Beyond the Glass

I saw something today that gave me a moment of pause.

In the glass-half-empty, glass-half-full debate I have always been on the glass-half-full side, and I still am.

But what if you started with an empty glass?  

Now fill it with all your friends, family, and support communities whether they be in person or online.

Fill it with the home that shelters you from the elements and the food that you consume each day.   

Fill it with all of the happy cherished memories that you hold close to your heart.

Fill it with your talents and all those amazing things that make you...well, you.

My glass is already bursting, it is overflowing with blessings and treasured moments in time and I haven't even begun to list all the things that bring me joy each day...like the sun rising in hues of pink and gold or seeing a vibrant butterfly on a summer's day.  I haven't even filled it with miracles or rainbows yet or days at the beach or the quiet moments after a snowfall.

The truth is the "glass" is chosen by us as a measure of what we deem as our portion.  The size of that glass changes as our point of view on how our life experience is measured evolves or devolves as we grow.

The glass is just a metaphor.  There is no size to the glass except what you give it.

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This reminds me of lace.  Many times when you make lace it just looks like a holey mess.  

Some lace needs some help to bloom and grow and become so much greater than how it looked on the needles.  We can do this by blocking it and this process is not limited to lace.

Blocking is the process of wetting, pressing or steaming finished knit pieces to mold them into a certain size and shape.  Wet pieces can be stretched to at least one size bigger then your finished unblocked project.  Looser stitches are easier to stretch by blocking but they may loose some of their definition in elongating the fabric.  Blocking, like swatching is integral to the knitting process for most items.

This lace swatch is folding in on itself and needs a good blocking.

I used my Knitblockers and pins to open the lace motif up and then wet it on the board

There are a bunch of different tools that can be used in blocking.  Rustproof pins, rustproof wires, and colorfast blocking areas are some of the ways that people can block their knits.  I also have sock blockers for socks and there are boards for sweaters so that you can block to certain measurements.  The tools are endless for blocking.

I use a combination of a variety of pins, blocking boards that fit like puzzle pieces so I can block a myraid of things, wires, a steamer and the Knitblockers.  

For this shawl I prewet it and used blocking wires at the top to keep the edge straight and pins at the points, the picture was taken at an angle so it looks askew, but the shawl came out fabulous

For this shawl I used blocking wires at the top and through the points on the sides with pins to hold it all in place and then I wet it on the board

If you have any doubt how your piece will react to blocking use a gauge swatch to practice on.  This will also allow you to test the colorfastness of the yarn dye.  Pieces of cabling, ribbing and other thicker designs can be ruined by heavy blocking because the yarn becomes stretched.  On the other hand pieces with open patterns like lace can benefit from being stretched tightly.  In the case of lace it opens up the holes and makes the design really shine.

The blocking method you employ depends on the type of yarn you are using.  Introducing heat to a fiber will cause it to change in some way.  It is important to know how your fiber will react by testing a swatch first.  Also the ball band can provide a clue to how to care for your item.

Wool, which includes alpaca, camel, cashmere and sheep’s wool respond well to wet blocking and will stretch and smooth when blocked.  Immerse the item in water to wet it before blocking or warm steam press.  Angora and mohair wools should be wet blocked by spraying the water on the item.  Wool blends should be wet blocked by spraying.  

Cotton can loose its shape so do not over block.  Cotton should be wet blocked or warm/hot steam pressed.  Linen can be wet blocked or warm/hot steam pressed.  Synthetics such as acrylic are difficult to block.  Many synthetic yarns can not be blocked at all and your finished project is the final size and shape of the piece.  Do not press synthetic yarns.  Do not use high heat with synthetic yarns as they can melt or fuse. Novelty yarns will not respond to blocking.  

Before blocking you should have an idea how your item will look.  A drawing or pattern will help you to ensure that you block the items to scale and need.  A pattern will usually tell you how aggressive you need to be in your blocking.  Some shawls need to be really pulled taut when blocking and some fabrics will bow and buckle if you pull them too tight.

Treat each garment in a manner that befits its shape.  For instance, if you have a shawl that has a straight edge you might want to start by running wires through the topmost stitches to ensure that your edge stays straight.  Then you would stretch the topmost edges on each side as I did in the above shawl pictures, holding the fabric taught with pins.  

If there are scallops or points in your shawl you would pin each of those seperately.  I sometimes run blocking wires through the points to help keep their symmetry as I did in the blue shawl or you can pin them individually as I did in the green/yellow shawl.

For this cowl I used a head to hold the draping part of garment and opened up the scalloped lace of the caplet with pins and then wet it on the board

This is an example of pinning each of the points to maintain their shape and blocking wires were used to keep the top edge straight.  This was wet after I put it on the board.

All of these examples could have been pre-wet before blocking but I chose to wet them after they were pinned.  I don't have an actual example of a lace weight item in my photo-roll but in that case I would wet it first to ensure all the lace opens up.  This is a matter of my personal preference though.  In either case this is called wet blocking.

Steam pressing is done with an iron set on “steam” or a hand held steamer.  The heat from the steam is what allows the piece to block.  Do not touch the iron to the item.  You can lay a towel over the piece which will protect the item from heat exposure and keep it clean.  You can steam press either by using a dry pressing cloth with a steam iron, or a wet pressing cloth with a dry iron.  Let your item dry completely before storing or they tend to mold.

Most of all, have fun with blocking.  See what works for you and your garments and how much of a difference just a little blocking can make.

Happy Blocking!  

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I had someone ask me if I actually finished the yarn room, and I did!  Yay!  😀

Happy Crafting!

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Safe socially-distanced hugs  🤗

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Sending love and light to everyone being affected by this virus.  

May you be safe.  

May your loved ones be safe.  

🙏

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Sending love and light to everyone facing discrimination, hate, prejudice, inequality, or racism.
🙏🙏💖💖🙏🙏