Friday, October 19, 2007

Blocking

No, I haven't finished but I do have a rather basic question. What is your preferred method of blocking for fair-isle knitting and why?

I wet-block everything. Even lace (shhhhhhh). I really want to make sure that my knitting is clean and I just don't trust my iron around my knits. Period. My logic is that the animal in question never went near a hot iron, its hair (or silk) was never intended to go near a hot iron, and I have put far to much work and effort into knitting whatever it is I have just knit to potentially damage it with an iron.

How about you?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Leah -- When I've completed my fair isles, I wash them in Eucalan (a wool wash), rinse (Eucalan says you don't have to rinse), then wash then again and don't rinse this time. Squeeze out excess moisture gently -- lay flat out on a towel and roll it up like a swiss roll -- stamp on it to get out more excess water -- then lay flat to dry on another clean dry towel - patting it into shape - changing the towels frequently to hurry up the drying process. I do have a wooly board, and I do use it for big square fair isles -- but not for Autumn Rose.

jennsquared said...

I've done steam blocking before. I don't actually let the iron touch the fabric, just use the steam. Although I suspect wet blocking is much more effecient and effective.

I actually wet block my lace too. It's just so much easier, plus even then, it dries before I finish the pins/wires so I have to mist them with my water bottle again, but the wetness last longer.

Anonymous said...

I wet block everything. And most especially my lace! There's no better way to stretch out those stitches :)

I haven't started Autumn Rose yet (still have to buy the kit!) but I'm watching everyone's progress and contemplating some color changes. Cool colors to better complement my pale, pale skin. But I'll definitely wet block it when I get there.

Lori said...

I just did my swatch for Autumn Rose, and I wet blocked it with great success. It evened out the occasional wonky stitch, and made the yarn bloom and look better.