How to Block Knitting

Blocking is a handy technique for stretching, easing, and redistributing stitches in a finished piece of hand knitting.  Whether you are preparing to sew pieces of a sweater together or simply finishing a scarf like the one shown here, blocking creates a beautifully even fabric, which makes it easy to work with and lovely to wear.

You can block any type of natural fiber for any type of garment, as long as you are gentle.  The goal is to get the knitting into a desired shape without stretching it out or damaging the fibers.  These directions work best (in our experience) for all types of natural fibers from mohair to cashmere, cotton, silk, and blends.

Comments

[Punky]

Hello, my cousin is making a bedspread, not in blocks, and is having trouble with keeping the stiches the same when she starts the next day. The stitches are looser than the day before. She is using a size 10 hook and the yarn is the thickness like jute string. Is there any way that she might be able to correct this? Even a sugestion on how to "block" a large bedspread would help.
You can email me back answers and I will also watch here.
Thank you very much.

[purl bee]

Hi Punky,
This often happens with large projects. It should mostly resolve itself when she blocks it unless the difference is wildly different. You can block just as it says here, but lay the blanket on a large sheet or similar. You can skip the pins or sometimes its possible to pin into a rug (just be sure your colors won't run once the project is wet!).
Hope this helps!

[Fonda]

Is there more to blocking than understanding that it is a good idea? Not sure how to access the rest of the article if there is more.

[purl bee]

HI Fonda-

Sorry for the confusion, this is an older post so the links are a little funky. The whole tutorial can be found here: http://purlbee.squarespace.com/blocking-tutorial/

Thanks for writing in!

Molly