{"id":13858,"date":"2015-01-26T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.breigh.com\/wordpress\/?p=13858"},"modified":"2015-01-26T12:16:49","modified_gmt":"2015-01-26T11:16:49","slug":"my-smooshy-clapotis-and-why-blocking-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadutch.nl\/blog\/archives\/13858","title":{"rendered":"My Smooshy Clapotis and Why Blocking Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00a0first started this project months ago when I cast it on to be my travel project for my trip to Pittsburgh, but I ended up not doing any knitting at all on my trip.\u00a0 I picked it up and put it down again about 20 times since then but only got around to finishing it during the Christmas holidays.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/instagram.com\/p\/tCiQlzAya9\/<\/a><\/p>\n

I had picked up the Smooshy yarn (in color \u201cShiny Moss\u201d) by Dream in Color during a 50% off sale at Harlequin Yarns<\/a> and had it tucked aside for this project.\u00a0 I only had the one skein so I had to do some searching on Ravelry<\/a> in order to figure out how to tweak it to make it a little longer and narrower to get more out of the skein.<\/p>\n

\"Clapotis\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I was knitting this I realized that it was the perfect project to use to blog about blocking, as I get a lot of questions about what the heck blocking is when I talk about it on Facebook and with non-knitting friends.\u00a0 I’m not going to give a tutorial here, people have already nailed that and frankly, it’s easier to just link to them!\u00a0 Rather, I’m going to give this as an example of why it is so, so important to learn why you do this when you start knitting (and crocheting too, of course).<\/p>\n

I first learned about blocking from this photo tutorial<\/a> when I was knitting the Haruni Shawl<\/a> a few years ago for a Christmas gift. It was my first really intricate knitting project and I was having a stroke as I was knitting it, because the pattern wasn’t visible at all until I blocked it.\u00a0 Thankfully I was at my mother’s at the time and she was there to help me and reassure me that it was looking the way it should, because I was a bit worried\u00a0at the time.<\/p>\n

\"Clapotis\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, it was quite the same with this project.\u00a0 The bunched up project, not the stroke.\u00a0 I’m used to pre-blocking scrunched up projects now, thankfully.\u00a0\u00a0 That said, when I finished the Clapotis it looked like a green sausage and I couldn’t even pull it flat properly for a photo.\u00a0 Admittedly a part of me was a bit worried that I wasn’t even going to be able to block that curl out of it!<\/p>\n

I have to say, I don’t find blocking fun at all.\u00a0 I mean, it is in a way because you get to see your project take shape, but it is a task<\/em>.\u00a0 Depending on the project I can spend absolute ages getting the shape just right, getting the pins or wires in place and basically nitpicking it to death.\u00a0 There are some mornings where my thighs ache like I’ve run a marathon just from all the squatting I did the day before getting a project blocked on the mats on the floor.<\/p>\n

Knitters workout, I guess?!<\/p>\n

\"Clapotis\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I love the soaking part of the blocking process, mainly because I am so, so incredibly in love with the smell of the Wrapture<\/a> (the Jasmine scented line of Eucalan).\u00a0 Oh, that stuff smells like heaven and I love it!\u00a0 If you’ve not tried it, you really must.\u00a0 Other Eucalan products are nice, but there’s just no comparison to the wonderful scent of Jasmine that this adds to your garments.<\/p>\n

The high wears off quickly once it comes time to get the project on the boards, but at least with straight projects like this it’s lessened slightly by blocking wires. I had never tried them before I was given them in a goody bag while at a knitting event, but they have made my life so much easier.\u00a0 Especially for projects like this and my Chocolate Dream Shawl<\/a> which are really large and would take about ten thousand pins to block them.<\/p>\n

\"Clapotis\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had actually taken the above photo with my mobile to show something that was making me twitch.\u00a0 Can you see it?\u00a0 The column of stitches that sort of separated?\u00a0 I don’t mind now but it drove me bananas when I noticed it when I blocked it.\u00a0 The pattern says to twist the stitch before and after the dropped stitch and I think I just didn’t get the tension right somewhere.\u00a0 I got over it quickly enough, though.<\/p>\n

