Pin Me Down
So let’s talk about blocking. You know those stitches that just, by their nature, don’t want to lie flat? The ones that have a bit of ripple and curve to them? Yeah. There are a few ways you can go with them. You can force them flat when you block, or you can exaggerate the the waves. I think both can be fun, but what about you guys. Would you freak out if the blocking instructions wanted you to do this?
You’d need either several (oh, maybe 12?) straight needles or a set of blocking wires or some super skinny dowels from the craft store or the snipped off bottom parts of some coated wire coat hangers or some other clever thing I’m sure I’m just overlooking.
Or what about something like this?
That’s the same swatch, just held in place with some tiny binder clips. Clothes pins or even hair clips could work too.
The point is that you’d likely need to do some creative scavenging to block this way, but it wouldn’t be all that hard. And if you did need to buy something like dowels or binder clips, you could get what you needed for less than five bucks.
I think if the finished piece made the texture look awesome I would want to know how to do that. goodness knows I enjoy making my lace scream for mercy on the blocking board. 🙂
I prefer to block things flat because I can more easily picture how things will look in two dimensions. The second picture scares me a wee bit.
I’d give it a go, but I think presenting flat blocking as a valid option would definitely be a good plan for less adventurous knitters.
(For the record, the knitting needle method looks a lot more intuitive than the binder clip one, although it’s hard to say for sure without having it in hand to play with.)
I’m curious to see the end result of this…
I think the rods might be a bit much for me. The clips I would happily attempt, but if I had to go to the store to get blocking materials I probably would forget or not find the time, or something similar. Then the project would end up in a corner, complete except for some simple blocking, and would never be looked at again.
I think making it an alternative blocking option would be a better way to go.
Sure would! It’s part of the knitting adventure and I’m willing to do whatever is needed, creatively, to get the results. Blocking is creative in and of itself, though I pretty much hate doing it. But, I do it.
I am going to have to go with option two. I can see myself busting out the binder clips and adding them to my notions arsenal. The slightly Spanish Inquisition looking set up with the needles I would probably forgo.
Well, I’m rubbish at improvising, but with a bit of guidance (viz your photos), I’ll give most things a go.
I’m intrigued to know how the piece will look after blocking.
What fun! Another way to add that third dimension to our knitting. Can’t wait for the project. A blocking wire held above the stitches by thread spools or clips or other household found items would work. It would even be possible to pull sidesways every other point so they create even more pattern, a stormy lake effect. Have a great time with this, we will too knitting it.
Angel
I agree with others that the first photo is mildly terrifying and if the second achieves similar results, it might seem less daunting. However, I feel like the first and second methods would create quite different effects.
That said, I’ve been known to get creative with blocking before, just because I felt like it. People will likely block the item however they want to at the time.
I’d definitely be interested in blocking it the way you did in the photos, esp. if that was presented as an option in addition to more traditional blocking.
I agree with the others, give the adventurous blocking as an option with how-to pics plus pics demonstrating the “why” in the post-blocking pics.
I don’t use straight needles but if they don’t need to be very long I have several different mm sizes of dpns 🙂
I love texture. I’m one of the few people I know who will go out of her way to NOT block lace….I love the wavy, ripply, curvy, sharp angled textures that the stitches create. And I’m sad when they fade away.
This is brilliant. Can’t wait to try!
I think that with a lot of options/ideas presented and some photos of how to do it (or at least how it should look while blocking) I might be adventurous enough to try it. But it would be nice to have the option to block flat too…
I’m with those who thing both a flat and all the various “non flat” options are good. Around here, finding enough clips would make option 2 out of the question for me, but option 1 would be doable with the blocking wires and some ingenuity. So – more options are best! Love the creativity too, here. 🙂