Stitchboard Admin message #2
Re: To Block or not to Block
December 13, 2015 at 1:18:33 AM  (in response to Silvertiger message #1)
 
Silvertiger,

This looks amazing!  Yes, I can see the curving, but still...love your colors and how fantastic this looks! 

Okay, first, what kind of yarn are you using?  The entire question of blocking hinges on what kind of yarn that is.  Wool, alpaca, animal fibers in general, are all in need of and benefit from blocking.  Acrylic...the best thing they say to do with acrylic is to machine wash and dry it according to manufacturer instructions to even out the tension.

Cotton is something I've blocked - it blocks well.

So the main thing is to know your fiber, and that will tell you if you can and should block it. 

Now, if your yarn matches the blockability test (LOL), you can pin it into the correct shape.  I'm guessing if you can block your yarn, the curving will hardly be noticeable.    But even if you're using acrylic and putting it through the wash does nothing, be assured, the piece looks lovely regardless.  And chances are people will think you did that curving on purpose.  So think of it like a bug in software...it's not a problem, it's a feature! 

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Stitchboard Admin message #4
Re: To Block or not to Block
December 14, 2015 at 2:36:16 AM  (in response to Silvertiger message #3)
 
Silvertiger,

I'm not familiar with that one.  If it's a wool blend or superwash, it can be blocked, though I'd be careful about washing it in a machine.  All wool blends are not created equal, and some of them retain enough of the wool's shrinking properties to shrink more, which you probably wouldn't want! 

If it is a wool blend or superwash, the best thing to do is knit up a swatch, then actually wash it and see what it does.  Hopefully it's a blend that takes well to washing!

Now if the yarn is 100% acrylic (the label will say the percentage of acrylic and whatever else it is), then I'd just toss it into the machine, wash it on cool or cold, dry it using low heat, then see how it looks.  That technically should make your stitches nice and even. 

I've washed acrylic in the machine...carefully.  I want to say what I did was to make a blanket out of Simply Soft, which isn't quite the same as either a wool blend or really like Red Heart acrylic, as it's quite soft.  But it's still an acrylic (e.g., plastic!) and if you put an acrylic through high heat...it will melt, since it's...plastic!

I took great care to ensure there was nothing to heat the Simply Soft, both through the washer and dryer...and I have to admit, running it through a wash did even up the stitches! 

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