Heavy Duty Blocking

If you have a hat that's a hair too small, or a sweater a few rows too short, you may want to try a more aggressive blocking technique:

Rather than pinning and spraying the piece, submerge it in a bath of room temperature water. 

Remove to a clean towel and roll it to get out excess water.  Don't wring or twist the knitting while it is weak and wet!  Be gentle!  

Hand block the damp knitting to the desired size and pin it into place.  Let it dry thoroughly.   

Update on December 7, 2006 by purl bee

Good questions! Your sweater will continue to grow and change a little bit, stretching and loosening up as you wear it. It should not shrink unless you wash it in warm water or machine dry it.

As for the scarf caught in a rainstorm: after you've dried off, towel dry your scarf and lay it out flat on your bedspread to dry fully. Because the fibers are weaker and stretchable when wet, don't hang it over a chair or from a clothesline.

Comments

[aly]

Will blocking help a hat that is about 1.5" too small?

[purl bee]

It doesn't hurt to try! You can block the hat a little at a time, without getting it too wet and stretching it too much. Good Luck!

[AnaB]

So here's what I've always (well, since I started knitting a year or so ago) wondered and never found the answer to... Sweaters need to be washed. Does the blocking "stick", or do we have to block these pieces every time? For example, that sweater that is too short on the example... once it gets washed, is it going to shrink back to its original size when washed? And what happens if you get soaked in the rain wearing that cool scarf from the photos? -- will it need to be blocked again to retain those cool, even squares? No book seems to hold the answer... Thanks!
Love your blog almost as much as I love your store!

[Sarah]

Help! How do I do the reverse of this (in a controlled way): I've just knitted my first project for 20 years, a hot water bottle cover, but it's too big. Only a couple of inches, but my hot water bottle is going to slide around inside and that's not good. I don't know what went wrong; I did the tension square and everything, maybe I loosened up as I went. So, can I dip it in warm water and pin it out and hope it'll come to the right size?

Thanks!

[Denise N]

Will this technique also work for a tunisian crochet piece that I have just learned to make, (also known as an afgan stitch)? The piece curled even when I put an edging around it. I don't know if I should spray it with water or submerge it completely. Thanks for your help!

Denise

[Amo Tejer]

HI, from Argentina! I´ve been knitting for a while now, but here in Argentina, nobody blocks the pieces, we just wash it after we finish it, once it is sew together. Is it the same? Do you recommend blocking it before it is sew? Do you spray it only with
water? Or do you use a detergent also?
Love your blog! Thank you sooo much for all the tips and patterns!

[purl bee]

Hi Amo Tejer,

Blocking is really a matter of personal preference! A lot of patterns do recommend blocking pieces before you sew them together, but it's certainly not crucial. Spraying with water is great for just some light blocking when you want to even out your stitches a little bit, and soaking in a sink full of warm water with a gentle detergent is good for more heavy duty blocking. If I want to neaten my stitches, shape the finished piece or make it bigger, I usually go for the sink and detergent method!

Thanks for asking!
Whitney

[Maggie]

What method would you suggest for the 'mistake rib scarf' here on your site? What are steam blocking, any thoughts on that? Thanks!

[purl bee]

Hi Maggie-

We would recommend light blocking, not heavy duty blocking, for that project.

Thank you!

Molly

[Kat]

I have an earflap hat that needs blocking, but it's an acrylic/wool blend. The tips I've gotten are to gently steam-block the blend...but that hats are best aggressively wet-blocked, like you say. The hat definitely needs blocking, so...what do I do?

[purl bee]

Hi Kat,

I hardly ever steam-block hand knits, although there are probably situations where that would be best. For your hat (and most everything else that needs blocking), the process described here will work great!

Thanks for asking!
Whitney