I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the ACT, the Ngunnawal people. I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Blockhead

Finally blocked the Green Menace Shawl on the long weekend just passed. Failing to find any definitive advice on the blocking of mohair lace, I cobbled together a technique.

Somewhere I read that mohair is delicate when wet so should be spritzed. There was no explanation of the verb "to spritz". I took it to mean that mohair lace should not be fully immersed and wrung out like other wool but should be dampened - perhaps by spraying with water. I didn't really feel like spraying water all over the parlour or the spare bedroom and doubted I'd be able to evenly wet the shawl this way, so I thoroughly dampened an old white bath towel and wrapped the shawl in it. By thoroughly dampened I mean not dripping wet or just moist but about the same amount of wet as would come out of the spin cycle of a washing machine.

The rolled up shawl/towel was left overnight and then pinned out on the spare bed. It was left to fend for itself for two days. Here it is before I unpinned it last night.


I'm a bit disappointed that the scallops didn't block all that well - it was a bit tight. If you look really hard, you'll also spot a mistake with the centre rib - it went off for about 8 rows.

What do you think? This was knitted for a charity raffle and it is far from perfect. Should knit something else for the raffle or submit this?

3 comments:

Bells said...

Nice innovative approach to blocking. I wouldn't spritz either.

It's pretty....and I can't see the mistake! Not that I'm looking that hard. I'm just appreciating its beauty!

Gillian said...

It's so hard to see your work with others' eyes and so hard to tame the perfectionist in all us knitters.
I would feel thrilled to receive it in a raffle and I would be jolly grateful to whomever had donated it! If I was a beneficiary of the charity,I would think it was bloody lovely too!
Cheers Gillian

Denise said...

Unless you're secretly wanting to keep it for yourself, I say go the raffle. The surely small imperfections just make it clear that it was handmade :)

Rolling it up in a damp towel was a good idea, you clever thing you.