I have two J. Crew Tippi sweaters that are a fine-gauge merino knit. They are marked dry clean only. This is fine for the navy one, because I always wear it with a white collared shirt underneath, so it gets lots of wears before I need to take it in for dry cleaning. The silver one, however, looks better with nothing underneath, and since it's in direct contact with my skin, it needs cleaning more. Plus, it's silver, so the tiniest speck of any kind of stain shows up. I find myself not wearing it because I don't want to pay for frequent dry cleaning.

Has anyone ever hand washed a merino sweater? What happens? Does it shrink, or pill? I would hand wash in cold and lay flat to dry.