Blocking Party!

I recently bought myself a hand held fabric steamer to help me with all of my blocking needs. With all of the cotton and acrylic in my projects, I knew I needed all the help I could get. Well, playing with a steamer is a lot of fun and dries incredibly fast. So, we'll do a lovely photo array here of my completed, and blocked, items.

This is the completely finished Dinner in the Eiffel Tower shawl. Yeah, I realize that one side looks flat, but once it's on, it's no biggie. It turned out beautiful and it's holding its block which is all that's important to me.

 This is a baby tunic I made with some leftovers from my Derecho shawl. It's all cotton and milk fibers. It seemed to love the steam.

 This is my flower shawl. I think it took me almost 2 years to get around to blocking this. The yarn was a cotton/silk blend and oh, so silky. It's a shame it took me this long to get it blocked.

And THIS is my Papillon scarf. It's crocheted and I only remember that cotton is one of the fibers in the yarn. LOL I'll admit that blocking crochet is a bit different from knit. At least from my point of view. Maybe it's just because I haven't done that much of it. 

This beauty was made with 100% acrylic yarn. It's super soft and I love it. It was fun watching the steam do its job as I could literally watch the acrylic fibers relax and spread out. It flows well and is holding the block beautifully.

I have one more item I need to block, but getting one's finger shut in a door sort of puts a crimp in things. ;-)  When that finger is feeling better, I will block my last scarf and I'll be all caught up with my blocking. Yes, I let it build up.

I would definitely recommend a steamer. It can work on just about any fiber, though I won't use it on 100% silk. Since it dries so fast, it works great to get a lot done in a short amount of time. No more wondering if that shawl will dry before bedtime. ;-)  The longest any of these took to dry was maybe 2 hours and that was me just being cautious. I'm interested in finishing up one of my 100% wool shawls now and see how it does with the steamer. I'll definitely have to write that up when it's finished. Don't hold your breath though. That critter has been on the needles since Sept. 2012. It'll be awhile. ;-)