After learning how to crochet, I took on another new challenge: knitting. I finished my first-ever knitted garment! I chose this really cool tiger ringer tee from Two of Wands pattern as a kit from the Lion Brand Yarn store. Unfortunately they were out of the light brown yarn, so I chose a mustard yellow instead. It took me a few months from start to finish in between work, life, other projects.. but I’m so happy with how it turned out!
But this post isn’t just about the cool-looking tee and how accomplished I feel making a wearable garment out of yarn with my own two hands for the first time. I mean, of course it is, but it is more about blocking your piece in order to get the final product to soften and reach its real shape and size.
I wanted to share this because I almost didn’t block this tee: after all those months of making this tee, the last thing I wanted to do was add another step. But I am so glad I took the time to do it because the result is so very worth it! And now I need to convince everyone to do it. Don’t skip this step!!
Why should I block my knitting?
Check out this before and after and you’ll see what I mean. (Remember it was my first and there are visible mistakes. Go easy on me!) Blocking the tee got rid of the rumples and just got all the stitches to sit well with each other:
Before blocking:
After blocking:
Look in particular at the areas around the graphic and the arm and neck holes, how rumply those areas are:
For the last comparison if I haven’t sold you on the idea of blocking yet: look at the bottom ribbing to see how blocking relaxes the stitches and reveals the true shape of the garment:
How to Block a Knitting Project
I went for a super low-frills method for blocking. A lot of Google searches showed me how to block with mats, but I didn’t have any and frankly I didn’t want to purchase some. At this point I almost gave up. I really want to hand it to two posts in particular that I found helpful and encouraging: “How-to Block a Knit Item (Without a Blocking Mat)” by Kristi at Wholecloth and “11 Ways to Block Knitting Without Blocking Mats – Using Materials From Home” post by Abby from Sew Homey. Based on the instructions there, here was the process I used:
1. Soak the garment in water.
I read somewhere else to use a wool softener or something, so I grabbed my Woolite detergent (because, you know, it has “wool” in it, and not thinking at the moment that Woolite detergent is not the same thing as Woolite fabric softener 😑), poured some in to my clothing-only pot, and turned on the faucet to fill it with water. By the time it was halfway full, I remembered that the two blogs I posted above said to just use water. I didn’t want to toss the formula and waste the water so I talked myself into thinking a little detergent won’t hurt anything and continued to fill the pot and started the soaking process. All that to say: I filled up my clothing-only pot with some Woolite detergent and tap water to soak my garment.
I checked the garment after 5 minutes to check for an even soak and already I could feel the difference in the texture of the tee. It was already softer and smoother.
2. Lay the garment out on a towel and gently press out excess water
I rinsed the tee and laid it out on a towel. The tee soaked up a lot of water — it was actually pretty heavy. I rolled up the towel from both sides to gently press out excess water and carried it to my makeshift blocking station.
Step 3: Pin the tee to any flat surface that can receive pins
I laid a towel on top of a forgotten yoga mat, flattened out the piece, and stabbed pins around the perimeter. Admittedly this was not as easy as it looks (or I’m just OCD). I wanted to make sure I cleared the tee of any wrinkles especially from the back, it always seemed to lean one way or the other, the asymmetry in the shoulders would bother me, I would pull some part in one direction and it would mess up another part, I kept trying to even out the bottom; if you’ve ever tried to lay out a wet sheet of rice paper smoothly on a dish, you’ll know what I mean 😂 (except this was heavy and I wasn’t afraid of it ripping). Anyway, the below is the best I got:
The towel may not be necessary for most people. I just wanted to make it thicker to ensure the pins stayed. It already looks better around the armholes:
I let it dry overnight, unpinned everything when it was mostly dry (because my dog started to nest on it 😭 it was fine though), laid it out on my bed to dry fully and took it for a spin!
So, did I convince you to block your garments yet??
