Blocking is awesome. It makes a monumental difference in woolen knit wear. So why do we dread it so much? I dunno, but we do!
As for my Georgetown sweater, I had incentive. Lorraine, my best friend from my 20's, is flying in on Saturday to spend 5 days here in sunny Southern California. This is a huge event since it's been 7 years since we last saw each other. We are going to spend 3 days and 2 nights secluded in Laguna. And we have our fantasies! Mine is to lock arms and take long walks on the beach bundled up in Georgetown. Maybe walk all the way to Splashes for lobster bisque and sit in front of the fireplace looking out over the Pacific while we catch up on our lives.
In order to get psyched to finish my sweater, I set aside a good chunk of time on my day off. And I decided to give the finishing process the time it would take. No rushing. NO CUSSING. And then to refresh my memory regarding the mattress stitch and set in sleeves, I watched this excellent tutorial. Oh, doesn't she make it look easy! And actually, it really was easy. Time-consuming but easy.
On to blocking. It makes all the difference in the world to have the right tools, like Coco Knits Sweater Care Kit. I fearlessly zipped my sweater into the mesh laundry bag, set the machine to cold water and hand-wash. That way I didn't have to use 10 towels to roll the sweater in to dry it. Since it's heat and agitation that causes felting, I was confident that the sweater wouldn't shrink and it didn't. Then I laid it out on the super absorbent grid sheet and pinned it in place. The grid makes it so easy to even things out! And since it was a gloriously sunny day, I laid it on the table on our deck and it dried in the sun within 10 hours. Ba-da-boom! And IT FITS!!! Now that shouldn't be a surprise because I swatched, I measured, I checked in the whole time I was knitting it but really, until you try a sweater on you're never quite sure. And here she is!
As for my Georgetown sweater, I had incentive. Lorraine, my best friend from my 20's, is flying in on Saturday to spend 5 days here in sunny Southern California. This is a huge event since it's been 7 years since we last saw each other. We are going to spend 3 days and 2 nights secluded in Laguna. And we have our fantasies! Mine is to lock arms and take long walks on the beach bundled up in Georgetown. Maybe walk all the way to Splashes for lobster bisque and sit in front of the fireplace looking out over the Pacific while we catch up on our lives.
In order to get psyched to finish my sweater, I set aside a good chunk of time on my day off. And I decided to give the finishing process the time it would take. No rushing. NO CUSSING. And then to refresh my memory regarding the mattress stitch and set in sleeves, I watched this excellent tutorial. Oh, doesn't she make it look easy! And actually, it really was easy. Time-consuming but easy.
On to blocking. It makes all the difference in the world to have the right tools, like Coco Knits Sweater Care Kit. I fearlessly zipped my sweater into the mesh laundry bag, set the machine to cold water and hand-wash. That way I didn't have to use 10 towels to roll the sweater in to dry it. Since it's heat and agitation that causes felting, I was confident that the sweater wouldn't shrink and it didn't. Then I laid it out on the super absorbent grid sheet and pinned it in place. The grid makes it so easy to even things out! And since it was a gloriously sunny day, I laid it on the table on our deck and it dried in the sun within 10 hours. Ba-da-boom! And IT FITS!!! Now that shouldn't be a surprise because I swatched, I measured, I checked in the whole time I was knitting it but really, until you try a sweater on you're never quite sure. And here she is!
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