I have finally finished knitting and seaming my Argosy scarf. I suffered through my newly discovered wool allergy, because I so loved the Noro Silk Garden, and I am excited to begin blocking for the first time ever… Something I did not think of when I started, was [I]where[/I] I would be blocking.
I live in an EXTREMELY tiny one bedroom apartment, with 3 very curious cats. There is no conceivable space that I could block the scarf in one piece…It will be well over 6 feet when I pin it out, and I have [I]maybe[/I] 3-4 feet here and there I could put it where it could remain undisturbed.
Is it possible to block half a scarf at a time?
It is a semi lacy scarf, knit in Noro Silk Garden lite…
I’m in a similar situation…I have a lace blanket that is going to need
to be blocked and I have no place to do it. I have room on my
table to do about half at a time…come on you lace blocking
experts…can we do half at a time?
Can you use your bed? Stack a folded blanket and several towels on your bed. Pin your garment down on these…the thickness should allow you to gently move it to another location if it doesn’t dry quickly enough. (summer drying is much faster) Lay a towel over the top of the garment because I GUARANTEE your cats will lay on it…at least for a little while. It works for me…good luck!
What about that foam core insulaation stuff? Ya know, the the stuff that is pink and has a plastic sheet over it… We have some around the house, and I bet you could pin it on that and hang it up, put it behind the couch, under the bed… Somewhere!
(My personal favorite blocking space is our large trampoline! I just confiscate it for the day!)
I use the colorful foam squares that are sometimes used in children’s play areas. They are about 1 foot square and go together like a puzzle. You can make the area any size or shape that can be made with squares. After you pin your article to the mat you can then prop it against a wall until the piece dries. I saw packs of these for sale in Michaels last week.
I hate to bring this up but if you don’t have anywhere to block how will you lay flat to dry after washing? (I have that same issue with a wool blanket.)
I was going to mention that steam blocking dries extremely fast and you can do it in sections but I don’t think silk handles steam and I didn’t want to be responsible.
If you want to try it make a swatch first.
Bed is my only option at this point, but it’s not quite long enough, and I have no where to put it if it doesn’t dry in time for bed. If I don’t find any other ideas this may be my end result.
Don’t know what you are referring to, but I don’t seem to have anything like that laying around here. I also live pretty far from stores, and do not drive…And I am really broke… Bought the yarn well over a year ago… So going to buy stuff isn’t an option either…
I wish I had a trampoline… for blocking and for jumping!
That’s a really clever idea, but that isn’t something I can do.
I don’t have an iron so I can’t try the steaming technique… Too bad coz quick would be great. :teehee: It’s only a scarf, so it won’t need to be washed every week or anything like that so it won’t be too big an issue. I don’t intend to live here tooooo much longer anyways, so by the time it is ready for it’s next bath I will probably have much more options for blocking/laying flat by then… haha, I hope.
I guess I will be pinning it to my bed with towels, and keep the door closed. I’ll keep a fan on it to help speed up the drying. Wish me luck.
The bed is a success. It didn’t fit length wise, but I have room to spare diagonally. I had a bad kitty helper when I was pinning it out. I went back to make sure it was even and noticed she had pulled out 5-6 pins, and was on her way to pull out 7. (She didn’t swallow any! I double checked that I had every pin.) So I kicked her out, and finished re-pinning, gave it a light spritzing, and closed the door.
It looks amazing already! I wish it was October/November so I could start wearing it tho.:teehee:
