Silk Moon Crescent shawl from KnitCircus - Done!

Silk Moon Success!

This one was a challenge to block. Without blocking wires, it would have been hard to achieve the tension needed to really stretch this fiber out while keeping the arc of the crescent smooth.

But oh, look at it. The colors, the lovely light weight that blocking brought out of the yarn, the perfect accent of the eyelets. 

It’s a beautiful piece just as at home gracing a winter turtleneck as it will be draping over my shoulders in a future summer breeze. When I wear it out tonight, I’m sure to get plenty of compliments. I’m delighted!

Thanks, KnitCircus, for a splendid knitting experience!

Age of Brass & Steam Kerchief from The Wool Cabin—Done!

The never-ending wow...

For the first years of my knitting career, I never blocked anything.  Some of that might have been because as a novice, I mostly stuck to inexpensive, acrylic fibers.  Not that workhorse yarns don’t have their place, but once you experience the beauty of a quality fiber, it’s hard to go back.  There is something in an exquisite natural fiber—how it feels and how it behaves—that can’t be synthesized with chemistry.

When I open a brand new box of my books, the magic of that first moment never fades no matter how many years I’ve been writing.  It’s always a wow moment.  The same is true for me when I block a knitted piece. When I’m done knitting, it feels like the fiber is ready, eager to become whatever it’s supposed to be.  It’s always a brand new creation when I pull it from the blocking wires.  As if the piece steps into its intended identity. Heady words, I know, but the wonder of blocking is never lost on me. The fibers relax—literally—and settle themselves into the shape and drape we’ve both been working to achieve.

This is a beautiful kerchief.  Just the right weight to take off the air-conditioning chill while enjoying a summer dinner.  Easy enough to be pleasant knitting, beautiful enough to be a satisfying result of knitting efforts.  Well done, Orange Flower Yarn and The Wool Cabin!  If I haven’t yet convinced you, try this free pattern out for yourself.

Next up, I cast on the more complex Summer Shadow shawl from Hemstitched Heirlooms.

The Fog Shawl from The Fiber Universe--Day 5

Doubting doubling...

My week—and a pair of pesky migraines thanks to Chicago’s roller-coaster of a weather forecast lately—kept me from binding this off until last night.  But with a pair of of 11.23.63 episodes on Hulu, all was accomplished.  With such diverting television, it didn't feel as tedious as expected. I read the book and have enjoyed the adaptation immensely.

This morning’s church sermon was on “Doubting Thomas.”  I find myself right there with our friend Tom on this project.  Erin from The Fiber Universe tells me it will double in size once blocked.  Now that it’s off the needles and lying there looking well, small, I find myself harboring suspicions. Will it really stretch that far?  The lattice I can believe, but all that stockinette?  I can’t see it.

Time for science. Or at least math.  I measured the long side (I suppose technically that’s the hypotenuse of our triangle) and one of the angle sides. 

This way, once I stretch this thing on the wires, I can know for sure even before it dries.  

I’m anxious to see what happens.  I expect you are, too.  Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to share.

Fresh Till Cowl from Yarniverse - Done!

Done!

Never, ever judge a project until it's blocked.  This came out really nice--a lovely surprise, lengthwise, texture, and the way it drapes.

Well, done, Yarniverse!

Next, we head down to Florida for a truly different adventure!

Fresh Till Cowl from Yarniverse - Day 5

Madeline-tense...

OK, now I’m worried.  

I love the color, the length looks okay—maybe a bit short, but that could be easily fixed in the blocking process.

It’s the curling that has me anxious.  There’s enough stockinette in this project for the piece to be curling in on itself in the way that stockinette does (and the way I hate).  It makes me nuts when my beautiful stitches are hidden in a sausage roll of stockinette.

It looks so nice and flat in the pattern photo.  I love the way it looks in the pattern photo.  I’m not loving the way it looks laid out on my table.

Keep calm and give the thing a bath.  This is what I’m telling myself.  Don’t judge a knitted piece before you’ve blocked it, especially one with openwork like eyelets.

So….deep breath, and to the tub it goes!

Alexandra Scarf from Gauge Knits - Done!

Brilliant!

Before blocking: brilliant but bumpy

You would think, after so many years as a knitter, that the effects of blocking would cease to be so wondrous for me.  Not so.  Just like the thrill of opening a brand new box of my latest book never gets old, so does that moment when I pull a project off the blocking wires to hold it in my hand.

