Last week I promised you a photo that shows off less San Francisco blue sky and more tan tank sweater, so here you go. This sweater is made from the same pattern as the one I made last spring – it was a brilliant blue and was a popular feature on Yarn Along for a while. If you scroll back to my Yarn Along posts from March and April 2014, you will see it. I love the pattern, but this sweater is made from a different yarn, so it has a different feel to it. It scrunches instead of hanging straight. At any given moment it looks as if someone has just grabbed fistfuls of it and roughed them up a little. I have never blocked a sweater in 20 years of knitting, but this project might be the one that breaks my streak.
I still have three stories to go in Redeployment, but I am also reading Watership Down with a third grader I’m tutoring. It’s lots of fun. Life is full of surprises, but none is quite as knock-me-over-with-a-feather surprising as the fact that I am enjoying a book about bunny rabbits (except maybe the fact that I’m admitting it on the internet).
It’s been a long week so far, and it’s only Wednesday morning. Here’s to calmer waters ahead.
Yarn Along is hosted by Ginny on her wonderful blog, Small Things.
Postcards From Purgatory 
Beautiful sweater! I love blocking my knits, I didn’t for a long time but it’s kind of like magic to see all my crummy uneven stitches transform into smooth rows… haha!
That is so good to know. I like thinking that there’s hope for the crummy uneven stitches in this sweater!
I just love that pattern. I wish it looked good on me – I would make them in all different colors! For now I will enjoy watching you knit these beauties up.
Thanks! This pattern has been a great challenge for me. I’ve learned a lot of new skills as a knitter and enjoy working with the fine, soft yarns.
Watership Down is AMAZING. And really, it’s like The Odyssey, but with rabbits. It’s definitely quite a book. 🙂
Yes, I’m discovering that. Of course I knew that it wasn’t “really” about rabbits, and that using rabbits is the author’s way of showing how vulnerable we all are, etc. I’m still not that far into it but am enjoying it a great deal!
It’s so sad. -___- I didn’t read it until… even last year, I think! 🙂 I liked it so much I bought this shirt: https://www.outofprintclothing.com/collections/womens-tees/products/watership-down-womens-tee
Ooh – I like that shirt, and the website in general. Thanks!
No problem! Welcome to a world of addiction. ;p
I like the rumply look: like crushed silk but I’m trying to figure out how you have avoided blocking all these years! You are my new hero! I have sweaters I have to block every single time I wash them!
I don’t know how I’ve managed never to block! My first knitting teacher told me that blocking usually wasn’t necessary, so I never really learned how. It was a long time before I realized how unusual that is.
Forgive my ignorance, knitting folks, but what is “blocking”?
I’ll be able to answer that question better once I’ve done it, but here are the basics. When you make sweaters or other items in multiple pieces (some sweaters are made in pieces and then stitched together; others are made in all one piece), there are always going to be some inconsistencies between the pieces. One might be knit a little more tightly on the front than on the back, etc. When you stitch everything together, the finished product might seem a little asymmetrical or otherwise odd-looking. Blocking is what you do to fix these problems and make the item symmetrical and generally attractive. Basically you get a thick “blocking board” made of thick cardboard or foam and pin the sweater to the board in the shape you want it to have. Then you steam it with an iron so it will hold the shape. Or so I have gathered by listening to other knitters talk about such things.