Hey. Im a newbie knitter and i’ve read/been told to block my work after its finished. I have no idea what this means or how to do it?? HELP!! lol
Blocking is stretching out a knit item or piece while wet or damp. You don’t have to do it with everything, you don’t have to do it all. Acrylic yarns won’t block, but a wash and dry will even out the sts. With woolish yarns, many people block in order to stretch it out to a larger size, in case it wasn’t quite big enough. With lace, blocking helps open up the stitch pattern. What are you making and what yarn did you use?
I am not a big blocking expert because I have knit with acrylic a lot and most of the patterns I’ve made end with “do not block”. Blocking works on animal fibers the best although even acrylics and cotton can be wet blocked and I think it makes them look a little nicer, but there is no big change. You can also just wash and dry acrylic yarns (according to label directions) to finish them up a bit.
Blocking is something you do to a finished knitting project to flatten (you don’t want to flatten some kinds of stitches though), and shape it and to even out the stitches, it makes your item look more professional when done, and it works miracles on lace.
People used to use an iron a lot and it can still be done with an iron utilizing steam, either with a damp cloth or a steam iron. Some folks use some sort of a steamer that is not an iron. Before you try it you should read more about steam blocking somewhere.
Here is a site that tells about cold water blocking. This is a good technique and works for a lot of yarns.
Sometimes when I have blocked something I am a little more relaxed about it and just lay the item out, spray it (or I might wash it and spin dry it or roll it in a towel), and then smooth it with my hand, pat it around and nudge it into the shape I want. I don’t necessarily do all the pinning and all, although it is great to do it that way. Sometimes I use stainless steel table knives to lay along the edge of something I want to lend a little more encouragement to in the way of flattening along the edge, or to hold a position I put it in. I go back and look at how the project is drying from time to time and may make adjustments.
If you are making a sweater in pieces you can block the pieces before you sew it together. If you make it all in one piece you can just block the whole thing at once. You can also block scarves, shawls and anything else really.
You can use any flat surface that is safe from pets, etc. to do blocking on. A table with towels on it will work, or a bed.
We had a thread about this recently and the truth came out that many of us don’t bother to block things and are still happy with our work. So it is optional, sort of. LOL I think lace really needs it.
Acrylic blocks very well with steam. Probably even better than natural fibers which often need reblocked after each washing for many washings.
All blocking changes the texture so you have to try it on swatches and see if it’s the outcome you desire.
If you’re going to steam I suggest a steamer, much lighter than an iron and holds enough water to steam a whole piece.
Here’s a Knitty.com article on blocking, and here’s the Techknitter’s take!