Eskimimi Knits knitting blog

scarf, pre-blocking

A couple of days ago I finished a scarf made from some yarn which had been hanging around me, ignored, since I started knitting.

A simple feather and fan scarf it was simple enough to knit, but exciting for the fact that it gave me my first opportunity to try and block some simple lace.  I wanted to really open up the lace pattern so tried to block the scarf quite aggressively, and here are the results:

Marialis End-to-End Scarf from Designer One Skein Wonders.

In lieu of blocking wires I used a technique that I’d heard mentioned once in which embroidery thread is run long the outside stitches and then that sturdy thread is held in place by the pins pushed into the surface upon which you are blocking the item. I’d really love to get some blocking wires one day, but at the moment an old skein of embroidery cotton provided a much less expensive alternative, and it seems to have worked very well.

Feather and fan lace, now opened up and uniform in pattern

Considering the lack of trust I had in this skein of yarn I am not unhappy with the resulting scarf. The colour settled into a striping sequence where brown waves of colour emerge from each side, looking not unlike tiger stripes, and although I might not choose to try and tame such a yarn again, at least the sequence stayed consistent throughout the knitting, which I am grateful for.

I have blocked a few things before. In fact, I block most things, from socks to cushion covers, just because I like them in their perfect flat form, but I have never used the process of blocking to fundamentally alter the structure and appearance of a piece of knitting beyond tidying and refining my stitches and the drape of the fabric I have created, or to stop a bit of curl on the edge of some stockinette.

The power of blocking never seems to be stronger than when it is applied to a piece of lace. So, when I finally cast off this crumpled piece of serpentine untamed mess I decided that I was going to block it rather aggressively. I was going to block this scarf to within an inch of its life.

You may look relaxed now... Wait until you see my pins

Currently, if you were to visit Castle Mimi, you’d find seven 1ft foam boards linked together with a very, very long scarf stretched between countless pins, propper up against the hallway wall.  It’s in the hallway as this is the only wall long enough to accommodate its length.  Amateur to lace blocking that I am, I hadn’t accounted for just how much added length you can get out of lace by blocking it.  I had assumed it would be a decent amount, but I had clearly underestimated when deciding upon the finished length of my knitting (a scientific decision arrived at by the following calculation:)

ul= f² x Q
___________
a

where: ul= unblocked length, f = how fed up I am of this scarf, Q = finish time of Question Time with the lovely David Dimbleby and a = alcohol quota.

Inputting the relevant values gave me a finished unblocked length of about 5ft.  I’m looking forward to unpinning the scarf and seeing what the actual finished length will be.  I can’t quite tell how the scarf will look at the moment as the background of the child’s foam hopscotch tiles I am using as blocking mats is breaking the patterns of the colours and the lace pattern up too much for me to be able to discern what the finished result will be.  I’m looking forward to the surprise because I think it is either going to be shockingly busy or absolutely wonderful.