Blocking: a cautionary tale

How do you block your knits? I generally soak them in tap water for about 10-20 minutes (without any detergent), squeeze out any excess water, roll them in a towel to get them a bit drier (I usually stamp on the towel to get them as dry as possible), then lay them out flat to dry. I used to dry them outside on days when the weather was good, but today I'm going to share a cautionary tale about what can happen when you dry your knits in the open air...

A few years ago, I had been working on a Breton-inspired children's jumper and I was really pleased with how it had turned out: fresh and cute, and my daughter loved it, so I was hoping it would get plenty of wear.

As the sun was shining, I soaked the jumper over breakfast, squeezed the excess water out into a towel and laid the jumper out on blocking mats in the garden to dry. I then went out for the day as planned.

When I got home after lunch I went to the garden to pick up the jumper, and was pleased that it was nice and dry. But on closer inspection it wasn't quite the same as when I had left it. The front of the jumper had yellowed slightly. My immediate thoughts were sun damage (which seemed unlikely, while the sun had been hot the jumper had only been out for a few hours), or some sort of dust. I threw the jumper in the washing machine on a wool cycle, hoped for the best, and posted a photo to Instagram in case any one had any useful advice.

A couple of people suggested pollen, which seemed reasonable as the pollen count has been really high that day. I set about using the internet to research ways to get pollen out of clothes, and while there are many, many helpful suggestions, most involve using biological stain removers, which won't work on wool.

When the jumper had finished washing I fished it out of the machine, hoping that it would have returned to its original state. No such luck. I soaked it a couple of times in cold water, to no avail, then squeezed the water out and hung it out (inside, on a clothes rail) to dry, hoping that it would look better when dry.

When my husband got home from work he took a look at the jumper too, and quickly concluded that it was indeed sun damaged. And irretrievable.

I had dried knitwear in the sun many times, and never had any problems, but having done some more research, many yarn companies say not to dry yarn in direct sunlight, but none of them say why. It would appear this is the reason: wool is fragile and scorches easily, so my advice is never to dry knitwear in direct sunlight. And while I'm at it, wear sunscreen; if the sun can do this to yarn, imagine what it can do to your skin.

 

This happened a few years ago now, and I never dry my knits in direct sunlight any more. They're fine in the shade, but I usually stick to drying them indoors, just in case I forget to move them before the sun moves on to them.

 

My tale of blocking woe wasn't a complete disaster. While I did knit an entire second sample in a different colourway, I did manage to take some photos of the original sample for the pattern, just don't look too closely or you might see that the jumper features two shades of white! 

Have you ever had any blocking disasters?

Pattern is From Breton with Love, available on Ravelry* and LoveCrafts (affiliate link).

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*Ravelry link - may affect people with photosensitivity, proceed with caution.

 

Note: a version of this blog post was published on this blog in 2017. You can find the original post here.

 

 

New design: From Breton with Love

You may remember earlier in the year I shared my tale of woe about a jumper that I managed to scorch while I was blocking it in the sun? Well, over the past few months I have reknitted the sample, finished writing up the pattern and had it tested, and last weekend I finally got round to taking some photos of it in the last of the summer sun. So here is my latest pattern: From Breton with Love.

The inspiration for this sweater is obvious: from Breton with Love is inspired by my day to day wardrobe, which features an awful lot of Breton-striped t-shirts. One day I decided that it would be really cute if my daughter could almost but not quite match me when we're out and about, and this is what I came up with. While I was researching Breton stripes and their history I learnt that the wider (white) stripes should be 2 cm wide, and the narrower (blue) stripes 1 cm wide, which would have worked with the gauge for this pattern, but only if you changed colours at three row intervals, which any knitter will tell you is a pain! So I've gone with the correct ratio, but much more sensible 4 and 2 row stripes.

The jumper is knitted in pieces from the bottom up; the neckline is knitted on in the round after seaming the shoulders of the jumper. The heart motif is added using the intarsia technique. The pattern for the intarsia section is provided both as a chart and as written instructions - this pattern could be knitted by an ambitious beginner.

The jumper is knitted in DK weight yarn, making it an excellent lightweight jumper for spring and autumn, or as a layering piece in winter. The blue sample is knitted in Stylecraft Life DK* (75% wool, 25% acrylic, 298 m [325 yds] per 100 g ball) and the white sample is knitted in Patons Merino Extrafine DK* (100% virgin wool, 120 m [131 yds] per 50 g ball). 

The pattern is written in 6 sizes (ages 2 to 12 years), to fit chest sizes 53 cm [20.75 in] to 76 cm [30 in] with 5 cm [2 in] positive ease.

Fancy getting From Breton with Love straight on to your needles? You can pick up the pattern from my Ravelry store from today, and if you use the code CLASSIC before 11.59pm BST Thursday 21st September 2017 you can have a 20% discount (or click here to buy the pattern).

*Affiliate links.

Yarning Along: Sick bay

Today I'm stuck at home with a poorly toddler. She's been a little lethargic all week, and spent most of yesterday evening and last night being sick. Having abandoned all plans of soft play and playgroups, we're having a quiet day at home.

I've finished the gingerbread man jumper I was knitting last week, and the pattern is now with my tech editor, so should be out by the end of the summer. This week's project is much more summery - it's a second sample of my From Breton with Love pattern after the first got scorched by the sun earlier this summer. I have a beach photo shoot planned for this one when it's done, so I have my fingers tightly crossed for at least one dry, non-scorching day before the start of the summer holidays next week!

Since I wrote about it last week, I have finished reading The Lake House. I finally decided to sit down on Saturday evening, switch off the tv and read while knitting instead. It was definitely worth it, the book was very enjoyable. The mystery in the book was tied up nicely in the final few chapters, and I didn't totally see the ending coming (I did guess a few threads, but not the whole thing). Highly recommended.

This week's book is some young adult fiction, written by the former children's laureate Julia Donaldson - Running on the Cracks. I've enjoyed the vast majority of her books for younger children [her collaborations with Axel Scheffler are my favourites (you're probably familiar with The Gruffalo even if you don't have children)], so when I saw this in a local bookshop I thought it was worth a go. I'm about fifty pages in and have so far been introduced to Leo, a girl whose parents have died and she has run away from her unhappy life with her aunt and cousins, and Finlay a teenager who has problems of his own. I can tell that this is going to be a quick read, and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens.

Linking up with Rachel for Yarning Along. What are you knitting and reading this week?