On the wires

Some projects don’t change dramatically with blocking, but lacework—even simple lacework like this—comes alive when you block it.  The ripples disappear and you hold a light, airy piece of fabric in your hands.  Fabric you made out of sticks and string.  That’s art in itself, but the fact that you can now wear it?  All the more marvelous!

A finished beauty!

On a dreary Chicago day when it feels like winter has lasted forever, this is just the colorful promise of spring I needed.  Thanks, Gauge Knits, for a project that taught me a lot about what I love and learn from knitting!

Delightful details

Next up?  DestiKNITions spends the day in the charming state capitol of Frankfort, KY.

Brush Creek Cowlette from The Knitting Nest - Done!

Wavy wonderfulness!

Oh my.  This is lovely.  The weight, the way it lays across my collarbone, the wavy wonderfulness of it all.  You know you’ve hit a great pattern when you put it on and your first thought is all the color combinations you want to make next!

One word of caution:  Watch the upper edge!  Because I am picky about bumpy edges next to my skin, I did a selvege edge across the top, and that cost me a lot of elasticity where I need it most.  Had I left it according to the pattern, the neck hole would have been stretchier.  

As it was, I needed to do a lot of…persuading…to get the thing over my head.  I spent so much time heeding the instructions to “aggressively block” the lower edge to get the bell shape right that I probably didn’t get as “aggressive” with the top edge as I should have.

But isn’t it wonderful?  Don’t you want one?  Get yourself down to Austin and to The Knitting Nest and get one!  Thanks, Stacy, for a truly splendid outcome—well worth the effort!

Holden Shawlette from The Artful Yarn - Done!

At last--Picot Pride!

No need for lots of text here today...it's all in the photos!

Still pretty before blocking, but just wait...

Unblocked, it really does remind me of waves

Blocked--the scallops take a LOT of pins to secure

But OH, is it worth the effort!

I've mastered the Picot edge!!

Thank you, The Artful Yarn, for helping me overcome one of my most frustrating skill deficiencies: the picot.  I couldn't be happier with the results.

Next up, we tackle Edie's shawl to discover out how the innovative shape gets created.

Arroyo Shawl from Yarn Shop and More - Day 5

I’m in love...

...With a bind off!  Who’d have thunk it?

Truly, if this project never does anything else for me (which is unlikely since I’ve already had to resist casting it on in another yarn), it will forever be near and dear to me as The Project That Introduced Me to Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. Enchantment!

Pre-blocking

It’s awesomeness cannot be overstated.  Bind offs have long been my nemesis, tanking otherwise lovely projects or requiring blocking interventions that might qualify as “heroic measures.”  Now, all of that fades as a distant memory while I stare at the lovely, springy final edge (which in this case is the top) of my Arroyo shawl.  Bliss!

There are multiple videos online documenting this nifty two-step technique, but I finally just printed off some written directions and sat down with a cup of coffee.  Like many knitting techniques, its complications dissolve once you get it into your fingers.  My future toe-up socks are shouting with joy.  Genius!

Blocked--what a difference!

For once blocking was not the hair-raising festival of “will it curl funny?” that blocking shawls can sometimes be.  Not only was I sure of my edges, but I welcomed the chance to try out the new BlokWrx blocking wires I’d purchased at Stitches Midwest.  Thrilling!

Now, all I need is the magic of evaporation to give this shawl its welcome into the world.  Stay tuned--it’s going to be wonderful.

Diana’s Aran Shawl from Three Black Sheep - Day 3

The promise to be stunning...

Simpler, huh?  Eh, not so much.  Not for me.  That’s knitting for you--every time I get cocky those needles put me in my place.

It took me no less than four tries, a YouTube search, and staying up late past my mild-mannered middle-aged bedtime to figure out how this Trinity stitch worked.  

Once I got it, it took me about four inches of stitching to place it firmly enough in my memory to leave the pattern behind.  So while my mind got a break, it wasn’t immediate.

Of course, the Trinity stitch was the third panel.  It’s the perfect place for it in the sequence. 

Like most good wool garments, this one is going to change significantly when it is blocked.

  If you look at the photo, the cable portion narrows in width, and the garter stitch dividing lines are a bit rippled.  All of that will even out once this shawl is blocked.  This is also true of the yarn’s texture, which is a bit scratchy now but will soften, I hope, when it meets water.

it’s beautiful, and interesting, and highly textured now.  It promises to be stunning when it’s finished.

