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May 27, 2005
Slowly plugging away
I need a blocking mentor!
What now seems ages ago, but was only two weeks ago, I set the body pieces for my cotton jacket to block. I gave them a good soak in the bathroom sink, followed by a roll in the towel. Then I pinned the pieces directly on top of plastic. Now I haven't have any knitting teachers, nor am I feeling keen enough to read about blocking techniques, but I think I learned from this endeavour that pinning the pieces directly onto plastic might not wick the moisture away as quickly as say pinning the piece to the carpet. The latter was my standard technique at my old apartment however, the carpet here is much less squishy and less likely to accept pins. It took those babies close to a week to dry. I'm lucky there wasn't any mildew growing on them!
What is your preferred method of blocking?
I had an unfortunate discovery when I pinned the front pieces side by side. I had made a mistake! To ensure that I made indentical decreases at the neck edges I worked both pieces until those decreases were required, then I finished neck decreases on the same day. In my excitement about finishing the body, I neglected to remember to reverse my twisted stitches on the right front! I'll be reworking those few inches because it bugs me every-time I look at it!
Since setting those pieces out to block, I've finished 18 cm of one of the sleeves (the bobbly section). I'm going to work the second sleeve to the same place before moving on. I've never worked the sleeves simultaneously. In some ways it seems the progress is more slow...but I know that in the long run I'm going to appreciate it!
Posted by loriz at May 27, 2005 04:59 AM
Comments
It's look great. The cables are perfect!
Shame about the error but at least you caught it!
I plan on knitting both sleeves together on a current project when I get to that point.
Posted by: Adele at May 27, 2005 11:24 AM
thats turning out really pretty
Posted by: lulu at May 27, 2005 03:27 PM
Beach towels are great for blocking because they're huge and absorbent. If you get one (or two) with stripes or checks, that's a bonus.
Your pieces look perfect, that's going to be such a nice thing to wear when it's all done!
Posted by: MJ at May 27, 2005 08:17 PM