Blocking: A Necessary Evil

There comes a time in every knitter’s sojourn when they are faced with a curling, folding, and generally misbehaving piece of finished work. The knitter has no choice: it must be blocked.

Most knitting books will have you believing that blocking requires a peg-board, nails, spray bottle, the patience of a saint, and the Shroud of Turin to get it done right.  Extensive post-completion surgery such as this is exactly what would make a knitter like myself loathe to even considering such an abhorrent undertaking.  Thus, I have avoided blocking like the plague. Until today, that is

Logan's first bib

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I have a baby shower to attend and although I knitted the obligatory matching hat and booties (perish the though of making my life less complicated by actually purchasing a gift), I felt that I needed just one more item.  I’ve got all that cotton stash in my yarn closet (see previous post “Yarn Closet Incubus”) so I thought I’d be brilliant to make a bib!  And I doubled the cotton strands, holding two together throughout for maximum stash usage, making it ultra-absorbent and especially extra-stiff, thinking I could avoid blocking yet again!  But alas, it curled and folded on its own, despite the seed-stitch border I labored over to prevent this very behavior.  I would have to block it if it was to be a worthy gift (big sigh!).

But lacking the peg board and holy shroud, I laid the bib on a dry towel, covering it with a moist towel.  I pressed the wet towel down so the bib would absorb some moisture and thus relax and be pliable when I uncovered it a few hours later. Then, re-sandwiching it between towels that were both dry, I ironed the piece. Viola!  It’s brilliant!  And it looks nicer than a purchased bib!

I must admit there’s a reason why blocking is so useful, but it can be done very simply without special equipment, etc.

Now if only I could get around the gauge swatch…



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