Blocking is a crucial step in crochet and textile crafts, involving the introduction of moisture to shape the final project. It involves dampening the crochet fabric, shaping it to size, pinning it out, and allowing it to dry. The process involves spritzing the entire project with water until it’s damp to the touch, then shaping it using pins or fingers as needed.
There are two options for wet blocking: first, pin the pieces first, then wet them down with a water-filled spray bottle. This method is suitable for both knit and crochet projects, as it allows the stitches to relax and create a more finished look.
Rust-proof straight pins are necessary to hold the project in place and prevent damage to the item. Blocking mats can be found on Amazon, and there are various techniques for accomplishing this process.
In crochet, blocking evens the edges, evens the stitches, and increases the overall appearance of the project. To block your crochet project, you can either pin the pieces first and then wet them down with a water-filled spray bottle.
In summary, blocking is a crucial step in crochet and textile crafts, involving the addition of moisture to shape the final product. There are various methods available for blocking, including wet blocking, spray blocking, and steam blocking, which can be used to achieve the desired look and texture.
📹 WET BLOCKING 101: HOW TO WET BLOCK A SHAWL (Step By Step Guide to Block Knit & Crochet The Easy Way)
Are you confused about wet blocking? Join me while I block my latest scarf project and see how easy it is! Wet blocking involves …
📹 How to Block Knits
Learn how to block your knitting step by step, using wool wash. Blocking refers to the first time your knits hit the water. It allows the …
Having been a yarn crafter for nearly 50 years, I’ve never blocked anything. I always thought it was too much like hard work, but now that I’ve seen how much better a project looks after being blocked, I think I’ll have to rethink this whole blocking thing…ya never know, it might just make a difference to some of the gear I make too. ;)) Thank you Toni for explaining it so clearly, and making it look so easy to do. :))
Greetings from Canada. Dear Tony, I’m so glad I found your website. You are so sweet and such a great teacher. I just started crocheting and am learning so many things as I watch each YouTube article. Everyone was talking about blocking and I had no idea what that meant. A quick search in YouTube land and I found your article and website. I’m about to hit that subscribe button but before I did I wanted to say a big Thank you…ok now I’mma hit that button. 💕💕💕💕💕
Toni thank you for your tutorial on blocking. Very helpful. I don’t have any animals and crochet in a clean, smoke-free environment, but personally I still feel hand soaking the crochet item and blocking is a great idea. We handle our projects, sit them on our lap and move them around where we sit to knit or crochet. Giving them a little freshening just feels right. I’m also a soap maker so the importance of washing hands is priority. The oils from our hands transfer a bit to the yarn and I know I’m now being extremely crazy, but it’s all about gifting or selling the item fresh, blocked and ready to go. It just makes it feel complete. Great job 👏 thanks again.
Thank you for sharing this. I always start blocking by first washing my projects in the washing machine at the laundrymat. Was looking for a more efficient way to do this . I never would have thought to soak in dishwashing liquid. And I definitely would have wrung it out. You saved this scarf and labor of love. I also love comedy behind the scenes.😂
Thank you. I’ve got several projects I have finished over the last year (2?) that need to be block. A couple shawls. I have never block. I read up on it, saw why I would want to do it, bought the supplies, did projects that should be blocked….. And here I am 1-2 years later and while I’ve “finished” the projects I still haven’t blocked them!! Maybe now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, I’ll finally get them done. Not hard. Thought I am going to be hard pressed to find the room for my shawls.
Thank you so much for posting this brief, cute, explanatory article for free! I’ve been crocheting a few years now and every time I think I’ve seen it all, I learn something new. I’m making my first cardigan and had never heard of this until the pattern I had bought said to use the wet block technique. Unfortunately the ‘how-to’ link provided in my pattern was for a paid website, and it didn’t feel fair after already having paid once. You’ve made learning something new easy and fun. Thank you for sharing this article!
This was so helpful, Toni! I love those blocking pins! One question for you-when blocking a sweater, would you wait and block the entire finished product or block the pieces before assembly? Thanks so much. You truly are one of the main reasons I’ve been able to master Tunisian crochet and it’s been a life saver during this lockdown!
