Block Party

I have often been accused of witchcraft when it comes to my knitting.

I get it.

To outsiders, it looks like I'm just waving sticks about with some string attached, all the while muttering to myself. After completing this ritual, I magically have a beautiful item in my possession.

I hate to break it to you, but that's not magic.

But you want to know what is?

Blocking.

Yep. Add some water and pins to your lace knitting and BOOM! You've completely transformed the piece better than McGonagall ever could. (Ha. Harry Potter reference. *high fives self*)

Don't believe me?

Okay, well, I'll just have to show you.

I recently completed my Grey Skies shawl, which uses the Easy as Pie pattern as its base. Which happens to be my *favorite* pattern for showing just how drastic blocking can be.

Here she is, looking completely like a pile of garbage.

As you can see, the lace is all scrunched up. You can't really see the pattern at all.

This is after a good washing and a soak.

It's definitely looking more promising. The fiber has relaxed and opened up a bit. But to truly transform it, we have to get a little aggressive.

Ta-da!!!

It looks completely different. The gorgeous edging is now clearly defined and those points are... on point. (sorrynotsorry)

Look at just how much that lace opened up. It's wonderful.

Now, it does relax quite a bit when you take it off the blocking board. But it's still lovely and absolutely fantastic to wear.

You can see that the points aren't quite as drastic, especially with the tassels hanging on them. But the shape of the lace itself is still an amazing turnaround from where it began.

So yes, blocking. It's an essential tool for every knitter, but especially so for lace knitters.

Yep, that's right. Every knitting project can benefit from blocking. It's not all just stretching out your knitting. I highly recommend searching out for the thousands of tutorials that I'm sure are already out there.

As for me, I'm going to go work on a project that actually doesn't have any lace in it for once.

Shocking, I know.

Did I mention how much I hate colorwork?