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charloweenI started knitting this shawl just before Easter, as airplane knitting for my trip to Texas.
Earlier this week I finally finished casting off. The hard part was done, it just left... blocking. Duh duh duuun.
Blocking is how you take something that looks like this:
Or, more charitably, like this:
And turn it into this:
So yes, blocking makes a big difference for lace. It's like ironing out wrinkles in a crumpled-up handkerchief and discovering you've got a blanket. The gauge for this project was a little off, which means I've got even more stretch in blocking than I'd expected.
First, take a deep breath (point of no return!) and soak the shawl in cold water. Wring it out so it's damp, not dripping, and start laying it out. A friend let me borrow her interlocking foam mats - they worked so well, I'll use this method in the future. (It works better than an ironing board, a stretch of carpet, a mattress...)
After securing the centre, stretch! To get the pointy edge nice and pointy, each point needs its own pin. I like picking a point roughly in the centre, pinning that, and then filling in the in-between ones once the cardinal points are filled in. This is where the foam mats were amazing: I could sit in one place and rotate the work, rather than scrambling all around it.
It's possible I needed more than four mats. Rather than blocking in a circle, I ended up making it oblong.
Arty close-up #1!
Arty close-up #2!
Arty close-up #3! (Oooh, shadows.)
Every point, getting its pin:
This edge looks done, but I moved each pin at least once for maximum stretch factor. This edge got pulled out 2-3" more than what this picture shows.
Getting closer...
Almost done...
Arty close-up #4! (So many pins!)
Et voila! Now to wait for it to dry. (All I can see are the mistakes.)
My flatmate had company over and I had to go to work, so we moved the whole mess, onto my bed. Note the scale of mats to scarf to bed.
After I got home from work, after about eight hours' drying time, the shawl was ready to be unpinned. And draped around a convenient arty wire mannequin dress-form thing, of course. (Lacy superhero cape!)
I will never use such fine yarn again. I appreciate the effect, but it was tedious and difficult to keep consistent tension with something so fussy.
I'm at the start of making a bigger, heavier version (aran weight, 5.5mm needles; this was 2-ply yarn on 3.75mm) to use as a throw. I've changed the way I knit (an even faster continental style that I was shown a few months ago) and that might help with some of the tension issues.
Earlier this week I finally finished casting off. The hard part was done, it just left... blocking. Duh duh duuun.
Blocking is how you take something that looks like this:
Or, more charitably, like this:
And turn it into this:
So yes, blocking makes a big difference for lace. It's like ironing out wrinkles in a crumpled-up handkerchief and discovering you've got a blanket. The gauge for this project was a little off, which means I've got even more stretch in blocking than I'd expected.
First, take a deep breath (point of no return!) and soak the shawl in cold water. Wring it out so it's damp, not dripping, and start laying it out. A friend let me borrow her interlocking foam mats - they worked so well, I'll use this method in the future. (It works better than an ironing board, a stretch of carpet, a mattress...)
After securing the centre, stretch! To get the pointy edge nice and pointy, each point needs its own pin. I like picking a point roughly in the centre, pinning that, and then filling in the in-between ones once the cardinal points are filled in. This is where the foam mats were amazing: I could sit in one place and rotate the work, rather than scrambling all around it.
It's possible I needed more than four mats. Rather than blocking in a circle, I ended up making it oblong.
Arty close-up #1!
Arty close-up #2!
Arty close-up #3! (Oooh, shadows.)
Every point, getting its pin:
This edge looks done, but I moved each pin at least once for maximum stretch factor. This edge got pulled out 2-3" more than what this picture shows.
Getting closer...
Almost done...
Arty close-up #4! (So many pins!)
Et voila! Now to wait for it to dry. (All I can see are the mistakes.)
My flatmate had company over and I had to go to work, so we moved the whole mess, onto my bed. Note the scale of mats to scarf to bed.
After I got home from work, after about eight hours' drying time, the shawl was ready to be unpinned. And draped around a convenient arty wire mannequin dress-form thing, of course. (Lacy superhero cape!)
I will never use such fine yarn again. I appreciate the effect, but it was tedious and difficult to keep consistent tension with something so fussy.
I'm at the start of making a bigger, heavier version (aran weight, 5.5mm needles; this was 2-ply yarn on 3.75mm) to use as a throw. I've changed the way I knit (an even faster continental style that I was shown a few months ago) and that might help with some of the tension issues.
