Blocking lace with points

[aedifica]

Hi, all!

Last year I knitted the Argus Shawlette when we had that knit-along (speaking of which--that was fun, we should do it again!). I blocked it with points along the lower edges like in the pictures, but it lost its decorative points very quickly after blocking. Do you have any advice how to make it keep the decorative points? I suppose I could try starch, but I'm hoping not to need to.

It was my first time blocking lace, and I'm quite prepared to believe I did something wrong--but I can't see what it would have been! (I got the shawl thoroughly wet, gently squeezed out some of the water--though I realized later I could have taken out a lot more water--and pinned it into shape on a clean sheet on a bed, and left it til it was dry.)

Comments

[apis_mellifera]

You didn't do anything wrong--if you're going to wear the shawl, the points will soften over time, all my shawls have had this happen to them. You can always re-block it if you want to.

[aedifica]

Thanks! I suppose I did expect them to soften a little, just not to disappear. :)

[apis_mellifera]

Hmmm. Did you bind off too tightly? That can affect how it holds the blocking. Also, when I block lace I generally pin it once and then adjust it--usually stretching it out significantly more than I originally did.

[aedifica]

sedge had some useful things to say below about fiber content and yarn type!

[apis_mellifera]

Some of which I disagree with, based on my personal experience. :)

I've wet-blocked silk with no problems, you just have to be gentler with it than wool--don't tug it as hard, don't pin it out as aggressively, that sort of thing. I've also seen little-to-no difference with the long-term behavior of a piece made from a lace yarn versus one made from a sock yarn of equivalent fiber content. How a yarn is spun can make a difference, but not as dramatic a one as you describe, IMO. How does the rest of the shawl look? Has it retained its shape and general appearance--i.e., is the edge the only place where you're seeing an issue with the appearance?

I have a wool shawl that I knit five years ago from a multi-ply worsted weight wool yarn. It's been washed and blocked once. It lives on my couch and gets a fair bit of wear about the house. The edges are still somewhat pointy--not as pointy as when it was first blocked, but the edge is still scalloped and it's obvious where the points were pinned out. That's why I asked you about your cast-off edge--if you cast off too tightly, it's going to fight with your blocking (and make it more difficult to block).

[aedifica]

I don't honestly remember binding off, but the bound edge doesn't look pulled tight, and my usual practice is to go up a needle size or two *and* use Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. OTOH that may not have been my usual practice yet then; I don't remember when I adopted it.

The shawl hung on my wall for several months and has mostly been folded up since then. The rest of it still looks fairly open.

[apis_mellifera]

I love that bind-off! :)

Binding off lace can be so tricky--there have been times when I've gone ahead and used the bind-off suggested in the pattern and then looked at it and realized that while it looks okay in the unblocked state, it's not going to work blocked and I end up having to re-do it. Usually I catch it a quarter to halfway through the bind off, so it's not as dire as it could be.

[sedge]

The thing about wool is that it has memory - that is to say, it tends to return to its original shape. Think about straight human hair: you can braid it wet, let it dry, and in many cases you'll end up with wavy hair for a while. But then it returns to its original shape.

That's what's happened to your shawl. I haven't done very much with blocked lace, but I've read a lot.

There are other factors: the fiber and the kind of yarn used (many sock yarns are spun to be springy and bouncy--which makes them lose blocking more easily).

There are fibers which tend to lose their blocking less: silk (don't wet block 100% silk, though; it's weak when wet -- block it out dry and then steam it) and alpaca are two I know of. Cotton and linen can also be good, though I think they tend to go limp instead, so I've read that people like to use starch on them.

I don't know if starch would work on wool.

I've been thinking hard about this since I'm just planning another wool lace shawl; my current plan is to use larger needles and not block aggressively. I plan to let the blocking smooth out the stitches; if I don't stretch it a lot, I'm hoping the wool won't spring back.

[sedge]

Oh, and while the fiber is not to my personal taste, acrylic *can* be blocked (requires steam), and furthermore, such blocking is permanent for acrylic.

[aedifica]

ohh! Yeah, it's wool *and* it's sock yarn, so that makes sense. Thank you! That's very helpful. (And it tells me that it'll probably happen on the shawl I'm knitting now, too. Oh well.)

[geeksdoitbetter]

"return to its original shape"

which sounds good

but, leaves out what the actual original shape is.

which isn't the same as saying "what it looked like in the skein"