I am finished knitting the pieces for this cardigan and thinking about the best way to block.
The yarn is Sirdar Ocean - a cotton/nylon ribbon yarn. I am in a quandry as to what method to use. The yarn is 62% nylon and 38% cotton (hmm - I guess it is actually nylon/cotton content) and the ball band says it can be machine washed. It has knit up to be quite stretchy, crispy (in a good way) sproingy interesting fabric. I do not want to lose those qualities.
I was thinking I would wet block - but with that nylon content, will it be effective? Or might it be better to steam? The edges are [I]really[/I] curly and I was hoping to tease them out flat before seaming.
You can forget blocking as Ingrid suggested or you can try this idea of ArtLady’s. She is not blocking the same kind of yarn, but a cotton/ microfiber (well, maybe not, I don’t remember what ArtLady’s Tempting II was made of, but I used this for one of cotton/microfiber) :-). I also used this same idea for a bamboo tape, which is a ribbon-like yarn. I don’t know if it will solve all your problems, but it shouldn’t hurt anything to block it this way.
Seaming will tame the curling that is involved in the seams as Ingrid said, but it may make them a little easier to seam if this helps them at all. Like I said, I don’t know if it will help, but it shouldn’t hurt to try. I don’t know about steaming.
Thanks for your thoughts. I looked at ArtLady’s blocking with wet towels - I think she has more parience than I. So I guess I will try seaming and see how it comes out.
