Block The Swatch, Seriously!!!

 I have taken several workshops over at Craftsy.com and never really thought much about blocking, just something you struggle through at the end of your project.  Right!   They are offering a workshop now on blocking and reading the intro, I found that its a craft in itself and worth mentioning.  

Most of us OddBalls are just knitting along from one project to another, some get finished, some frogged and some are finished but are they blocked!  That is the secret of finished.

 Not sure where to get blocking boards but these come as sets of interlocking squares, much like a jig saw puzzle piece that you can make into a square, or a triangle for a shawl etc.  Then with T-pins you measure your work and pin it out so your lovely stitches show off.  Then let it dry.  There is more to it than that, however you might be interested to know that swatches come into play here big time!

The dreaded phrase "did you knit a guage swatch" plays over and over in my head, I love throwing that back and forth because don't we all HATE knitting a guage swatch!  

Here is why its so important to not only knit it but to BLOCK it!   The one unblocked will measure different than the blocked one!  Once your gauge swatch is knitted and blocked you can more easily measure your stitches for your project, that is to say how many stitches per inch using a certain size needle.

I bet you all have seen the quilting journals where die hard quilters put the info on their quilts, the fabric, thread, swatches etc and these are great as reference for future projects that are similar.   This is such a wonderful idea for our knitting to keep those swatches, and add the needle size and yarn so you will not have to knit that darn swatch again!     Now I hope you all get swatching and blocking, bring it to class so we can all learn from you!.