July 22, 2002

Woo hoo! I finished knitting both sides on Saturday! [Runs madly around the room in circles.] Sunday was a rainy day, so I took some time in the morning to shape and block it all. With a toddler and small dog running around the house, properly blocking a garment is hard. But! I got a brainstorm. I got our old, ugly-ass picnic table out of the hall closet, unfolded it in the spare room, and placed our winter bed comforter (folded in thirds) on top of it. I then covered it with the plastic covering used by the dry cleaner to cover our dry cleaning, and on top of that I put a thin towel. Then I placed both sides of my knitting on it and pinned them down with no trouble. Not only was I able to sit down while I did all that, the kid and dog can't get to it. I deserve a prize. The husband, too. He took care of the kid while I played with my knitting.

Although I don't usually pin garments to block, I decided to pin this one because of the excessive curling of the sides and slight pulling of the cable design. After carefully pinning it to measurements (without stretching), I liberally doused the whole thing with cold water sprays. After it was wet, I used my fingers to mold the cables even more, and to shape them so they all matched up perfectly. Then I got brave, picked up a can of the best starch I could find in the French market, stood back about two meters, and sprayed a tiny bit of starch on the cables. I did that once to some embroidery I placed on a sweater I knit for my brother's baby daughter, and it "set" the embroidery without making it stiff. Let's hope it works for this top as well, because although I want nice looking cables, I don't think I'd like walking around wearing a top that's as stiff as a cardboard cutout.

« Category | Main