I’m so Happy You’r website and you are amacing 🙂 You learned me tunesian choche. You have a nice Voice, humor. You website is the Best becauce you have a lovely personality. Greatins from Denmark and THANKS. You brought me smile, learn me and learn me so Much. Hope you are Well and Happy. You deserve the Best ind life. You are amazing 🙂
Hi, i am VERY new to crochet. I am confused as to how do you measure if something fits, as then you block it and it expands. so for instance, do you measure yourself, see the most approximate measure on a pattern that is actually lower and follow that and then block? how do you know how to measure? I was actually using measuring tape instead of counting stitches when i do the first chain (mostly because i have kids when im crocheting and i am new to this and i get lost and frustrated, so i just chose to practice, lol!), but now i am very curious as to how does this work. Also, when you wash the pieces do you dry it pinned down again etc? Thank you! I LOVE your content! has helped me quite a bit! 🙂
Toni I’m glad I found your website. I’m new to using You Tube and just came back to crocheting after 3 years. I have never blocked before. Do you recommend blocking Afghans/blankets? If so, should they be blocked before adding border? Thank you and I’m excited to try Tunisian crochet as my next project after perusal your article.
I have an idea for a future tutorial article and forgive me if you’ve already done it: I’m looking for a visual aid on how to crochet in the round with hats and not make a visible seam…but also not lose track of things. My hats always have a visible line if I am not working in a continuous round. If i am working in a continuous round, I don’t know where the end of a round has happened and when I do color changes they get staggered and look diagonal. This also affects my sizing. I don’t think I am fully understanding what patterns mean in terms of where I’m supposed to be putting my sl to end a row and start a new one. I am comically bad at hats to the point where I avoid them, but I do want to make them. I have so much yarn that I want to use for turbans for cancer patients, but I have been basically just making shawls for them because all of my turbans turn out small and weird!
Hi Toni, thanks for this article! Actually thanks for your website, it’s fun and educational, love it! I have a question regarding wet blocking: i’m in the process of making a granny hexagon cardigan (actually my first crochet project ever), and it is BIG. Which I wanted by the way, I’m aiming for a really oversized cardigan with cinched ribbing at the wrists. Would you recommend blocking it before I attach the 2 hexagons together? Or would steam blocking the whole finished project work better? Hopefully you’ll see my comment and be able to answer it 🙂 love from France
Thank you so much for all your great help… great article! Please help… I just finished a scarf …oh la la. :o) When I wear it with anything dark, it looks like a white Persian cat just jumpedI off my lap. It’s a petty annoyance, sure, but I’m also concerned it makes me look sloppy. Is there anything I can do to de-fuzz it? I have a lot of knitted projects that I stopped wearing because of this reason. Very frustrating… 🙃
Thanks so much! I just found your website and it’s so helpful (I also love your kitties – I also have a black cat!). I’m new to crochet – how do you know when you need to block a project and when you don’t? Does it depend on the yarn? Or is it more about the project itself? For example, I’m making a throw with a yarn that is 75% acrylic and 25% wool. Are blankets the kind of project that need to be blocked? Or is it the yarn that makes it a block-worthy project? Thank you again!
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I have a question with something I’ve been struggling with since I started blocking anything of size bigger than the 9 blocks that come in the set. I’ve tried folding it and then pinning it but that doesn’t seem to work very well. What am I doing wrong??? Heeeeelp!!!! 🙂
Does a knitted or crocheted item have to be blocked after every wash? I’m clueless here. Lol! Here’s a funny/sweet story you might appreciate. I knitted a blanket for my dad some years back. He’s 6’5″, and I, being the clueless knitter that I am, knitted what I had hoped would be big enough and long enough to give him a decent lap type blanket. I wasn’t using a pattern, just knitting. This was before I knew about knitting in the round, so I had 120 stitches crammed onto a big honking needle. Very sore hands, I’ll have you know. After I got all of the panels knitted and sewn together and held it up, it was about 5 1/2′ tall and maybe 4 1/2′ wide. Not as big as I hoped, but I thought it would do. It’s the thought that counts, right? Well, I threw that puppy into the washer and dryer, and whoa! What came out was like 6 1/2′ and 6′ wide! Bwhahahaha! But, the best part, is that my dad got tears in his eyes and told me he’d never had a blanket that was actually big enough and long enough to fully cover him. 💖💖💖
I have two cats as well and have just started crocheting. Have you ever had problems when giving gifts to people with allergies? For the first gift I gave I put the item in a vacuum seal bag hoping to cut down on dander potential… Am I just being paranoid? Or should I just always ask people if they have cat allergies?