Learning to Block Crochet
/I have been crocheting since 2013 and have never blocked a project since I’ve mostly dabbled in amigurumi which do not require blocking. My current WIP has a netted look (I’ll disclose what it is later in case it doesn’t work out and I end up frogging it). That combined with my incredibly tight crocheting resulted in a bunched up looking rectangle that I could not get to stretch out properly so I decided it was time to learn about blocking.
I did a bit of research and decided to order a blocking kit. It arrived this week (and I left it in the garage to air out for a few days since it smelled plastic-y). Last night I followed the instructions that came with the kit to soak, towel dry, and stretch my rectangle out to the measurements I wanted on the mat to let it fully dry. I left it alone for about 12 hours and decided it was still a bit damp when I checked on it. I turned on the ceiling fan to see if I could speed up the drying and left it for 4 more hours before removing the pins. The rectangle has a lot more of the length I’m looking for, but it did lose about an inch in both directions when I removed the pins so I clearly have more to learn about how to block properly. Thankfully, this will do for my current purposes.