Color Affection Shawl from Bliss Yarns - Day 1

So this is the project everyone's talking about this year.  Just last night, I was in a restaurant and one of my dining companions was wearing a newly finished "Color Affection" shawl.  Which led me, of course, to the obvious question:  "how did your top edge turn out?"

She gave me a look one knitter can only give another, and made a noise that echoed how it went--which was "not well."  Talk to anyone who's made one, google it, or walk into a yarn store and someone has a Color Affection Top Edge Tightness War Story.  Funny, I was far more concerned with the bind off (where I usually go wrong), than the top edge.  But, that's knitting for you--while you're busy worrying about one thing, something else comes up to bite you.

I doesn't seem to be much of a big deal at this point.  Maybe I should be concerned, but I'm not.  Yet.  I prefer a selvedge edge on all my shawls, so I'm slipping the first stitch of every row and I expect that to help things out.  And, should the worst occur, I know how to block something within an inch of its life.

There is one final concern: this is one of those projects where the rows get longer and longer.  That is my least favorite type of shawl pattern.  I foresee late nights cursing the hundreds of stitches that will comprise my final rows.  

Still, this project has a lot going for it.  I'm reveling in the cheerful pink, the splendidly short rows, the near-perfect texture of Miss Babs' yarn, and the fact that I'll soon join the massive club of "Color Affectionionadoes."  According to fiber superstar Stephanie Pearl McPhee, I'm in some pretty awesome company.

Davis Street Shawl from CloseKnit - Done!

Not every project changes dramatically when you block it.  Lace projects certainly do.  Many sweaters do.  This doesn’t.

It does feel as if it’s lightened up a bit, but I was baffled by my nemesis the picot--they seem to look even more uneven now.  I want it to look like someone who really knew what they were doing made this.  A simple design beautifully executed.

Eh, not so much.

Would I feel differently if it were a vibrant, lush color instead of this neutral I deliberately chose for myself?  I’m not sure.  I do like it, and it looks nice--if basic--on, and basic was what I was shooting for when I chose beige.

I suspect I just don’t do basic well.  Unless basic is a black turtleneck...I seem to own dozens of those.  They show off my scarves so well (basic or not!).

Aha!  I just now realized what this basic shawl needs:  a rockingly un-basic shawl pin.

Excuse me, I have to go shopping now...

Knit Along: Schmetterling Shawl from Mia Bella - DONE!

Ah, yes, this is why we block. The bliss of transformation.

It’s the butterfly coming out of its cocoon--come on, with the name being German for butterfly, you knew that metaphor was coming at some point.  

It’s light and lacy and wonderful.  Seasonless--this could grace a tank top as easily as it will grace a cream turtleneck for Christmas (my current plan).

I did wish--for the hundredth time--that I had blocking wires.  Pins give you just too many pointy marks no matter how you fuss with them.  I need blocking wires.  Hey, Christmas is coming right?  Not that members of my family read my blog.  

I have been known to go out, buy something, then call my husband and tell him to say “Merry Christmas.”  I did that with my beloved Keurig coffee machine.

Me: “Say Merry Christmas, honey.”

He:  “Merry Christmas.  Why?”

Me:  “You just bought me a coffee machine for Christmas.”

He: (unsurprised) “Oh.”

Me:  “Yep.  It’s awesome.  Just what I wanted.”

He:  “So you’re going to go home and put it under the tree?”

Me:  “No way.  I’m going to go home and plug it in.”

Not a big fan of delayed gratification, yours truly.  But this shawlette?  Absolutely worth waiting for.  And I have a free hour or two tomorrow, so some blocking wires may just find their way home with me.

Next, we have two big treats.  On Wednesday, I’ll be participating in the 13 Days of Doctor Who Blog Hop, talking about--what else--knitting in Dr. Who.  Stop by and you can win some cool stuff.

After that, we start the lovely cowl from Stitches.  Cuddly wonderfulness.  Life is very good indeed.

Knit Along: Schmetterling Shawl from Mia BellaDay 5

It’s not over till the tall lady blocks

Definitely not a knit-and-wear item.  This is why we block.  I’m delighted that the shawl is finished, but I couldn’t possibly don it in its current tiny, curly state.  It’s not much larger than a bandana right now, and it looks more like something that belongs in a salad than something that belongs on my shoulders.  It hasn’t gained all its lacy goodness.

