That curling checkered band

Happy news, gang. I've wet blocked my beautiful sweater and that red and blue checked ribbed section is lying very nicely flat and doesn't look like it will curl at all.

I intended to post photos today but I left the cable at home.

:(

I will remember tomorrow. I actually wet blocked the sweater before I tacked down the facings, sewed on the buttons or made the final decision about putting an i-cord trim around the bottom edge. That last feature is what drove my decision because I couldn't decide if I wanted the i-cord or if I wanted some other finish. I wanted a clear vision of what the sweater was going to look like before I put any additional trim on it. I wasn't sure I would like a tiny brown i-cord at the bottom - if it would like strange. Since blocking, I think it will look strange if done in brown and I'm going to do that bottom finish in black. In fact, I am probably going to do it in a little single crochet edge because I want to wear the sweater on Wednesday and I won't have time to do an i-cord edging in such a short time-frame. If I don't really like the crochet edging I can always take it out and do the i-cord.

Other news about this sweater is that it blooms beautifully when blocked. Particularly if you've lugged the poor thing around as I have, and knit on it in a wood stove heated living room, and it's just plain dirty, do consider wet-blocking instead of steam blocking. I always worry that I'll steam in dirt that won't ever wash out when I steam block something. Probably not the case, but it's just a little quirky worry of mine.

If your sweater has felt all scrunchy and soft and puffy - wet-blocking will surprise you by flattening it out beautifully. The fabric has lots of mobility in it - you can block it a little wider if you think you've knit a bit skimpily - or longer if you think it's a bit too wide or too short. In fact, if I were advising anybody about using this yarn I would tell them to knit a swatch and wet-block it just to see how the fabric behaves. (Not that I do this, oh no. I just start right on knitting and trust to Athena to watch over me.)

So. Happy news. Photos tomorrow. Debut on Wednesday.

Comments

[Laura]

What? Swatch and then wash to see what happens?? hehe What a concept! :)

Hooray for your sweater Bess!! It's a hard thing to think about and realize when you're just beginning, but the finishing details on a sweater can be very time consuming! It's not over til the sweater dries and the buttons are on, huh!

I'm looking forward to photos. Need a reminder to bring the cable tomorrow? :)

[Renee from VA]

I'm glad you've answered the mystery as to whether the rib will straighten out. I did the "knit when you can" as talked about in earlier posts and got a nasty curl.