I found a fellow knitaholic at the Cottage Smallholder Party " Jean (of course)
Thanks to her passing on 'the knowledge' of lace blocking, I set to and hey presto now have a gorgeous shawl.
Thank you so much Jean!
More about the yarn, pattern etc here
Celia
x
Hi
It's a colour picture. The shawl is a darkish blue/green (I think it's very much more green than blue - it's like Scots Pine needles).
No I'm very lazy and hardly ever block my knitting. I usually just steam iron it on the back, sometimes with a cloth to protect the stitches. And yes I KNOW THAT IS THE WRONG WAY TO DO IT.
But with knitted lace it is absolutely essential to block it properly - Jean knows how if not all your hard work (and maths and lots and lots of counting) look rubbish.
C
x
Now you know! Blocking is . I freely adit I used to not bother - but that was before I did lace to any great extent. I used to pin bits of jumper onto the ironing board - some parts took more than one go - and iron over a damp cloth. I got away with it for years, but it is not really good enough for lace - if you put all the anguish into knitting it, you want people to see it and go weak.
Am now nipping over to your blog to have a good look at the pics on my big screen monitor.
By the way, I am jeanfromcornwall on Ravelry, and also my blog, so feel free to poke my account and have a good look. Only the most recent work on Ravelry, but quite a bit of older stuff in the blog archive.
Shut up, I'm counting
It is taking a freshly knitted piece of work, thoroughly damping it and
1. in the case of lace, stretching it as far as you can without breaking it, and pinning it down or strapping it with string to a board, and leaving it to dry. When it is released from it's bondage (no silly remarks if the m*nfolk are looking) it will stay stretched out and supple, and show the pattern off.
2. for parts of jumpers etc. pinning them out to the size and shape they are supposed to be and either do it with them wet, as with lace, or pin them out dry, then steam with the iron over a damp cloth, but NO pressure. You don't want to flatten, just "set" the stitches into place.
This applies to wool - synthetic yarns have to be treated differently.
http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/index.php?a=w.....038;pg=1
I hope that works as a link to how they do it in Shetland.
Shut up, I'm counting
By the way. Celia - keep quiet about any flaws. Non knitters won't see them, and if any knitter does, they only make her feel better about her own mistakes!
Jean Miles works on the theory that if a rider galloping by on a horse could see the mistake, she had better fix it, otherwise it will do.
Shut up, I'm counting
Who lives long sees much : The diary of my life in Bulgaria
Gottaknit said:
I hope that works as a link to how they do it in Shetland.
http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/index.php?a=w.....pg=1%C2%A0
C
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
Most Users Ever Online: 767
Currently Online:
30 Guest(s)
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
brightspark: 10532
danast: 10232
Aly: 9516
Sooliz: 8084
Hattie: 6920
Ambersparkle: 6699
JoannaS: 4800
Terrier: 4518
eileen54: 4424
Hannah: 4231
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 10
Members: 16171
Moderators: 2
Admins: 2
Forum Stats:
Groups: 6
Forums: 25
Topics: 2295
Posts: 123081
Newest Members:
Doublesden, naoum, brunorogers, Weismart, renesmith97, KarenFields21Moderators: Toffeeapple: 16337, AdminTA: 10
Administrators: fn: 333, Danny: 5516
Copyright © 2006-2012 Cottage Smallholder Our Privacy Policy Advertise on Cottage Smallholder