Sunday 1 April 2012

Spring Break!! Time for Camp...

Well this week is a catch up week over at the Crochet Along.  Although I've managed to complete my motifs, I really need to get started on blocking.

At first I wasn't going to bother.  For the most part, my motifs have come out the right size and I figured once I sewed them all together they would look fine.  But after reading about blocking and how it is done, I figured that I might as well give it a shot.  Some people seem to swear by it - that it completes the item giving it a finished look.  There are however, two very definite camps when it comes to blocking.  Camp Wet Block and Camp Steam.

But more on that later.  First, the reveal... Tadaa!!  Clue #6. 

Lacey goodness...

This one was really fun to do.  Similarly to the clue with the star motif, it looked rather dishevelled
 and wonky when first making it.  But once complete, it has a pretty lacy/doily kind of look.  This was one that I figured would benefit most from blocking.  Apparently, this is our last motif, but since there are still 2 weeks left, I'm curious what else is coming up?  One week for seaming the pieces together and the other week?  Hmmmm...

So back to blocking.  Camp Steam are a pretty adamant bunch.  They strongly believe that steam is the way to go, even with acrylic yarns, and that the Wet method simple doesn't produce a worthwhile result.  But due of course to the nature of acrylic, you have to be super careful that you don't over heat the yarn to the melting point, referred to as "killing" the yarn.  And they warn not to use plastic headed pins, as they may melt.  Yikes.  Unfortunately, I don't have  a steamer and although my iron does have a steam setting, it doesn't work very well.

So for this go around, I've decided to bunk up with Camp Wet Block.  There seem to be a few ways of doing this, but I've decided to go with the damp towel method.  The pieces are first pinned to the correct size, and then a damp towel is placed over the motifs and allowed to air dry.  Some people recommend misting the motifs first with a spray bottle, and some people forgo the towel altogether and just spray the motifs till damp and let dry.

In the next post, I'll include some photos to show what I did and how well it worked.  ( that is, if it works...I've yet to try it)

See you soon,
 Happy Crocheting!

                                      






No comments:

Post a Comment