Knitting Tips: Blocking your Finished Work

There are many great tricks to having beautiful finished knits.  One of the easiest is blocking.

When your piece is finished, soak it in cool water.  You can also throw in some "no rinse" soap, like Soak.  (Soak is also great for washing all kinds of sweaters!)

Gently squeeze out the piece and roll it in a towel to remove the excess moisture.

Lay flat to dry.  If it's round, try to move it a few times so that you don't dry a crease into it.

The difference is sometimes remarkable.  Here's a few examples:

Before...the orange is unblocked...note the ripply edges from the loose bind-off.

After...nearly as long as the teal cowl.

Lace Ptarmigan cowl before blocking

Smooth, open lace after blocking

You can use blocking to:
-stretch pieces to a desired length
-open up lacework
-straighten funky edges
-get a better sense of gauge by blocking your swatch (nothing worse than a sweater that doubles in size when you wash it!)