blocking

tutorial – preventing the hump in a top-down crescent

Preventing the hump in top-down crescents

Crescent or sickle-shaped scarves/shawls are very popular and rightly so: because of their special shape, they stay better draped over the shoulders than traditional triangular scarves. I have designed and made several, take for example Art-Deco and Sunglow Forest as shown below.

The one thing that these shawls haven’t, is a well-know issue with this shawl shape: The Dreaded Hump.

Crescent shaped shawl with hump

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to construct a crescent-shaped shawl, without this “hump”.

Top-down crescent shawl construction

Before we go into details, it’s good to get clear what particular construction method I’m using. There are various ways to construct a crescent-shaped shawl. Some are worked from the bottom-up, some from the top-down, some with short rows and some without.

Here, in this tutorial I focus on the top-down construction in which increases are worked on both right side and wrong side rows. The stitch count is increased by 4 stitches at the edges on right-side rows and by 2 on wrong-side rows.

In order to know how to prevent the hump, we first must know why it appears in the first place. Take a look at the picture below:

Regular top-down crescent - including tension arrows

The fast increase ratio, located at the edges only, creates tension in the piece and pushes the fabric into a “hump” at the center edge. In other words: The increases at the outer edges, force the edges outwards. However, the bottom edge of the work only has so much give, ultimately pushing the center upwards creating a hump.

The solution to prevent the hump

The solution: creating more slack in the bottom edge of the shawl, to prevent the tension from pushing the work upwards! Like this:

Adjusted top-down crescent, including tension arrows

The secret: Strategically placing increases in the center of the shawl to create a pie-shaped wedge.

This gives enough extra fabric at the bottom edge of the work to prevent the hump from occurring! The type of increase is completely up to your own preference. In this example, a yarn over is used to make it very visible, in the Art Deco shawl the more discreet m1L and m1R increases are used. In a (reverse) stockinette fabric, extra increases once every 8 rows would do the trick.

Garter stitch has quite a different row gauge than stockinette does. The precise ratio of garter stitch to stockinette, however, depends greatly on the yarn used, and personal gauge. Perhaps the phase of the moon as well. Some sources say that the ratio of garter stitch to stockinette is 1:2. Others say it’s 3:5, 4:6 or even closer to a 5:7 ratio. Taking the latter as an example, this means that (for example) for every 26 rows per 10 cm/4 inches in stockinette there are 36 rows per 10 cm/4 inches in garter stitch when worked with the same yarn and needles. To know your exact ratio and thus the exact repeat for working a pie shaping row in garter stitch, swatching would be needed.

Based on the various possible ratios of garter stitch to stockinette, extra increases every 12 to 16 rows would do the trick in a garter stitch based fabric.

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Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.

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blocking a triangle shawl

Blocking a triangle shawl

The top-down triangle must be the shawl shape I knit most often. So, it would be good to share with you how I go about blocking this type of triangle shawl. In this tutorial, I will be showing you how I blocked my Strawberry Finch. This one has all-over lace patterning, pulled into points at the bottom edge into points during blocking. In the below picture you can this shawl before blocking.

starwberry Finch shawl before blocking

What is blocking?

Before we go into details, it’s good to get clear what I mean exactly with “blocking”. Blocking is nothing more than shaping your knit or crochet pieces when moist or wet. Think of finished items or components to sew together afterwards. By blocking them, you can not only even out stitches, but also bring the item to the intended dimensions. The latter of course within reason!

For a sweater or sweater components blocking usually is nothing more than washing the item(s) and patting them gently into shape. Lace shawls, on the other hand, benefit from a rather vigorous blocking by pinning it stretched out as much as possible. After the piece has dried, it will hold its shape until the next washing.

Please note, that not all fibers are suited for the magic of blocking. Only natural fibers like wool, alpaca, cotton etc. as well as some viscose fibers can be blocked in the sense that the dimensions can be adjusted. On synthetics, like acrylic, the process of wet-blocking as described in this post has virtually no effect at all, besides evening out the stitches. Acrylics can be blocked (“killed”) by applying heat through steam blocking or ironing, but that’s an entirely different process.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Materials needed

Since the subject of this post is the blocking of a lace triangle shawl, I go for a vigorous blocking using pins. I use the following materials:

  • Blocking mats, these are usually foam mats that hold pins well. Think for example of insulation mats, mats for yoga or play tiles for children.
  • Pins, I use regular pins, but other folks sometimes prefer stainless steel T pins.
  • Wool wash.
  • A towel large enough to comfortably hold your project.

Preparations

Before we can start with the actual blocking, we have to do some preparations. These mainly consist of giving your shawl a wash, since the FO must be a tad moist for the best blocking results. For completenes’s sake below how I go about it. If you’d like pictures of these steps, please visit the tutorial on blocking an asymmetrical shawl.

