cool and almost dry before moving the jumper. Go on to the next sleeve and do the same.
Use precisely the same technique on the body but work from the top seam at the shoulders. Cover, dampen and iron in the same way as before, working toward the top seam. Remove the cover and feel the material with the palms of your hands while it looses heat and dries.
Work bit-by-bit to the bottom but if this is gathered work the iron into the gathering with the iron's point. DO NOT stretch any part of the knitwear that seams to be elasticated while ironing, you may well cause it to stretch with no hope of recovery.
