I'm a big fan of blocking things. It's a fantastic way to line up stitches, hide away little mistakes, and get all that grime from knitting off your knitting. In fact, one of my favorite things when blocking something is seeing all the colors change in the water. I know that's weird because it means the dye is bleeding out, but it makes me feel like it's finally done. I also like seeing how the yarn blooms after it's washed out.
I'm always amazed by people who don't block, I don't understand that... When you wash your stuff, don't you lay it out the way you want it to look when you wear or use it? Isn't that blocking? I think a lot of people are under the assumption that blocking requires pins, wires, or other random things to make it work. For everything I've knit, all I have used is a towel and some Woolite.
I really enjoyed this tutorial. I think the idea of maintaining the shape of what you're knitting while it's wet is so smart, yet something that had never occurred to me. I'm definitely going to try it out next time. The only thing that seems to be missing is that she doesn't discuss what kind of wash she uses for it.
2 comments:
I love blocking! I use pins fairly often, and I just pin things to the carpet. Doesnt hurt it. I would eventually like to have some sort of way to block things evenly (have a blocking surface with lines I could use for measuring etc). I desperately need some wool wash though! Plain old water has been okay so far :)
I've only used pins once for a lace scarf. Other than that, it's usually just moving things into the shape and place I want them.
I just use generic wool wash from the dollar store. When I'm out of that, I just use shampoo.
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