Knitting question - Blocking

[flutterby]

difficult child needs help with blocking - she's never done it before and is having problems. She knitted a purse using a yarn that is a nylon/wool blend. She pinned it down, put a damp, thin towel over it and used an iron on a low setting, with an up and down motion not an ironing motion. It didn't work at all. Any tips?

 

[Hound dog]

I'm going to be waiting for the responses. I nor mother in law have ever gotten blocking methods to work much of the time depending on yarn types. Most of the time it didn't matter much as it would be a sweater and sewn together anyway. Maybe Trinity can help, she's a wiz at knitting.

 

[InsaneCdn]

I've never done it with an iron.
Granny taught me to wash the item, then lay it out to exact size (evenly spaced...) and let it dry.

 

[trinityroyal]

With a nylon/wool blend, IC's approach is probably the better one. Wet the item in room temperature water, pin it out to size, let it dry in place.

If you're blocking with an iron, you need to be very careful with nylon fibres as the iron can melt them a bit even at cool-ish temperatures. The knit item will have shiny flat patches wherever the fibres were fused. That said, it can be done if you're careful.

Use a thin cloth like a handkerchief. Soak it in cold water and then wring it out so that it's not dripping, but it is wet. Press the iron down and hold it in place until you start to see steam rising from the thin cloth. Repeat the until the entire item has been blocked. difficult child's cloth might not have been saturated enough, and the iron might have been a bit too cool. Go gently with raising the temperature -- about half a step at a time if your iron does that.

To be on the safe side, I would go with IC's method.

Hope this helps,
Trinity

 

[Marguerite]

That's something I haven't done, with all my knitting. interesting.

Flutterby, I am making good progress on that other knitting pattern you PM'd me with. I'll write something out for difficult child so it makes more sense. It's a good pattern, just not well explained. I do think it is worth having another go, when there is no time pressure on.

Marg

 

[flutterby]

Thank you so much, IC, Trinity, and Marg. difficult child is really stressing herself out this year over getting her projects done - they're all gifts.

 

[trinityroyal]

Flutter, let me know if difficult child continues to have trouble. There are some great teaching videos available on youtube. I can send her a few links if that would be helpful.

 

[flutterby]

It worked, thank you! She got it wet (well, the different pieces - they aren't sewn together yet), folded it into a towel to get the dripping water, pinned it down, and put some heavy books on it for good measure. She's so relieved and happy. Thanks again!