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

[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"