Ah, but a nice bath and a good stretch will take care of that in a jiffy.  Properly blocked, this will take on a delicate elegance that will allow the pattern design to really pop.  This one will be lovely.  That transformation on tomorrow’s to-do list, and I can hardly wait.

My week has been full of tending a grumpy, contagious teenage boy on quarantine, so the sense of accomplishment is desperately needed.  Honestly, there are weeks when I’m easily convinced if I didn’t knit, I’d need sedatives. Or anti-depressants.  Or both.

On a practical level, I do have two pattern notes:

• I particularly liked the bind-off on this one.  It has a good elasticity--something often lacking in my bind offs, so I was glad to add a new skill to my toolbox.  It’s pretty and simple, like a backwards version of the knit-two-together bind-off I usually use.  It gives the same sort of serge edge I often use on scarves, and I like that elasticity.  I suspect it will be important as this piece stretches into its full elegance.

• After a grumbling hour unknitting two very long rows, I found I needed to add a “K2” to the first instructions of the border’s first row.  Either it’s a typo, or I messed up earlier repeats.  I should have seen it coming.  If I’d been a thinking knitter, I would have realized how elements in the border needed to line up with elements from the pattern. If I had seen past my blind obedience to see the the overall design concept, I wouldn’t have been an hour’s worth of stitching into the border before I realized my mistake.  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve made the mistake of not listening to the small voice in my head saying “something’s not right here.”  Call it “knitter’s intuition.”  And when you hear it, heed it.

Knit Along: Angora Lace Scarf from Lion Brand Studio - Day 5

What comes after the bind off?

Some patterns you can slip the project right on and go.  Heaven knows I’ve done my share of finishing a piece hours (okay, sometimes even minutes) before I planned to wear it.  Not so with lacework.  It’s okay when it’s done, but it’s never really a work of art until you’ve blocked it.

Can’t you just press it with an iron?

Almost never.  Blocking requires soaking--or as the famous opinionated knitter Elizabeth Zimmermann calls it “giving it a bath.”  I love the tender touch that term implies.  And it’s the perfect visual for the task.  I let my babies soak for about ten minutes (as long as it takes me to set up the blocking board I use on my dining room table) in Dawn Blue dishwashing liquid and tepid water.  After a careful rinse in similar temperature water, I pin them to the board.  A striped beach towel is especially useful for pieces involving straight lines like this scarf, because you’ve got your guidelines ready to go.

What does blocking accomplish?

In even simple lacework like this scarf, blocking opens up the stitches, helps things lay flat, and gives the work an even feel.  I think blocking makes any knitted piece feel “airier,” if I can manufacture a word.  Scientifically, it allows the fibers to relax and line up nicely next to each other.  After all, everyone--from small children to dogs to romance author knitters--behaves more nicely after a bath.

Give it a day or so to dry, and I’ll come back to show you the final product.

Knit Along: Elizabethan Collar from Kirkwood Knittery - DONE!

Knitting as Self-Improvement

Knitting is a good thing for me.  It helps me with my pesky delayed gratification problem.  Projects like this one, which need to be blocked before they look anything like they’re supposed to, strengthen my oh-so-weak patience muscle.  Sticking the gazillion pins in this thing so it would stretch out and dry right seemed so tedious.  And then I had to wait overnight.  Grr.

But the results are lovely.  Sometimes a full length scarf of a highly textured shawl are just too much for a given jacket or shirt.  You just need a little something.  If I wore necklaces--which I don’t, because I’d much rather wear a shawl or scarf--that’d be the right touch.  This is, for lack of a better metaphor, a knitted necklace.  It’d give a pretty scoop-neck t-shirt just the panache it needed.  Or add a hint of artistry to a boring jacket.  I wonder how it would look over a cowl or a turtleneck?  Would the lines be wrong or would it add a nice dimension?  It’s still a bit too warm to try that experiment.  

See that cute button?  I tried to go for a bit of subtlety on the button, but now I sort of regret it.  I think if I find something with a bit more “pow,” I may replace it.  Something vintage and silvery but not too heavy. 

It was a good traveling project, whipped up with just enough interest and at a quick pace. Thanks, Kirkwood Knittery!  I’ll do this one again, but in one of those multi-color yarns next time.  

Next up?  A pair of nifty socks from Hearthstone Knits.