  1. First I fill the sink with some lukewarm to warm water and add a dash of wool wash. Put the shawl into the water and let it rest for about 10-15 minutes to make sure the fabric is completely saturated with water.
  2. Next, rinse the shawl. Don’t use cold water for this, as “shocking” warm wool may cause it to felt. If your yarn bleeds dye a bit, you can add a splash of vinegar to the rinse water to help fix it. After rinsing, gently squeeze excess water out of your project. Don’t wring it! This may damage the fibers, causing breakage.
  3. Spread out your towel and place the shawl on top of half of it. Fold the second half of the towel over your shawl and roll it up like a sausage. Squeeze the roll well to transfer most of the wetness from the shawl to the towel. With bigger projects, I find it helps to actually stand a bit on it.

Also, prepare your blocking mats by laying them down in the shape and size needed for your project. I prefer to do that in my workroom because it can be closed off against “helping” cats.

Blocking a triangle shawl step by step

Time to get started with the actual blocking!

  1. Spread out your project on the blocking mats.

    Take care to do so in roughly the shape you want to block it in.Blocking a triangle shawl - step 1

  2. Start by pinning the 2 outer corners.

    You can stretch the upper edge of the shawl out for this, but don’t stretch it to the max., we still need some slack in the fabric to accommodate stretching it out in other directions.Blocking a triangle shawl - step 2

  3. Next, pin the entire upper edge of the shawl in a smooth curve, using approx. 1 pin every 1.25 – 2.5 cm (0.5 – 1 inch).

    You can, of course, pin the upper edge in a straight line, but I find a slightly curved edge sits better on the neck and shoulders.Blocking a triangle shawl - step 3

  4. Now pull down the bottom point and pin it to the mats.

    Again, don’t stretch it to the max yet!Blocking a triangle shawl - step 4

  5. Now pull a point on both the left and the right side down and pin them to the mats.

    At this point, you can still keep some slack in the fabric of the shawl. Also, note that I pinned through the point of a leaf, but that I skipped one on either side.Blocking a triangle shawl - step 5

  6. Move up 2 leaves and again pin them down symmetrically.

    At this point you can ignore any tension differences, we will get to that later on.Blocking a triangle shawl - step 6

  7. Continue as in step 5 and 6 until the whole bottom edge is pinned to the mats.

    At this point I saw it, do you see it too?Blocking a triangle shawl - step 7

  8. A hole in my shawl!

    I must have caught the halo of the yarn there, instead of the thread itself. The tension of the blocking made it go poof. It happens…. Don’t stress, just catch the stitches with a safety pin. The shawl can be fixed after it’s dry.What you don't want to see during blocking...

  9. Back to pinning the bottom edge.

    Now I’m pinning the points I skipped previously, adjusting the pins already there where needed, to achieve a smooth curve.Blocking a triangle shawl - step 8

  10. The final step in blocking.

    Finally, I go over the entire bottom edge again, making sure to pull it out to the max and keeping the edge in a smooth curve. I needed some weights to keep the mats in place, and keep them from buckling under the tension I’m putting the shawl under.Blocking a triangle shawl - step 9

And the result is a beautifully blocked Strawberry Finch shawl! This how to go about blocking a triangle shawl.

Strawberry Finch shawl after blocking

And that hole?

I took a bit of extra yarn and did some duplicate stitch over a couple of stitches on the side of the hole. Then I caught the stitches in a manner very similar to how it should have been. The yarn ends I hid in those wavy decrease lines. Close up, you can see they’re a tad heavier than the other ones. But it’s quite invisible if you don’t know it’s there. Yay!

Patreon logo

Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.

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tip – blocking a cowl

Blocking a cowl - a tip by La Visch Designs

Knitting cowls is something I really love to do occasionally because it’s just so zen. You know, round and round and, well, round! But after binding off comes the blocking of the cowl and that’s where it can become somewhat tricky….

I mean, shawls I stretch out to the max. and pin them down on my blocking mats. But if I do this with a cowl I get those sharp creases in the cowl where the fabric was folded. Just gently patting a cowl into shape gets the same result. So how to prevent crease lines when blocking a cowl?

How to block a cowl

First, I start by giving the cowl a gentle wash as described in steps 1 to 4 in the “blocking an asymmetrical shawl” tutorial.

Next comes the simple solution to preventing creases: the humble pool noodle!

Blocking a cowl - a tip by La Visch Designs

Just insert 2 pool noodles into the cowl, gently pat it all into shape and leave the cowl be until it’s completely dry. You can, of course, use any cylindrical shaped object as long as you’ve got two, they’re long enough and resistant to wetness. They are after all to be inserted into a wet garment.

I like to call this the PNAB technique. It stands for Pool Noodle Aided Blocking, you know, as a similar acronym like CAD/CAM. The use of the pool noodles prevents creases in the cowl really well. It also works with conical shaped cowls:

And that’s all there is to it, I just love those handy crafting hacks!

