A semi-circular lace shawl blocking tutorial.

I can remember when I first started knitting lace shawls. I was only a beginner, I had been knitting basic things, self-taught, for about 9 months. I saw these stunning pieces of work that were so beautiful, and so skilled, and I just knew I had to learn to do that!

I picked Ishbel by Ysolda Teague as my first shawl (link goes to Ravelry pattern page). I lovingly knitted every stitch carefully as it was a gift for my mum. And then it was time to block it. I read things online about blocking, I asked questions, I got all my supplies ready.  I used my spare-bedroom mattress and some t pins. It looked AWFUL!

In hindsight, I think as I was a tight knitter my actual cast off edge was too tight! So my first tip is that if you are a tight knitter, go up a needle size for your cast off at least, or do a stretchier cast off. There are a couple of good articles on the Knitty website, Here, and Here, which show different cast off techniques. For Ishbel, for example, the cast off is the Decrease Bind Off described in the first article. Mine was way too tight! So it's no wonder I couldn't get beautiful points like everybody else.

As I grew more confident with my own knitting, and my own finished object, I grew more confident in my blocking.

I learnt that I actually prefer to block to a pretty hard surface, so I use my dining table. I put foam mats (the ones you can get at toy shops/pound shops etc) on the table, and I pin my work directly to that.

I also learnt to listen to what the shawl wants to do. Yes, blocking is sometimes about encouraging the work to stay somewhere it doesn't want to, but on the whole you need to go with the object!  That sounds very vague, but for example if the tips of your shawl want to curve around (see pics below) you shouldn't try and get them to go straight because that will squish all the detail further down the shawl and it won't look right.

To make points, you usually pick a bit that has yarn-over's around it. That gives the fabric of the shawl more 'ease' and means that it will stretch more. Or, as in the case of my demo-shawl, there are specific pointy bits so it's obvious where to stretch.


Anyway, I will stop waffling on now and get on with my tutorial, which is pic-heavy! If there are any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

This shawl is an Out of Darkness, by Boo Knits. Link takes you to the Ravelry pattern page. It is made with Solstice Yarns Banshee Tussah Silk Laceweight yarn, which is a heavy laceweight, and because it is silk it holds it's shape very well.

Later in the week, I will to a triangular shawl blocking tutorial, using blocking wires and/or pins.



Step 1:- Set up your table before you wash your shawl!

I find my shawls can dry quite quickly. I set up my DH's gaming boards on the dining room table if I have a particularly large shawl to block, and then pop my foam boards on top. I have made this shawl 3 times before, so I know roughly where to put my foam! I did underestimate and add more later though!

I use mostly T-pins to pin it out, although I do sometimes run out when doing big shawls and picots! So I just use any pins to hand.

Step 2:- I take my shawl and soak it in lukewarm water with Eucalan wash, which you don't need to rinse. I leave it for 5 minutes, squeeze some of the water out gently (depending on the yarn, as some will felt if agitated), and then lie it on a towel. I roll that up and gently squeeze some of the water out of it by squishing it. I do want to keep it quite wet though, as I don't want it to dry before I am finished. I also keep a spray bottle of water nearby so that I can just spray it if it does get dry.

I lay the shawl loosely on the board to see where I need to pin it

Step 3:- Find the centre of the shawl (handily where my cast-on tail is....I NEVER sew ends in before blocking), and then get my metre stick so I can make sure that the top is straight as far as it wants to be.

Then I pin out the top of the shawl that wants to be straight. 

I continue pinning out the top edge. With this shawl, the edges curve right around at the end. I pull the yarn slightly taut as I pin, to ensure that it is stretched and won't come undone as I pin out the bottom edge. Most shawls have a yarn-over selvedge, so I tend to place a pin every two yarn-overs, which will keep that top edge nice and taut, and it won't end up with a pointy top edge. 

Right, top edge is all done!

Now onto pointy bits!

Step 4:- Look at your shawl. If you are unsure of where to place your pins, look at the pattern pictures. There will be clues there. 

With this shawl, we have a hybrid cast off. I have little picots all along, and then dramatic points as well. 

Always start with the dramatic points! Pull them as tight as the yarn will allow. With wool blends, they will often bounce back a little bit. This shawl is pure Tussah Silk, and will stay where you pin it. Always put the pin in at a slight angle away from the shawl, so that it doesn't just slide out again.

When you have pulled all those points, it will look like this:-

Now onto the picots. I always pin mine out. You spend so long doing them, that it really is worth the extra effort to pin each individual one. It really finishes the look of the shawl off. Again, you just pull them slightly to open the lace work above it, and pin. With this shawl, you can see that there are two picots, one either side of the dramatic points, which I pin out first. Then there are 5 or 6 picots between those. I pin the middle one or two, then the ones next to the point's picots, then the ones between them. That just ensures that you place them nicely and they aren't squished up.

Last of all, I pin out the picots along the top curves. They don't have the same pattern as the rest of the shawl, they are all yarn-overs, so there is plenty of stretch there.

And there! All done!! I blocked this one at around 5pm, left it overnight to dry, and it was all ready to be unpinned by 6am the next morning! Obviously, the thicker the yarn, the more water it will hold, so the more you need to squeeze it out, and also it will take longer to dry. It is sometimes worth putting it near a heat source if you can. 

Unpin the shawl, and then sew in your yarn tails.

When it is finished and unpinned, it looks like this. See those lovely crisp picots and points? They hold their shape really well and just look so elegant!