Blocking.....

First of all, let me say I had a really really really hard time not titling this "Snot Blocking".  So now you know.  Whew!  It's out.  I feel better.

Ok, so blocking....

The aforementioned scarf is finished.  I finished it really quickly and have blocked it.  Since most of you aren't knitters, I thought I might explain the process.  Because I know you're all curious.

Blocking is how you make your knitting look the way you want it to.  (Because just layering loop after loop after loop of thread-like yarn with a set of toothpick-sized needles isn't enough)  Knit lace (you know it's lace if it has lots of big holes intentionally put in it) generally comes off the needles much smaller than the finished product.  Blocking it stretches it out and makes it bigger, but it also makes the pattern show up better.  

Scarf: before

So, how do we block???  There are lots of ways to block depending on type of yarn, type of garment, type of fabric, etc.  Basically, you get your knitting wet.  Stretch it out in the shape you want it and pin the sucker down.  Let dry.  That's it.

Simple right?  URGH!!!!!  I hate this stupid thing!!  It's done.   It's fine.  But it would NOT cooperate and let me pin it right where I wanted it.  Points where I didn't want points.  Not as long as it needed to be.  Then crooked.  GRRRRR!  I finally gave up, called it good enough and let it be.  And now it's done.  

FOR SALE:

PS

I photoshopped a big shadow and all of my freckles out of this photo.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  hehehehe

the bane of my existence.....

See this......

This pretty pile of soft, shimmery yarn???  I HATE IT!!!  It's driving me crazy!  You see, it all started many months ago when Caron very graciously offered to send a skein of free yarn.  Free yarn?!?!  Count me in!  So months went by and I forgot all about the yarn I had sent away for (remember when you really could send away for things?  I just clicked something online.).  I honestly thought they wouldn't even send it.  I mean, really?  You know how many people would love a free skein of yarn???

And then it arrived!  A full skein of lovely Naturally Caron Spa yarn.  A soft bamboo blend.  In the color "Coral Lipstick".  It's not a color I would have picked, but it's pretty.  I tucked it away in the closet and forgot all about it.  Then, I found it.  And I became obsessed with finding something, anything I could make with this yarn.  This ONE skein of yarn. I searched and searched and searched.  I finally decided on a pretty little lacy beret.

I got all my supplies together and cast-on while we were driving somewhere.  In the car.  With the whole family.  Over 100 stitches.  Bad idea.  But, that's what I did. And I started working on the hat, then the stitch count messed up.  So I ripped back and tried again.  Again, messed up.  So I kept going.  Sometimes it was right, sometimes it was off.  So I did what any sane person would do:  I decided the lace pattern was jacked up, ripped out the whole hat and cast on to make a lace scarf using the same lace repeat just to prove the pattern was wrong. Give you three guesses what I found...

Yeah, the lace repeat is fine.  So I knit for a while on my pretty lacy scarf, happy with how pretty it was.  I thought I should knit the whole skein into a scarf and be done with the whole business.  I got several feet into the scarf before I got sick of it.  Before I started messing up the pattern AGAIN.  So I put the thing away.  It hasn't been touched in months.  I've taken it places with me intending to knit as I waited or visited, but it never made it out of the bag.

So here's what I've decided:  I'm done with the darn thing!  I'm finishing the last four rows and binding off.  DONE!  I'll have to block the dickens out of it to make it long enough to resemble a scarf that a normal sized person could wear, but I'm up to the challenge.  Honestly, I'm looking forward to blocking the snot out of that stupid scarf.  And then, I'm selling it in my store!  Look for it soon........