blocking

[jstephens788]

I am new to crochet and have never blocked any pieces yet. I have a couple of scarves that I think might look more finished if I were to block them. I wanted to know if anyone had any good resources on how to block pieces or any tips for me. Do most of you use actual blocking boards or do you use another surface in your house? Also, how do you decide what pieces you are going to block? Thanks, any advice will be appreciated!

[magiccrochetfan]

All i ever do with garments or accessories is lay them flat to dry. Well i did put a slouchy hat over a ball to dry. But never had to pin out anything other than doilies or snowflake ornaments.

 

My husband made me a drying rack with screen on it so things can dry faster and i just lay them on that.

 

What fiber are your scarves?

[jstephens788]

All i ever do with garments or accessories is lay them flat to dry. Well i did put a slouchy hat over a ball to dry. But never had to pin out anything other than doilies or snowflake ornaments.

 

My husband made me a drying rack with screen on it so things can dry faster and i just lay them on that.

 

What fiber are your scarves?

 

The main scarf that I was thinking of is made with Aunt Lydia's crochet thread, and then I have a couple made with Red Heart and Simply Soft.

[Gingerbread Girl]

I never bother to block scarves. The way they bunch up when worn makes blocking them pointless, to me. That is just my preference though - there's absolutely nothing wrong with blocking them if you want to. =) 

That said, the only thread items I've ever pinned out were doilies so I could starch them.

 

I do not block items made with acrylic, regardless of what they are/what stitch pattern was used. I know some people will insist otherwise, but honestly the couple of acrylic pieces I blocked it made such a minimal difference once the item was unpinned, I do not feel like it's worth the time and effort to do it.

The things I block most often are shawls that were either knit or crocheted with lace weight yarn in natural fibers like wool, alpaca, angora etc., because the blocking helps to open up the stitches to make the lace stitch patterns stand out more. Otherwise they remain sort of "closed" and the full effect is not seen. The same applies to other weights of yarn & items besides shawls of course, but I most often work with finer yarns and usually don't feel like non-lace items really need it. I don't use blocking mats - they're overpriced for what they are. I bought a couple packs of foam puzzle mats from the children's toy department. If you buy at the end of summer they tend to be on clearance. I got my two sets (24 blocks in total) for under $10 buying them on clearance. You don't necessarily need the t pins, regular head pins will work though I find I prefer the t pins; they're longer. You might also consider blocking wires - they can help you ensure the sides of your projects will block straight, or if you want to add a curve to an edge of an item they'll help make it easy to create the shape you want and ensure it's a nice, smooth shape without needing dozens of pins to do it. 

Ultimately the decision to block or not is 100% up to you and is determined only by your preferences. If you like how an item looks when you finish weaving in the ends, you can call it done; if you would prefer it to be blocked, block it. There's no right or wrong. 

[RoseRed]

I don't ever bother blocking acrylic either.

[magiccrochetfan]

the one made with cotton thread may benefit a lot from blocking, esp. if it is a lacy design.  Blocking can really open up the stitch pattern.    Depending on the size, maybe you could pin it out on an ironing board?  Or actually, maybe ironing it while damp would suffice---I personally have not done that (that i can remember anyway lol) but it might work well.  

 

For the acrylic ones, i think it would be good to lay them out flat while they are damp, this will help open up the stitches although acrylic doesn't change much when blocked.  

 

Let us know what you decide to do and how they turn out---we love to see photos!