There are a number of reasons why you might want to block
your knitting after finishing the knitting but before sewing up the pieces.
- Checking
the size of the finished pieces. Some minor adjustments can be made to the
size of the pieces with blocking but depending on the yarn content the
adjustments may not be permanent.
- Getting
rid of wavy uneven edges which makes sewing up easier
- ‘Setting’
the stitches i.e. evening out uneven knitting (depending on the yarn
fibre) and relaxing the knitting to give a more professional look to the
finished item.
Equipment for blocking your knitting
A blocking mat. Most
methods of blocking require the use of water so whatever you use as a blocking
mat should be water resistant or at least not damaged by water. It is not
necessary to buy a blocking mat; you can use a pad of towels on top of carpet
or a spare bed. You can buy blocking mats e.g. KnitPro Blocking Mats which are
9 squares of dense foam which lock together like a jigsaw puzzle. An
alternative to this is to look for the foam play mats sold for children to play
on or a camping bed roll which isn’t very wide but is quite long.
You can also make a blocking mat from a sheet of polystyrene
covered with plastic to make it waterproof and then covered again with a check
fabric. The check fabric provides a grid making it easier to block out your
knitting. You could also make a blocking mat from a dress makers cutting board
but again you would need to cover it with plastic or cling film to keep it
waterproof but it comes with a grid already printed on the board.
Pins When blocking pieces of knitting you will
generally need to pin the pieces in place while they dry. I use long glass headed
steel pins. If you use long pins they aren’t so easily lost in the knitting.
The glass headed pins have coloured heads and as they are glass you can steam
your knitting with an iron without worrying if the pin heads are going to melt.
You can also use non-rusting steel T-pins.
Tape measure Use an accurate tape measure if you are
pinning out pieces to a given size. Don’t use an old worn or stretched tape
measure.
Methods of Blocking
There are a number of ways to block your knitting and the
method used is largely dependent on the fibre content of the yarn used in the
knitted pieces. Some fibres can be washed or steamed and blocked, some can be
washed and blocked, and some should be blocked dry and then wetted. It is
always advisable to look on the ball band to see what washing instructions have
been provided by the manufacturer but here are some general guild lines that
you may find helpful.
Wool and mixes with a high wool
content
I normally wash the garment pieces
using whatever method I will be using to launder the finished garment
(generally hand washing but machine washed in net bags if it is machine
washable). If hand washed I spin off the excess water and lay the pieces out
flat (wrong side up) on the blocking mat. If the garment is knitted in stocking
stitch and is the correct size I don’t usually pin out the pieces. If the
garment is knitted in lace or another stitch pattern that needs to be stretched
open I will pin the pieces to size and leave to dry.
Lace scarf pinned out
on blocking mat
Lace swatch washed and
blocked out with second sample of the same swatch as it is after knitting and
before blocking
Wool can also be steam blocked.
Wool swatch after
knitting but before blocking
Pin out the pieces to the size
required. Smooth the pieces from the centre outwards and be careful not to over
stretch the knitting in any one direction.
Wool swatch pinned in
the corners
Wool swatch pinned out
flat
If you are going to steam block
your piece of knitting you should use glass headed pins to pin out the piece.
Using a steam iron set to ‘wool’ and with steam hover the iron over your piece
of knitting allowing the steam to penetrate the fabric. If you move the iron
away you can pat the steam into the fabric but make sure you don’t scold
yourself.
Wool swatch being
steamed
You can put the iron on the
knitting if you want a very flat surface but remember to steam press NOT iron.
Also make sure you steam all the fabric.
You need to remember that wool
fibre is elastic. If you have stretched out the knitting in the blocking
process once you wash that item you will have to block it out again as it is
not possible to ‘fix’ the stretched blocking permanently in wool.
Cotton Again I would wash the garment pieces (in this
case machine washed) and lay them out on the blocking mat to dry. The washing
helps to relax the knitting and also shows what it will look like once the
garment is laundered. The sample of rib and lace knitted in cotton became much
flatter and open after washing without being stretched.
Cotton swatch before washing
Cotton swatch after washing
You can pin out your pieces or just leave them smoothed out
flat to dry. Cotton can also be steam pressed i.e. you can press the steam iron
onto the knitting if you want a flat surface as cotton can withstand quite a
lot of heat. However if the knitting is worked in a textured stitch you may
prefer to just wash or steam the pieces to retain the texture.
Acrylic Acrylic fibre does not respond well to heat.
You can wash the pieces in the way you will launder the finished garment and
lay them out flat to dry, or while they are still dry, you can pin out the
pieces on the blocking mat and then wet them either with a water spritzer or by
placing damp tea towels over the knitting so the moisture penetrates the
knitted pieces and then leave them to dry.
DO NOT iron or steam unless you want a limp open fabric.
Bamboo and other new fibres Yarns made from
new fibres such as bamboo, Soya, milk protein and corn are becoming more
readily available so it is important to know how to block knitting made from
these fibres. Although they are all made from natural sources they go through a
manufacturing process to be made into fibre so it is generally not a good idea
to use steam or an iron on them. The safest way to treat knitted pieces in any
of these fibres is to block them out dry and then apply damp tea towels to the
knitting. I usually pat down the damp
tea towels to help the moisture penetrate the fibre, leave the tea towels for 3 or
4 hours and then remove them and leave the knitting to dry completely before
unpinning.
Bamboo yarn in particular stretches quite easily when dry
and stretches even more when wet so it is very important to block bamboo from
dry not after washing it.
Blocking out a garment
I photographed the stages of pinning out a waistcoat knitted
in bamboo yarn. I joined the shoulder seams as part of the knitting as I prefer
to have knitted shoulder seams, however this can cause some problems when
blocking the pieces as you have to allow for the shoulder slope.
I started by pinning out the back piece. I placed pins in
the back neck, either side of the shoulder seam, the underarm points and the
bottom edge at the side seam. The bottom width, back width at the underarm
point, back shoulder width, back neck width, armhole length and side seam from
underarm to bottom where all checked against the measurements on the garment
schematic.
Bamboo waistcoat back pinning out the basic
shape
I then started to pin the bottom and side seam edges using
the grid on the blocking mat as a guide.
Waistcoat back showing the bottom and one side
edge pinned
Waistcoat back showing all edges pinned
Once all the back of the waistcoat was pinned out I then
started to pin the left front.
Waistcoat left front pinned in place
Once I finished pinning the left front I then pinned the
right front overlapping the front bands at the centre front and pinning the
shoulders to allow for the shoulder slope.
Waistcoat fronts pinned out.
Having pinned the garment pieces to size I then covered the
knitting with tea towels that I wetted and wrung out. I patted down the tea
towels to ensure the moisture penetrated the knitted, left them on the knitting
for several hours then removed the tea towels and left the knitted pieces until
completely dry.
Back of waistcoat covered with a tea towel
I hope you found this information useful.
