Masterclass
Lace shawls and scarves need proper blocking to show off their beauty. Jen Arnall-Culliford examines four key methods to try
Ensure your finished projects look their best by blocking them properly
THERE IS a special kind of magic involved in blocking lace knitting. What starts out looking like a scrunched up hair net can be transformed into a thing of breath-taking beauty, and all it takes is water and some stretching.
To ensure the best possible results, it is of course necessary to choose the right materials. Whilst it’s possible to knit lace in acrylic or nylon yarn, it won’t hold its shape particularly satisfactorily, and you’ll find you’re back at the hair net phase perhaps before you’ve even left home. To get the best results, use a yarn made from natural fibres, of which wool and silk give particularly good results.
Whilst lace patterns can be incorporated into all sorts of garments and accessories, this article will focus on shawls and scarves knitted in lightweight yarns (4ply, 3ply, laceweight and thread/cobweb), since these require a particular common approach to blocking.
There are many ways to block (or dress) a shawl, ranging from using just a few pins and an old towel, through to a purposebuilt hap stretcher. You can spend as much as you like on equipment, but the basic principles are the same. This article will take you through a number of possible
blocking methods, the equipment you’ll need, and their various pros and cons.
Before embarking on any of these methods, you will need to soak your lace thoroughly. Use lukewarm (but not hot) water, and add some wool wash or shampoo to help the water to penetrate the fibres. Leave it to soak, and then squeeze out excess water before proceeding with any of the instructions below. As you stretch out your knitting, take care not to over-stretch it, as yarn can snap. If you’re worried, then start cautiously. You will soon learn which yarns can be blocked most firmly, and which require a gentler approach.
WASHING LINE METHOD
This is a really simple way of blocking triangular shawls that have a peaked edging.
Materials
– Washing line – Clothes pegs Peg the long straight edge of your shawl to the washing line. Use plenty of pegs, so that the straight edge is as straight as possible (unless it is meant to be scalloped; in which case, only peg the points). Check that you have stretched the shawl evenly along that edge - measure from the edge to the centre, and compare it with the other side. Then add a peg to each point on the V-shaped edges of the shawl, to provide weight to stretch out the lace patterning.
The benefit of this approach is that it’s quick and easy to do, and great if you would struggle to keep pets or children away from your knitting when blocking indoors. If you have a fine day, your shawl will dry quickly, too. The downside is that the pegs may not stretch out the lace pattern enough for your liking, and it is more tricky to ensure that the shape has been pinned symmetrically.
FLAT BLOCKING WITH PINS
Using pins is a great method if you want to stretch your shawl more firmly. This method works well for a variety of shapes.
Materials
– Rust-proof pins (Knit Pro Knit Blockers
are handy for straight edges) –A flat area that you can pin into (a bed, a towel over the carpet, foam playmats/ blocking boards) – Metre ruler (or yard stick) – Large set square
Instructions for shapes with only straight sides
Lay the shawl flat on your surface, and pin out the corners, ensuring that they are spaced symmetrically (if the shawl shape is meant to be symmetrical). If your shawl is asymmetric, use the blocking diagram to help you to work out how far apart the corners should be. Lie your ruler along each side, and then pin the centre of each side, to divide each edge in half. Continue to work around the shawl, dividing each section in two, until all of the peaks are pinned or, if the edge is intended to be straight, there are sufficient pins to prevent scalloping.
If you have a large set square, it can be very helpful to ensure the centre spine of your shawl is perpendicular to the top edge, for the most common shape of triangular shawl (see diagram below - the red circle is the area to check for right angles). If your shawl should be square or rectangular, use the set square to make sure each corner is a right angle.
Instructions for shapes with curved sides
For circles, semi-circles and other curved shapes, you will need to work slightly differently. If there is a straight side, pin it out as described above, then work along the curved side(s). For irregular shapes, you may need to pin by eye, checking visually to see that any peaks are evenly spaced. For circles and semi-circles, work around the circumference, pinning the edges out to a fixed radius. Use the ruler
to measure from the centre to the edge - for a circle it should measure the same all the way round. For a semi-circle, measure from the centre of the straight edge, out to the curved edge, and again that distance should be constant.