Oh, and for those wondering, the cowl featured in the first picture is the Flits! cowl. The one in the blocking picture is the Bast Cowl, which makes a set with the Bast hat. The cowl with the lacy chevron patterning is the Indian Summer Rye cowl. Sometimes I just love knitting cowls!

Patreon logo

Thanks to my Patreon supporters for bringing you this freebie! Creating quality patterns and tutorials is a lot of work and resource-intensive. However, I find it important to give you free content like this tutorial. Thanks to the generous support of my Patreon supporters, I can make it happen. Thank you, patrons! Click here to join, or click here to read more about La Visch Designs on Patreon.

tip – blocking a cowl Read More »

blocking an asymmetrical shawl

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Don’t you just love those asymmetrical shawls that are knit on the bias? I know I do! They are just the perfect shape to wear as a scarf, but without the bulk on the tails that regular rectangular scarves usually have. I’ve been getting questions about how to block such a shawl though, so I thought to make a photo tutorial about it.

In this tutorial, I will be showing you how I blocked my Scuba shawl. Scuba has a lovely scalloped edge, that is realized purely by pulling the bottom edge into points during blocking.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

What is blocking?

Before we go into details, it’s good to get clear what I mean exactly with “blocking”. Blocking is nothing more than shaping your knit or crochet pieces when moist or wet. Think of finished items or components to sew together afterwards. By blocking them, you can not only even out stitches, but also bring the item to the intended dimensions. The latter of course within reason!

For a sweater or sweater components blocking usually is nothing more than washing the item(s) and patting them gently into shape. Lace shawls, on the other hand, benefit from a rather vigorous blocking by pinning it stretched out as much as possible. After the piece has dried, it will hold its shape until the next washing.

Please note, that not all fibers are suited for the magic of blocking. Only natural fibers like wool, alpaca, cotton etc. as well as some viscose fibers can be blocked.
On synthetics, like acrylic, the process of wet-blocking as described in this post has virtually no effect at all. Acrylics can be blocked (“killed”) by applying heat through steam blocking or ironing, but that’s an entirely different process.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

Materials needed

Since the subject of this post is the blocking off a shawl, I go for a vigorous blocking using pins. I used the following materials:

  • Blocking mats, these are usually foam mats that hold pins well. Think for example of insulation mats, mats for yoga or play tiles for children.
  • Pins, I use regular pins, but other folks sometimes prefer stainless steel T pins.
  • Wool wash.
  • A towel large enough to comfortably hold your project.

How to block an asymmetrical shawl step by step

1. First I filled the sink with some lukewarm water and added a dash of wool wash. I let the shawl rest for about 10-15 minutes to make sure the wool is completely saturated with water.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

2. Next, rinse the wool well. Don’t use cold water for this, as “shocking” warm wool like that may cause it to felt. If your yarn bleeds dye a bit, you can add a splash of vinegar to the rinse water to help fix it. After rinsing, gently squeeze excess water out of your project. Don’t wring it! This may damage the fibers, causing breakage.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

3. Spread out your towel and place the shawl on top of it.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

4. Fold the second half of the towel over your shawl and roll it up like a sausage. Squeeze the roll well to transfer most of the wetness from the shawl to the towel. With bigger projects, I find it helps to actually stand a bit on it.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

5. Spread out your blocking mats to the size needed for your project. I prefer to do that in my workroom because it can be closed off against “helping” cats.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

6. Spread out your shawl on the blocking mats in roughly the shape you want to block it in.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

7. Start by pinning the 2 outer corners. You can stretch the upper edge of the shawl out for this, but don’t stretch it to the max., we still need some slack in the fabric to accommodate stretching it out in other directions.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

8. Next, pin the entire upper edge of the shawl in a smooth curve, using approx. 1 pin every 2.5 cm (1 inch). You can, of course, pin the upper edge in a straight line, but I find a slightly curved edge sits better on the neck and shoulders.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

9. Now we pull down the bottom point and pin it to the mats. Again, don’t stretch it to the max. yet!

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

10. Now pull every other point on the left side down and pin it in a curve. At this point, you can still keep some slack in the fabric of the shawl.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

11. Next, we move to the right side of the shawl and pull and pin it down somewhere in the middle.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

12. After this, we pin down other points of the edge of the shawl on the right side.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

13. Back to the left bottom edge! Now I’m pinning the points I skipped previously, adjusting the pins already there where needed, to achieve a smooth curve.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

14. Following this, I continue pinning the right edge again, making sure to keep the same distance between pins as on the left side. I placed the weight on the blocking mat to keep it from buckling under the tension I’m putting the shawl under.

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

15. Finally, I go over the entire bottom edge again, making sure to pull it out to the max and keeping the edge in a smooth curve. I needed more weights to keep the mats in place!

Blocking an asymmetrical shawl - a tutorial by La Visch Designs

And there you have it: a beautifully blocked Scuba shawl!

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