So, I guess you could say I’m growing a little as a knitter, because this would have had me positively seething at one point. Instead, I figure it’s consistent, so we’ll just call it my own personal touch on the pattern.\u00a0 That works for me!<\/p>\n

You can also see the blocking wires in the photo. It is a bit tedious putting them in but a lot less than trying to pin it, let me tell you that.\u00a0 Once the wires are in it’s just a matter of laying it out and pinning it flat rather than using a million pins to try to get the shape right and avoid having a picot edge.<\/p>\n

So, why am I rambling on about blocking?\u00a0 Well, because this is what the Clapotis looked like after it dried and was taken off the blocking boards…<\/p>\n

\"Clapotis\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Clapotis\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All of that worrying for nothing, the blocking did the trick!\u00a0 The dropped stitches were more visible and the scarf (or shawl? It really is in between.\u00a0 Skawl? Sharf?)…\u00a0 The CLAPOTIS<\/em> (said Clap-oh-tee, I’ve realized, rather than Clap-oh-tiss as I’ve been saying it all along) lays flat.<\/p>\n

Ok, so when I look at the photos I may be obsessing about that column of separated stitches but whatever, this perfectionist leopard will continue to obsess over her own spots regardless of what she tells you or herself, so let’s just leave that alone.\u00a0 I’m not seething, <\/em>rather just a little perturbed, so there’s still some growth, right?<\/p>\n

The good thing is, even though it can lay flat now, it can also be worn more rolled up if that’s what you like.\u00a0 You have options, unlike before it was blocked when your only option was sausage style.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/instagram.com\/p\/xocSrdgycB\/<\/a><\/p>\n

On another note, about the yarn.\u00a0 If you are the itchy, scratchy, anything other than soft in the want to stroke it all day yarn semi snob that I am, don\u2019t be fooled by your initial experience with Smooshy.\u00a0 I bought it because my friend Nerissa from over at Miss Neriss<\/a> raved about it.\u00a0 Not just like \u201coh this yarn is nice\u201d but like \u201cI LOVE<\/em> this yarn, it\u2019s delicious, blah blah blah Aussie accent making everything sound more appealing blah blah\u201d.<\/p>\n

So when the yarn arrived I was like \u201cWHAT IN THE FRESH HELL, NERISSA?!\u201d.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t soft at all, or delicious, or any of the things she said.\u00a0 I felt as though I\u2019d been bamboozled. Like she secretly works for the tricksters who named that yarn Smooshy and they were paying her enough to even swindle her own friends.\u00a0 Trusting, squishy, smooshy yarn loving friends \u2013 LIKE ME!<\/p>\n

I told her so too!!\u00a0 Only it was more like \u201cUmm, that yarn isn\u2019t quite as soft as you mentioned, does it get better after blocking?\u201d.\u00a0 Same thing.<\/p>\n

It does get a lot nicer after a good soak, thankfully!\u00a0 It softened up quite a lot and I can say I\u2019ve worn it a lot since I finished it.\u00a0 Which is saying something because when I first felt the skein I was pretty sure the only person that would be wearing it would be Nerissa, as a hand knitted noose!\u00a0 Imagine the thoughts I would have had if I hadn\u2019t gotten it for 50% off, I\u2019m such a cheapskate at times.<\/p>\n

Sorry Nerissa, I still love you and I love my Clapotis too!<\/p>\n

As for the pattern itself\u2026 meh. I mean, I love the Clapotis and I like wearing it, but I found the pattern tedious and I didn\u2019t enjoy it.\u00a0 I have friends who have knit it multiple times and love it, but maybe they love the finished product and thus love the pattern? I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I just found it grinding and I couldn\u2019t wait to get to the end of it.\u00a0 I have no problem with large projects, seemingly endless knitting, difficult patterns or any of that.\u00a0 There was just something about this one that I didn\u2019t enjoy, I can\u2019t put my finger on it.<\/p>\n

Strange, right? Considering there are like 20,000 projects<\/a> (I\u2019m not even exaggerating) on Ravelry.\u00a0 So it is probably just me!\u00a0 I love this one, but I don\u2019t see me making another.<\/p>\n

Lessons to take away from this post?<\/p>\n