Benefits of Blocking

I tried to come up with a clever title for this post -- you can see where that got me. I'll probably come up with something incredibly witty and brilliant next time I can't sleep.

On with the post:

In case you're like me and haven't had tons of experience, and wonder if blocking is really worth all the fuss... here's a good example of when it is.


As is obvious to most, I'm sure, the part nearer the needles is unblocked; the section furthest from the needles was blocked and dried about a week ago.

What a difference a little water, some pins, and a few days make.

I blocked this still on the needles because I wanted to make sure the yarn would block well -- otherwise I was going to have to find a different pattern and/or yarn, which I've already been through a few times. The scarf is for a friend and I want it to be as special as she is so I'm not taking any chances. Full story in another post, but for today I just wanted to show the benefits of blocking. You can see the difference it makes in appearance; what you can't get from the photo is the feel -- the yarn became softer and much more supple after blocking. I'm extremely happy with it.

Special thanks to Laura and Nora; they both encouraged blocking in comments to one of my earlier posts. That was part of what inspired me to block the scarf at this point; I probably wouldn't have thought of it otherwise. As it turns out, the scarf would have been fine, but I'm glad I did this, and I'm a convert to the benefits of blocking!