"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

4/27/22

WIP Wednesday April 27, 2022

 Today is my daughter Sarah's birthday. Happy Birthday Sarah! One year closer to 40! Heh heh.

I finished the knitting of Lovelia's body. I wove in all the ends yesterday. It took 3 hours. Whew! Today I blocked it, and I took picks while I was doing it. This is acrylic, so I blocked it with steam, like I explain how to do on my post about blocking acrylic. I just feel a need to do another one.

Here is Lovelia, unblocked. Front



and back.



I have put the blocking wires in. It's so much easier to block with these than just pinning.



I've pinned it to my blocking board, right side down according to the measurements of the schematic in the pattern. At this point, I steamed it gently with my Jiffy Steamer, though a steam iron or a hand held steamer works. I did not steam the ribbing. I don't want to destroy it's elasticity.


Just a word about blocking mats. The one I have is no longer on the market, which is a shame because it's awesome, but there are a lot of mat sets available. I recommend something like this set here:



It's a set of interlocking foam mats which makes it pretty flexible, with t-pins.

Here is the front of Lovelia after removing the wires and pins.



It looks so nice and even, and it's going to be easier to sew on the sleeves and knit on the button bands.



I hear people say they don't block, and don't need too. It's a horrifying thing to hear. No pride in workmanship at all.

Here's a pic of Zoey for you. Just the smallest little lip blep.


Live long and prosper. \\//
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous6/24/22, 9:19 AM

    Hi, I was wondering after you steam the garment, how long do you leave it still blocked?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beadknitter6/25/22, 4:12 PM

      If I'm understanding your question correctly, until it's dry, so just a few minutes.

      Delete
  2. Sarah8/31/23, 11:28 PM

    Once you’ve put all the parts together, will you steam the seams too? I’m a crocheter and making a cardigan made of squares that I will be slip stitching together (not sowing). And I’m not sure if I should steam the individual squares before joining or steaming the finished piece? And in the case the cardigan can’t be opened up like this but needs to lay flat with its two layers on top of each other, would you turn inside out and steam it twice, turning it over between the two times? Or does enough steam go through it you think to just go over the two layers once?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5/30/26, 1:12 AM

    Yeah, so... it's been four years since there have been any comments on this post, so I don't have a ton of faith it will be seen, but it's worth a try.

    I'm making a Tunisian crochet sweater in acrylic. Tunisian crochet being what it is, it's got a lot of curling. My thought is to wet block it ahead of of piecing it together, then steam block it after it is sewn together. It will need some additional traditional crochet ribbing after it is pieced together. I'm not sure it will work to "re" steam block it after the ribbing is finished. At the same time, it will be easier to block the individual pieces than the whole sweater.

    ReplyDelete

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