To Block or Not to Block

Blocking is one of those things, like swatching, that many knitters are reluctant to do. (You know who you are [*cough*].) Underrated, blocking has many benefits: It locks the fibers in place to create a uniform fabric from what were individual stitches of knitting. It helps get rid of any remaining lanolin from the processing of natural fibers (making a much lighter fabric, weight-wise, as well). It helps fix the color of hand-dyed yarns and wash away the excess color. In the case of mohair and angora blends, it helps those fibers "bloom," enhancing the fuzz and fluff, and it often softens up wool. Finally, blocking will give you your true gauge, often transforming tight and bunchy pieces into something more relaxed and civilized.

In case you were wondering, the self-righteous among us who swatch? We block those swatches, too.

I recently started the stranded Winter Sunrise Hat to match the fingerless gloves I'd made a couple of months ago. Since the fingerless gloves were knit in the round, like the hat, I had a pretty good idea what my gauge would be. Because I didn't have the same size needles, I figured I could go up half a size, using #2 circulars to make the hat. Having knit about 5 1/2 inches, I finally took it off the needles to measure circumference because it seemed really small to me. Indeed, it's supposed to be 19"-20".


Here's a close-up of my ruler and hat edge. You can see that I've got, basically, a hat that's 16" in circumference -- much too small for my head.

Before unraveling the entire thing and reknitting on larger needles, I figured I might as well try blocking what I'd already completed to see if that would relax the yarn a bit. (For those of you new to stranded knitting, be forewarned that stranding is notorious for tightening up your knitting, regardless of how loose a knitter you are. And I don't mean morally. . .That really has nothing to do with it.)

So here, after a gentle blocking:


The close-up below shows that the hat grew by about 1 1/4" just from a gentle blocking.

Not bad, and enough so that it fits fine on my head. It's still on the snug-but-not-brain-crushingly-tight side, but when the entire thing is finished, I'll block it a bit more deliberately. And what do I mean by that? Well, instead of flattening it out on a towel after immersing it in water and wool wash, I'll try to find a bowl or pot that's the circumference I need and stretch it, gently, around that.

So, the rule is to block and not to not block. There are a few times when maybe you don't want to block, like when you want a garment to be crisp and tight and a bit stiff. I didn't have time to block the Noro scarf I made for David (see previous post) before he wore it on a trip to Boston. He actually likes the orderly way the scarf wraps around his neck, as it doesn't misbehave by flopping all over the place; it stays where it's told. Eventually I'll have to wash it, but for now, he's wearing it unblocked. One of the very few exceptions to the rule.