A Cake for the Blocking Party

 

Hi There!

Well. . . a cake for a blocking party but not a cake you would want to devour. It is another approach to blocking circular knits.  As you may recall from these posts Spiral Cowl and Another Spiral Cowl , I have been struggling with how to block my circular cowls.

I found part of the answer in Laura Nelkin’s terrific class on Designing Cowls on Craftsy. She demonstrated how to use towels to create a circular surface for blocking.  That idea got me part of what I needed.  My Spiral Cowl Pattern has an expanded, scalloped edge, so I set the towel up on it’s edge and pinned out the scalloped edge.  This dealt with the problem I had with the middle of the cowl.

The finished product worked out well.  The outer edge fans out and the body of the cowl doesn’t have folds or wrinkles. I made the cowl to have a closer neckline (an option in the pattern) but was concerned that I had gotten it too close.  This process enlarged the opening, maybe a bit more than I wanted.  A smaller towel roll might have been better.  If it still feels a bit wide after I wear it a few times, I’ll reblock it.

This version of the cowl is made from Spincycle’s Dyed in the Wool yarn. True to the name, the wool is dyed before spinning, creating ever changing colors without a standard progression. At least I haven’t seen any predictability.  Very fun.

Frequent readers will likely be thinking, “Is she stuck on this cowl?  Doesn’t she knit anything else?” Actually, I have been designing up a storm.  More on that soon.

Thanks for dropping by.  I’m off to more Knit Knot Adventures!

Jann