The main reasons to block are:- to open out the stitches (in a lace pattern); to set the stitches (you hear people say the stitches will even out after blocking); to prepare the edges for seaming or picking up stitches. There are a number of reasons why knitters (crocheters) do not block:- like the item as is; do not have time; do not have space; don’t know how; and the big one – worried you won’t like the end result.
When people hear the word blocking in relation to their knitwear many think of Shetland shawls that are a scrunched up mess on the needles but after an extreme block end up as a huge lightweight shawl. Scroll down to the last two pictures in this post and you will see an example of scrunched up and post blocking, also the pictures in this post. And these aren’t the two projects I was planning to show you.
Before I show you those, let’s talk about when and why I block and when I don’t. (And I can see some more projects jumping in here.) When don’t I block? When I like the project just as it is. There are certain types of projects that I don’t block – hats and socks. Usually they are fine the way they come off the needles and as they stretch a little in wear any pattern will show up then. Also a project that is all or mostly garter stitch I prefer its just off the needles smooshiness. A good example of a shawl that needed blocking but I needed to be careful with as it was mostly garter stitch is this one - there was a lace panel that I didn’t want to close up and I wanted the puckering resolved but I did not want to lose the texture of the garter stitch plus I was worried about colours running.
But back to the projects I mentioned at the beginning. Let’s start with the finished item. I have a few single skeins of fingering yarn that I really like but have no idea what to make with them as I am not keen on making more one skein shawls. I have been trying to come up with ideas to use them together without much luck until I had a brainwave. Fingering weight held double is DK weight and one skein of fingering weight held double is roughly equal to one skein of DK weight and I had a pattern which used three different colours. This is a good example of pre and post blocking as well as a feature I don’t like about crescent shape shawls. The pattern is Odyssey Shawl by Joji Locatelli which she has provided at no charge.
Here is a picture of mine as it is ready for bind off.
Two things you will notice, at this point it is an upside down triangle and although, it is mainly garter stitch, there is a small lace pattern. I worked the picot bind off as stated in the pattern and all the points would need to be pinned out. I did not take a photo of it pinned out for blocking, but basically, what I did was to pin the top edge out straight and spray it with a water bottle, pinned out the picot bind offs and sprayed those and then sprayed the lace sections. I wanted these to stand out in the shawl and not be bunched up in the section of reverse stocking stitch.
This is the finished project. And it shows the hump that most of these style/shape of shawls end up with. I knew this would happen but next time I am going to really think about the start of a shawl before diving in.
The yarn I used from top down, is Sweet Georgia CashLuxe Fine, Stunning String Studio Luxury Fingering, and Blarney Yarn Twist. The first two were gifts and both contain cashmere. The last yarn does not but I did not have any more yarn containing cashmere in my stash and this colour goes well.
The other project I wanted to show pre and post blocking is a work in progress. It is a lace patterned cardigan made in a worsted weight yarn. I swatched in pattern and blocked the swatch but I still wanted to measure it correctly while in progress. I threaded a lifeline and took it off the needles and blocked it. After measuring, it went back on the needles and I continued knitting. This really is a good visual of before and after as it is the same garment.
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