So, if you have been following me for any length in time you know my first love is reading and my second love is crochet and knitting. Well, I have a confession to make. I have never actually blocked anything…ever. The reason being I never thought there was a need for it with what I was making. That was until I made the Kari Shawl by Sari Nordlund. This pattern has a lot of simple details around the edges of the shawl, but I went to wear it and none of it was really visible so I made the decision to try and finally block something. If you want to read up on what blocking is etc. you can read a really great article by CocoKnits here: How to Block Your Knitting. I will say, I did not follow their tutorial, but they do a great job explaining the why. I did follow a tutorial though, I followed TL Yarn Crafts video.
Items Used
- Dollar store basin
- Soak in the scent Yuzu
- T-pins
- Blocking squares
How it Went
The first step was actually soaking the shawl in a basin with some water (not hot) with some of the soap. This was the nice and easy part, all I had to do was put it in and make sure it was fully under water and then walk away for 20 min. In Toni‘s video she was very adamant about not ringing out the material when taking it out of the water. She directs her viewers to gently squeeze the water out and then roll the piece in a towel and then squeeze it that way as well. This process was more involved, but still nothing over the top. At this point I was feeling very confident.
Then came the pinning of the shawl. This was where I started to get aggregated. The reason I got aggravated is trying to make this shawl lay flat symmetrically because I have heard if it dries in the way it will look that way. So, I felt the pressure and I was going through this entire process so I wanted to make sure it was actually worth it. I feel like I did alright with this, but looking at this picture I can see I could have done better. I realized it is a lot harder to gauge when you are up close and doing it, it is kind of hard to see. Especially the down curves of the shawl since they are angled and my blocks don’t have lines in that manner. Now, the hardest part is waiting.
At the end of the process I have to say, I should really block things more often. It really helped the eyelet details open up as well as help even out all the stiches throughout. Since I am still pretty new to knitting, I still need to work on consistent tension, but wow, this really ended up helping! I know I am going to continue to do this process even though it sometimes takes a day or two for the item to completely dry because the end result is just wonderful!
Bookish Luna 