The wonders of Blocking (knitting basics)

 You asked, and I promised, and here we go. 

How to block a sweater? 

Let's atart with why block a sweater? As I already wrote in that long time ago posted post about swatching, that when you put knitted/crocheted items into (warm) water the water fills the space between the fibers, the fibers soften and loosen up and become more malleable.

After I sewn in the ends, I took a quick picture for you, to be able to compare the before and after

You see, the knitting seems uneven, it looks like the stranded pattern scrunches up, like the floats are too short (they are NOT. I take great care to leave long enough floats, but this must be something to do with the way I knit, because I can always block my stranded patterned pieces completely flat. But heck, it even looks like it is way to short (for my taste at least).

It went to the sink, to water that is not hot, but warmer than lukewarn. I usually add a drop of lavander shampoo to wash out any dirt it might have acquired while knitting, or that might have gotten into the yarn, as I can never know where and how was it stored, handled before I got it, and this is especially true for second hand yarn.

After rinsing and carefully press some of the water out, I put it onto a big and thick towel.

Roll it up lengthwise:

And crosswise, making it into a small package. 

Those who are really careful, can press the water out of the package, maybe even carefully step and walk on them (its a good game for kids too). 

Then the brave ones can put the package into the washing machine to the spin cycle. The thick frottier protects the knitted fabric, and the centrifugal force pushes it to the wall of the drum, where it stays, while it spins. (But then, you only do this at your own responsibility.)

Then, I open the packge and lay the sweater on another big and thick towel, and pin it. 

How much I pull on it depends on the yarn, the size, how much the knitting/pattern scrunches it up.

Interestingly enough, right after I take it out of the towel-package I can see changes. The wet fabric is softer, the fabric is more even, the stranded pattern is flatter. 

If the sweater as scrunched up as this was, I pull it hard, and pin. 

See, how I pinned ABOVE the ribbing, because I did nit want to have a scallop-y edge. But also, how I pinned the tips of each pattern repeat

Then I let it dry, until it is bone-dry. 

I do the same for cotton, alpaca, wool, stuff. And I do the same for those that have more than 30% manmade fiber, though I don't really use yarns that have more than 40-50% acrilyc.

I know that some say, that you can steam-clock things, I have tried it, but I prefer the wet-block. Also, you have to be very careful to use heat for stuff that has manmade fibercontent, as, especially acrilic and/or poliamid can easily go limp under heat, and you cannot undue that.