Friday, September 5, 2014

Blocking

My Cap Sleeve top is finished and currently being blocked! I didn't quite have enough yarn to do the lace on the sleeves. But, it was just one row and not a big deal to leave out. What was most important to me was the lace around the bottom edge. A nice feature on this top is that the neck edge has beading elastic running through a row of single crochets so that you can easily adjust the neck to fit. What a great idea!


If your are new to crochet/knitting, you might be wondering what I mean by blocking. When you finish your project, your stitches sit kind of...wonky. Jasmin on the Knitmore Girls put it well when she said that it looks like a cow chewed on it. The way you tame your stitches and get them to lay beautifully is by blocking them. You take T pins (I ordered mine from knitpicks) and pin your finished object in the desired shape to a foam mat. I use these exercise mats. Then, take your iron and hold it just above (not touching) your object. Move it around steaming the whole thing. The stitches will immediately begin looking better. Let it set pinned to the foam until it dries completely. You will now have perfectly tame stitches!

 Another little idea, although I am sure many out there do this already, is to use your leftover bits of yarn to make a blanket. I got this idea from my mom. Thanks mom! I used the bit from this to make my foundation chain. I am going to keep it simple. This blanket will be made up of double crochets in the back loop only. It will be fun to see how it looks with all of the different sized yarns and textures. This way I make use of my scraps and I will have a blanket full of memories of each thing I made with those yarns. Here is my chain ;) It's a start!


2 comments:

  1. The top is lovely - gorgeous colour - what yarn did you use?

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    Replies
    1. Thank you very much! I used Desert Flower by Dark Horse Yarns. It is 100% cotton. It's the best cotton I have used yet. Very soft and smooth.

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