Using pins and a flat surface is a versatile blocking method for a wide range of shawl shapes. The materials aren’t expensive, and it’s easy to do. On the downside, you need to set aside an area for blocking, and in cold weather, shawls may take a while to dry. This may be inconvenient if you’re using your bed for the blocking surface! Depending on the layout of your home, it may be tricky to keep children and pets from interfering with the shawl while it’s drying. Using foam blocking mats as your surface can help, since they may be leant up against a wall rather than lying flat.
FLAT BLOCKING WITH WIRES
For firm stretching of scarves and shawls, blocking wires can speed up the process.
Materials
– Rust-proof pins – Blocking wires – A flat area that you can pin into (a bed, a towel over the carpet, foam playmats/ blocking boards) – Metre ruler (or yard stick) – Large set square Place your shawl on the flat surface, and roughly arrange the shape correctly. Then thread a blocking wire along each edge. For lace patterns with peaked edges, you can thread through the tip of each peak, whereas for straight edges, you will need to ‘sew’ the wire up and down every few stitches so that the edge isn’t scalloped when you stretch it.
Pin through the corners of the shawl, securing the blocking wires at the same time, and ensure that the peaks are distributed evenly along the edge, and any centre point is actually in the centre. Lying the metre ruler along the edge as you work is helpful. Use a few pins to secure the wires in place. Then repeat for the remaining edges.
It can also be helpful to thread extra wires through any straight-line sections of the shawl - for example down the centre spine, or border edges as appropriate. For curved edges you will need flexible wires, that you can bend to the desired shape. Where edges are longer than your longest wire, overlap two or more wires, so that you can stretch the entire edge in one go.
Wires offer a benefit over using pins alone, as it’s easier to adjust the spacing of peaks along an edge - since you don’t need to unpin them all, you can just move them along the wire. It can also be easier to keep a whole edge even, since the wire will stretch the lace evenly.
Downsides include the fact that you need more equipment, as well as the difficulty of setting aside flat space while the shawl dries. You can purchase bespoke lace blocking kits (comprising wires, T-pins and sometimes blocking mats), but it’s also possible to buy the wires alone from a welding supply merchant (1 to 1.6mm stainless steel TIG welding wires). You’ll simply need to clean the wires, and possibly file off any sharp edges at the ends of each wire.
BLOCKING ON A HAP STRETCHER
Using a purpose-built board to block your square, rectangular and right-angled triangular shawls, saves space and ensures your lace is firmly stretched.
Materials
– Tapestry needle – Strong cotton thread (I use 4ply
mercerised cotton) – Hap stretching board Use the tapestry needle to thread a length of strong cotton through all the peaks on the edges of your shawl. Make sure that the cotton thread is longer than the total perimeter of your shawl. Tie the ends of the cotton together with a knot that can be undone easily later.
Set up your frame so that it is the correct size - they should have adjustable knobs so that you can block to a range of sizes. You simply loop the cotton thread at each corner of the shawl, over the main corner knobs, and then work along the edges, looping the thread over the pegs on each side of the hap stretcher.
To get the most even distribution, it’s best to work round each side, dividing it in half and hooking the thread over the peg in the middle, and then dividing each resulting section in half too. Depending on
your shawl, and the arrangement of pegs on your hap stretcher, you may find you have a regular number of shawl peaks between each peg on the frame. Once you have hooked the cotton round all the pegs, you may need to tighten the cotton thread to achieve the best stretch. Simply untie the thread, pull it tight and re-tie it.
You can also block triangular shawls in this way, where you just hook two sides to the frame and pull the hypotenuse as tight as possible using the cotton thread.
A hap stretcher is brilliant in a small space, as it can be leant up against a wall while the shawl dries. It can be moved outside if the weather is nice, but also brought in if necessary. The downsides are the cost of buying one (or the time and skills required to make your own - see link on the right for a tutorial), and the fact that they can only be used for particular shapes of shawl.
OTHER HANDY TIPS
If you don’t have blocking wires, you could use fishing line or strong cotton thread in a similar manner. Simply thread it through the points of the shawl and then tie the ends in place firmly to some pins.
If your shawl is particularly large, then it may be necessary to fold it in half, and block it while folded. This has the advantage of ensuring that the shawl is blocked symmetrically.