How to block a hand-knit sweater

The final step in most knitting projects is blocking, which settles the knit stitches into place, stretches and reveals lace patterns, and allows your yarn to bloom and the collection of knit stitches to become a unified piece of fabric.

The steps below for wet-blocking are also the same process you will use when washing your handwash-only hand knit sweaters.  I’m not adverse to hand-washing, but I find that part of the magic of wool is that it needs washing only once or twice a year, so taking care of your hand-knit wardrobe doesn’t become an unreasonable task!

Wet-blocking a sweater is really much the same as blocking any other piece of knitting.  If you’ve never heard of blocking, you might like to read our Blocking Basics post first, as it illustrates the basic steps that we cover below.

Depending on the garment, and the finished size you desire, you will block your sweater more or less aggressively.  In some cases, you may want to use blocking wires, while in others this may not be necessary.

How to block a sweater

1. Fill your sink or basin with lukewarm water and wool wash if desired.
2. Gently wet your sweater. I do this by submerging my knitting and pressing out the bubbles. You don’t want to agitate your knitting too much. Leave it for about 15 minutes to get it good and soaked.  Some fibres (cashmere, silk) take longer to become saturated with water.  If you are blocking a multi-coloured piece, you will want to prevent the colours from bleeding into one another in the soaking bath, so instead of wool wash, add white vinegar to the soaking bath, and take care not to leave the sweater to soak for too long (don’t forget about it overnight!).
3. Take your sweater out of the water and press out as much excess as you can. Do not wring your knitting, this can put it out of shape permanently.
4. Roll your sweater in a towel and stomp on it, this remove excess water.  You may need to use two or three towels in a row if you’re drying out a larger or bulkier sweater, as the knit will have soaked up a lot of water.
5. Lay your sweater out on your blocking boards (or mattress, or carpet) and using your hands push it into shape.  For a simple stockinette sweater, it may be sufficient to simply pat it into shape, with approximately the right body and sleeve width / length.  For a patterned sweater, you may wish to block the piece aggressively, using blocking wires and pins to stretch out the body, sleeves, and yoke to open up a lace or cable pattern.  If your finished garment turned out a little too short, or too skinny for your liking, you can also block ‘for length’ or ‘for width’, stretching the piece more aggressively in one or the other dimension to coax it into a better fit!  This won’t work a miracle, but knit fabric (especially wool) is quite flexible, and as Alexa and I always say “when in doubt, block it out”!

The Flax pullover is a pretty basic design, so you can either just lay it flat and pat it into shape, or do as I’ve done, and use blocking wires.  If you haven’t already knit Flax, you should cast on today – it’s a free pattern!

The Lush cardigan is a little more complex, with a beautiful lacy yoke, so I’d definitely use blocking wires, and as I’ve done here, I pinned down the line of the button band too to keep the knit in shape as it dried.  This one is in Rainbow Heirloom Sweater in ‘favourite aunty’.

The Windswept pullover, with larger lace inserts, also benefits from a stiff block! I’ve used blocking wires to ‘outline’ the central garter panel to keep it crisp and vertical. I’ve also used a ruler to check that I’m pinning the sweater to the desired finished measurement.  This Windswept is knit in Rainbow Heirloom Sweater in ‘fluffy bunny’.

If you look carefully, you can see where blocking wires are run down the outside garter stitches of that central panel to create a crisp vertical line. As you can see, on the other edge, the lace creates a waving line in the surrounding fabric.

Year of the Sweater #TCK12sweaters2015

Have you been knitting along with us during Tin Can Knits ‘Year of the Sweater’?  I hope that you’re tagging your sweaters with #TCK12sweaters2015 on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and submitting your entries on our Ravelry Group KAL too!  There are some great prizes…  I happen to know that Alexa has finished at least 12 garments already… probably more like 15 or 20!  I’ve only actually completed 8 this year, as far as I can count… but I have WAY too many more on the needles right now so I’ve got to get finishing.

A few more that I’d like to knit this year: