The Wonders of Blocking

Here's a picture of a lace scarf I just finished.

Before:




See how it curls into itself. I used a superfine merino yarn that I kettle dyed a while back. I have discovered that nobody likes yellow . I added a few spattering of cherry red which turned into a light orange color. The yarn is very soft.

After:



Blocked and dried. The lace opened up, the yarn overs beautifully defined. The way I block might be different from others but it works for me.

I wash the item by hand in warm water with a little dollop of shampoo, which really works well with wool and wool blend yarns. I squeeze the item gently making sure it is thoroughly soaked with the water/shampoo solution. Never rub or roughly agitate because it will FELT (unless the yarn is superwash).

Rinse the item in warm water (same temp as the shampoo solution) until all the soap is gone, gently squeeze, and place in the washer in the final spin cycle (the one with no cold water spray-just spin) for 10 - 20 seconds. This leaves the item damp, not dripping wet.

Take out and block with pins, lots of them. I usually spread a huge bedsheet, doubled, on the clean carpet and block it there.

More coming on my adventures in the Master Knitting program.