Ask Ms. Knitty (and pals)

[Maki Minakoaino]

ok, so how exactly do you block?
Why is cotton yarn more expensive?
aaaaand what would you doooo for a klondike bar? rofl  

[Catcheen]

Maki Minakoaino

ok, so how exactly do you block?
Why is cotton yarn more expensive?
aaaaand what would you doooo for a klondike bar? rofl

There's three ways I've used to block things. The first one works the best for me.

*Pin your piece (stretch if it needs it) on a towel covered carpet surface. (That's just what I do, you can use a bed or couch or anything else you can pin to. Unless you have a blocking board... which most people don't.) Get a spray bottle of water and turn the nozzle to mist. Spray the whole thing until the thing's pretty moist. You can also wet the piece in the sink before hand depending on how delicate the yarn you're using is. Either way, pin to the proportions you desire and let it dry naturally. Unpin and you have a blocked piece.

*Pin the piece out as above, but you use a steamer to block. This is best done with really delicate yarns. Now most people don't have a steamer and I've been told that the steamer on irons isn't the greatest for this.

*Pin the piece out as above. Use an iron to block. Really only cotton and linen are strong enough to take a good ironing. Scorched wool isn't a pretty smell.

Cotton yarn is more expensive than acrylic because acrylic is plastic. Cotton has to be grown, picked, seeded, spun, dyed, and wound. Acrylic just has to be melted and mixed with a color, molded/spun, and wound. After working with wool and cotton for so many years, it's pretty creepy to work with acrylic for me.. it really feels harsh on the skin. Now you wanna talk expensive? I worked at one yarn store that had a ball of the SOFTEST cashmere ever; handyed a gorgeous colorway and only 100 yards (enough for a hat, maybe) and it was $89. After seeing something like that, wool, cotton, alpaca, and silk seem much more affordable.

I'm not big on klondike bars, so you can have mine.  

[Maki Minakoaino]

okie. thanks. I actually do have a steamer somewhere around here.....

i'm so poor, i think that $4/skein is expensive...

so, blocking is to get a piece to a certain measurement after knitting without undoing stitches and reknitting?  

[Catcheen]

Maki Minakoaino

okie. thanks. I actually do have a steamer somewhere around here.....

i'm so poor, i think that $4/skein is expensive...

so, blocking is to get a piece to a certain measurement after knitting without undoing stitches and reknitting?

Blocking is to straighten the piece out. If you're knitting a garment in stockenette stitch, it's gunna curl. Sometimes you knit exactly the amount on one sleeve as you did the other, but somehow one sleeve's slightly smaller. Blocking helps with both of those issues so that it's easier to assemble the garment. Trust me, a stockenette sleeve looks like a curly mess. Trying to seam that up is a PAIN. After blocking it, it's less of a curly mess and much easier to seam. A blocked piece of knitting looks SO much nicer than an unblocked one.

Lace always shows the most visible difference, so here's an example of two pieces. One blocked, one unblocked.

http://thatloganchick.blogspot.com/2006/02/under-rated-art-of-block.html  

[AccentualWolf]

I'm trying to figure out an easy way to sew the lining into my project. It is made in stocknit stitch and is made with acrylic yarn so I can't black it. Any suggestions?  

[Catcheen]

AccentualWolf

I'm trying to figure out an easy way to sew the lining into my project. It is made in stocknit stitch and is made with acrylic yarn so I can't black it. Any suggestions?

There's really no trick to lining. Just hand sew the lining with the hem on the inside. That's pretty much it for any yarn fiber and any stitch pattern. I wish I had something easier to tell ya than that.  

[Zahra Ovaci]

Maki Minakoaino

i'm so poor, i think that $4/skein is expensive...

You may want to try www.knitpicks.com or www.elann.com in this case smile Both have their own yarn lines, in natural fibers, for under or around that price. Elann takes paypal but knitpicks does not, personally I prefer knitpicks because they do free shipping after $40, but that's neither here nor there smile  

[Yugure no Tasogare]

I figured out how to sew the limbs together on my bear, but now I'm having trouble figuring out how to sew the eyes on. if I sew them on the way I've been trying, the eyes are like... bulging out. I'm using black beads for the eyes. can anyone help?  

[Catcheen]

Yugure no Tasogare

I figured out how to sew the limbs together on my bear, but now I'm having trouble figuring out how to sew the eyes on. if I sew them on the way I've been trying, the eyes are like... bulging out. I'm using black beads for the eyes. can anyone help?

This sounds like more of a job for a sewing guru rather than a crochet question, but all I can think of to do is pull really tight to try to get the bead to settle into the stitches. I've also seen the best luck with shank buttons rather than beads. If you decide to try that route, any sewing store should be able to provide you with plain black shank buttons in different sizes.  

[Yugure no Tasogare]

think Micheal's would have them?  

[Catcheen]

Yugure no Tasogare

think Micheal's would have them?

I don't think Michaels' has buttons. A fabric store is the way to go for a good selection of buttons.  

[Yugure no Tasogare]

thanks alot  

[Catcheen]

Yugure no Tasogare

thanks alot

No problem! Hope it all works out for ya.  

[gemini6184]

I would like to put it out there, having just started using this lil trick, that when knitting both sleeves at one time, use a circular needle big enough for both at their top width sweatdrop lucky I caught myself in time. That is all.  

[AccentualWolf]

I'm beginnin to knit armwarmers in the round and would like to make a pair of finger less ones with a gasset. I just don't know how to do one. do you know a simple way of making a gasset??