Adventures in Blocking

Like a lot of novice knitters (and probably experienced knitters) I have always had a fear of blocking. I know it's important and I know it makes things fit better but I've never really know how to do it so I tend to knit everything in the round, give it a wash and hope for the best. As I've mainly knitted baby clothes so far this approach has got me by. But now I am trying to make a few more things for myself I realised that I just have to bite the bullet and try blocking.

After reading the endless info about blocking on Interweave's Knitting Daily newsletter I thought I should really make a start. Luckily I had just finished my Argosy scarf so I chucked it in a bucket of warm water and set about finding somewhere to block. That's when I realised that I live in a 2 bedroom cottage with a 2 year old and a large cat and absolutely no where big enough and off the floor that I can lay a wet scarf and a heap of pins. So it sat in the bucket for 3 days (I guess it was thoroughly wet after that) until this morning when Euan went out with his grandfather and I got some free time to lay a scarf on the floor.

So here it is in all it's blocking glory. I think the picture is a bit average but will take a better one when I can wear it.


Pattern: Argosy scarf from Knitty

Needles: Addi 4mm 40cm

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden (colour 244 I think) 2 skeins

Duration: I think it was about 4 days. It's a really quick knit and an very easy pattern to memorise.

Comments: I think my gauge must've been really out as although I was using the same yarn and needles called for in the pattern I only got 21 pattern repeats instead of 27. It's still a pretty big scarf so I'm not worried.

I guess now that I have crossed the blocking frontier I might need to have a think about gauge swatches. They seem like such a waste of time as I always want to get started straight away and I haven't had a giant failure just yet. Hmm...off to find some good links.