Thursday, December 24, 2009

Blah Blah Blocking

I made this Heatbeat Sweater ages ago and altered it to my specs, making long sleeves and adding a back neck triangle to fill in the V-neck. I wore it a few times and then suddenly my size changed. I don't know how...OK I do, but that's not the point. I put it away in the box with all the other sweaters-too-warm-to-wear-in-Tennessee and forgot all about it. Then a friend chided me for knitting all these accessories of late and 'when are you going to make something substantial, like a sweater????'
Hrumph.
So to defend myself I took a second look at my stash of FO's and decided it was time to finally block this pullover, within an inch of its life.
Noro Kureyon is notoriously stretchy when worn, but not as much as it is when it is totally submerged in water/hair conditioner. REALLY stretchy.
I took this from a figure grabbing 38" bust to a casual 41.5" with nary a tug.
Since initially I had never blocked this beast, I didn't get the full fashion statement that I look forward to having now. I may even wear it again!
Blocking is so easy to put off, but this being Christmas, and knowing my worksurface table is not in use for two days, it is time to use it for the Big Block. Hey, this could become a tradition...or not.

5 comments:

  1. Melody, this is THE MOST GORGEOUS sweater I've ever seen!!!!! You are SO something else....talent coming out of every pore!!! :)
    Merry Christmas!

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  2. Anonymous10:48 AM

    Love this! I think where you live it is definitely cold enough to wear this sometimes.
    Merry Christmas. I love your blog.

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  3. What a gorgeous sweater! Although I never heard of blocking with water and hair conditioner, I never doubt your ideas. Merry Christmas. :-)

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  4. Thank you for this invaluable tip. I have a Noro Kureyon sweater that is too small also--I swear, it shrunk while I was knitting it! But I never thought to block the heck out of it. Thanks for the great Christmas gift!
    And a very Merry to you!

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  5. Happy Christmas Mel and Dave,

    It's Christmas afternoon here and we've just finished Christmas dinner. All I can manage is sitting still and checking the net! It's warm here so we had cold ham and a zillion salads and just one hot dish -turkey breasts beaten into submission and covered with a whizzed mix of handfuls of sage and thyme and loads of Parmesan cheese with a little fresh bread crumbs. They cook in 15 minutes and are tender and delicious - hot or cold.
    Dessert was fruit salad, jelly (my 29 year old son is a kid at heart!) his partner's fabulous chocolate cake and pavalova - a mixture of beaten egg white and sugar with a slurp of vanilla and cooked in a very slow oven. Served with piles of whipped cream and 'whadeva' on top - NO calories at all! Promise!!

    We'll walk it off tomorrow! Or that's the theory!

    Happy Christmas and thank you for sharing your interesting life with us,

    Virginia

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Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com