More About Blocking…

Blocking is a most important part of knitting. Or finishing. Or both, really. You can gain length or width. You can open up a scrunched up lace design, and you can “gently stretch to fit” a garment that isn’t behaving as expected.

Wools that need to be stretched generally respond best to wet blocking. This is how I would block a wool garment that needs to be “rearranged”. Mix in with hot, hot water, some Soak, Eucalan, or other Wool Wash. Gently immerse the item into the hot, hot water, and let it soak, squeezing gently every now and then to remove dirt, debris… When the water is lukewarm let it drain. Fill up the sink again with lukewarm water and gently squeeze the rest of the wool wash out and let drain again. Lift up the item and gently press it between towels to remove as much as the water as possible. Then lay it out, arranging it the way you want it. Pin and let dry.

You can also use steam blocking if your item doesn’t really need to be washed. To do this, lay out your piece, and then either put a wet towel on top of the item to be blocked and press with a hot iron (don’t move the iron over it, just up and down), or just use a hot iron without the wet towel, making sure not to touch the fabric, just letting the steam go through it. Rearrange it and let it dry.

Spritzing until damp and letting dry is another option.

My favorite? The first, since usually by the time I’m done knitting an item, it’s been sitting in the bottom of my knitting bag, taken road trips (or sometimes bike trips) and is generally just a bit dirty or dusty.

Knitty.com has a wonderful article about blocking that elaborates on the process including various types of fibers. You can read that here: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter02/FEATdiyknitter.html

Next Pattern:

I happen to live in the Northern Hemisphere, but I know we have a lot of Southern Hemisphere friends, too, who are heading into the cooler months as we are warming up. Whichever one of the seasons you’re in, you might want to stitch up this sweet little hood.

This pattern by saskie&co is called snug hood and it uses two colors of yarn to make a close-fitting pixie style hood (almost a balaclava but it doesn’t cover your face, though there is a neck covering portion to keep you a little warmer). You can use the fingering weight wool and mohair held together that are called for in the pattern, or use a single strand of DK weight yarn.

The neck portion and the edging around the face are worked in ribbing in a single color, while the body of the hat includes an allover colorwork flower pattern. The project is worked both flat and in the round and there is colorwork that is knit flat, which means you’ll have to purl in colorwork (which some people don’t like; also, you can’t see what you’re doing as well on the back of the work).

The pattern comes in one size and the colorwork is charted. Testers noted this is a quick and easy project and a great way to learn some new skills (chart reading, working stranded colorwork flat) if you’ve never tried those things before. They noted the hood is cute, comfortable and warm, and a few said it didn’t take as much yarn as the pattern suggests, so bear that in mind if you’re trying to use stash.

Speaking of the pattern notes, check out all the cute color variations in the projects on Ravelry. From pink and red to blue and white to gray and cream, there are lots of great options to think about.

You can buy this pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: saskie&co]

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