Darth Sweater
I've renamed the MIL sweater. It has become . . . Darth Sweater.
Why?
1) It's huge and black.
2) It has established its Evil Empire in my guestroom (see photo), taking over more and more territory, expanding from one blocking board to two to three. (I had to improvise the extra boards from foam core and garbage bags.)
3) Like Lord Vader, restraining it requires massive amounts of hardware: 360 pins to be precise.
4) It's playing evil Jedi mind games with me, causing me to question every pin I place. Is that side even with this one? Is the cuff the right width? Should this side be straight or curved?
My favorite advice on blocking? From See Eunny Knit: "Walk away and leave it be for a day or two." Gladly!!!
Does everyone else hate blocking as much as I do? (I even took frequent chocolate breaks and it didn't help. Well, maybe a little.)
Labels: blocking, MIL sweater
posted by Nancy Herkness at 9:54 PM
8 Comments:
Blocking sucks, IMHO. Had to laugh at the Darth moniker. My daughter dubbed 'her' car Darth Trea after a close encounter with a mailbox while avoiding a herd of deer.
Blocking and sewing together is the PITS! I hate it. But the "darth" is surely to be appreciated.
Blocking? It doesn't bother me too much. Of course, all my blocking has been lace, mostly shawls. And blocking wires are a wonderful thing--they keep your straight edges straight. So maybe if you were blocking lace with blocking wires......
I'm with Cathy, blocking lace is magic. Blocking sweaters is something I almost never do until they are complete - including all seams and yarn ends. I steam block them to smooth things out a bit.
Darth, huh? So does that mean that this sweater is some other, nicer sweater's father?
I just remembered why it's been so long since I knit a sweater... I hate the finishing part. :) I guess I'll have to give it another go sometime soon, though, since I love the finished products.
what's blocking?
(just kidding.....but it IS the reason I've not knit up a lovely lace shawl even though I drool everytime I see the gorgeous creations other, braver knitters have done.)
My true confession: I don't block socks. That's what feet are for. And the two baby sweaters I knit weren't blocked either. Am I kicked out of the knitting club???
Kim
Glad I have company in the "blocking sucks" department. It's good to know I'm not alone in my misery.
Nephele, I blocked the sweater before I sewed it together because I was told it made it easier to do the sewing. Having just started the stitching, I think it's true. And if this sweater has babies, I don't want to know about it. ;-)
Just to show you how sick I have become, while I was in the LYS getting some help with the collar of Darth Sweater, I saw the most gorgeous bulky soft yarn. All I could think of was what a gorgeous SWEATER it would make. This, after I've sworn off sweaters forever.
Also at the LYS, a lovely lady named Dori started knitting a sock on circular needles and has almost talked me into trying socks again since I could avoid DPNs. Are we sock hopping again this October?
I know the sweater is going to be gorgeous and much-loved, Nancy.
I find blocking tedious and spend a lot of time second-guessing myself while doing it.
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