Blocking Knitting

One of the most important skills for knitters to learn is blocking knitting. Blocking refers to the process that makes knitted objects square and even. Blocking knitting is vital to making sweaters fit right and to making blocks for a project all the same size.

How I Learned about Blocking Knitting

Since blocking knitting is so important, you’d think it would be talked about more in knitting books. But I think there’s only one book of all the knitting books on my shelf that really explains how and why blocking should be done.

When you’re a beginner, blocking knitting probably doesn’t make that much difference. When you’re making unshaped projects like scarves, it isn’t critical if the project is exactly square and the same width all the way across.

But if you’re making shaped garments or something like the sampler afghan project mentioned in Free Easy Knitting Patterns, blocking becomes more important. The front and back of your sweater need to be the same size, just as every square in a project must be the same size for the rows to line up.

I’ve always known about blocking knitting, but I never really did it until I made a knitted afghan from my grandmother-in-law for Christmas. I don’t even have a picture of it to share with you because it didn’t turn out well. It was the first project I knitted in the continental style, and my tension was erratic. One end was much, much wider than the other. So I decided I had to block the thing to try to make it square. It didn’t end up perfect (thus the lack of pictures) but it was a lot closer and the recipient loved it anyway.

Blocking Knitting

The basic procedure for blocking knitting involves first getting the project wet. The moisture relaxes the fibers and allows you to stretch the piece. It should be damp but not dripping.

Lay out a towel of clean sheet on the floor, a bed or a table where it will not be disturbed. Put your knitted object on top and stretch it as you need to in order to get the edges straight and square.

This can take a good bit of time, especially if you’re working with something horribly misshapen. You may need to rewet some areas to make it a little easier to stretch them.

You can also pin your project down to the towel (or even use a board and some tacks, which is a great idea for a project where you need many pieces to come out the same size).

Whichever method you use, once you are happy with the results, leave the project to dry. You might want to put another towel or sheet over top if you think someone (or some house cat) might disturb it while it is drying.

How Blocking Knitting Works

As the project dries it will retain its shape. There may be a little change in the shape if you don’t pin the project down. The moisture relaxes the fibers, making them more pliable, and when the fabric dries it will hold whatever shape you stretch it into.

Another method for blocking knitting is the steam method, by which you stretch the project into shape first, cover it with a dry cloth and hold a steam iron above (but not on) the project to relax the fibers. This can be done with very delicate fibers that should not be washed.

The method described above uses things that are in your house to block your knitting, but you can also buy gadgets that will help make your blocking job easier. A blocking board can be used on the floor or a table top. It is water resistant and you can pin directly to it, so it’s great for blocking (as well as ironing, laying out projects, cutting and more). You can also buy blocking pins that will not rust in the damp conditions.

Blocking knitting can be a little intimidating, but it really does work to fix a multitude of project shaping sins. I was afraid of it until I had to do it and found it worked wonders. Now I want to go back and block projects that are a little imperfect but never bothered me until I learned the magic of blocking.