I first started this project months ago when I cast it on to be my travel project for my trip to Pittsburgh, but I ended up not doing any knitting at all on my trip. I picked it up and put it down again about 20 times since then but only got around to finishing it during the Christmas holidays.
I had picked up the Smooshy yarn (in color “Shiny Moss”) by Dream in Color during a 50% off sale at Harlequin Yarns and had it tucked aside for this project. I only had the one skein so I had to do some searching on Ravelry in order to figure out how to tweak it to make it a little longer and narrower to get more out of the skein.
As I was knitting this I realized that it was the perfect project to use to blog about blocking, as I get a lot of questions about what the heck blocking is when I talk about it on Facebook and with non-knitting friends. I’m not going to give a tutorial here, people have already nailed that and frankly, it’s easier to just link to them! Rather, I’m going to give this as an example of why it is so, so important to learn why you do this when you start knitting (and crocheting too, of course).
I first learned about blocking from this photo tutorial when I was knitting the Haruni Shawl a few years ago for a Christmas gift. It was my first really intricate knitting project and I was having a stroke as I was knitting it, because the pattern wasn’t visible at all until I blocked it. Thankfully I was at my mother’s at the time and she was there to help me and reassure me that it was looking the way it should, because I was a bit worried at the time.
Well, it was quite the same with this project. The bunched up project, not the stroke. I’m used to pre-blocking scrunched up projects now, thankfully. That said, when I finished the Clapotis it looked like a green sausage and I couldn’t even pull it flat properly for a photo. Admittedly a part of me was a bit worried that I wasn’t even going to be able to block that curl out of it!
I have to say, I don’t find blocking fun at all. I mean, it is in a way because you get to see your project take shape, but it is a task. Depending on the project I can spend absolute ages getting the shape just right, getting the pins or wires in place and basically nitpicking it to death. There are some mornings where my thighs ache like I’ve run a marathon just from all the squatting I did the day before getting a project blocked on the mats on the floor.
Knitters workout, I guess?!
I love the soaking part of the blocking process, mainly because I am so, so incredibly in love with the smell of the Wrapture (the Jasmine scented line of Eucalan). Oh, that stuff smells like heaven and I love it! If you’ve not tried it, you really must. Other Eucalan products are nice, but there’s just no comparison to the wonderful scent of Jasmine that this adds to your garments.
The high wears off quickly once it comes time to get the project on the boards, but at least with straight projects like this it’s lessened slightly by blocking wires. I had never tried them before I was given them in a goody bag while at a knitting event, but they have made my life so much easier. Especially for projects like this and my Chocolate Dream Shawl which are really large and would take about ten thousand pins to block them.
I had actually taken the above photo with my mobile to show something that was making me twitch. Can you see it? The column of stitches that sort of separated? I don’t mind now but it drove me bananas when I noticed it when I blocked it. The pattern says to twist the stitch before and after the dropped stitch and I think I just didn’t get the tension right somewhere. I got over it quickly enough, though.
So, I guess you could say I’m growing a little as a knitter, because this would have had me positively seething at one point. Instead, I figure it’s consistent, so we’ll just call it my own personal touch on the pattern. That works for me!
You can also see the blocking wires in the photo. It is a bit tedious putting them in but a lot less than trying to pin it, let me tell you that. Once the wires are in it’s just a matter of laying it out and pinning it flat rather than using a million pins to try to get the shape right and avoid having a picot edge.
So, why am I rambling on about blocking? Well, because this is what the Clapotis looked like after it dried and was taken off the blocking boards…
All of that worrying for nothing, the blocking did the trick! The dropped stitches were more visible and the scarf (or shawl? It really is in between. Skawl? Sharf?)… The CLAPOTIS (said Clap-oh-tee, I’ve realized, rather than Clap-oh-tiss as I’ve been saying it all along) lays flat.
Ok, so when I look at the photos I may be obsessing about that column of separated stitches but whatever, this perfectionist leopard will continue to obsess over her own spots regardless of what she tells you or herself, so let’s just leave that alone. I’m not seething, rather just a little perturbed, so there’s still some growth, right?
The good thing is, even though it can lay flat now, it can also be worn more rolled up if that’s what you like. You have options, unlike before it was blocked when your only option was sausage style.
On another note, about the yarn. If you are the itchy, scratchy, anything other than soft in the want to stroke it all day yarn semi snob that I am, don’t be fooled by your initial experience with Smooshy. I bought it because my friend Nerissa from over at Miss Neriss raved about it. Not just like “oh this yarn is nice” but like “I LOVE this yarn, it’s delicious, blah blah blah Aussie accent making everything sound more appealing blah blah”.
So when the yarn arrived I was like “WHAT IN THE FRESH HELL, NERISSA?!”. It wasn’t soft at all, or delicious, or any of the things she said. I felt as though I’d been bamboozled. Like she secretly works for the tricksters who named that yarn Smooshy and they were paying her enough to even swindle her own friends. Trusting, squishy, smooshy yarn loving friends – LIKE ME!
I told her so too!! Only it was more like “Umm, that yarn isn’t quite as soft as you mentioned, does it get better after blocking?”. Same thing.
It does get a lot nicer after a good soak, thankfully! It softened up quite a lot and I can say I’ve worn it a lot since I finished it. Which is saying something because when I first felt the skein I was pretty sure the only person that would be wearing it would be Nerissa, as a hand knitted noose! Imagine the thoughts I would have had if I hadn’t gotten it for 50% off, I’m such a cheapskate at times.
Sorry Nerissa, I still love you and I love my Clapotis too!
As for the pattern itself… meh. I mean, I love the Clapotis and I like wearing it, but I found the pattern tedious and I didn’t enjoy it. I have friends who have knit it multiple times and love it, but maybe they love the finished product and thus love the pattern? I don’t know. I just found it grinding and I couldn’t wait to get to the end of it. I have no problem with large projects, seemingly endless knitting, difficult patterns or any of that. There was just something about this one that I didn’t enjoy, I can’t put my finger on it.
Strange, right? Considering there are like 20,000 projects (I’m not even exaggerating) on Ravelry. So it is probably just me! I love this one, but I don’t see me making another.
Lessons to take away from this post?
- Blocking can make all the difference in a project.
- Projects being popular doesn’t mean they are always fun to knit.
- Nerissa is not working for the man trying to steal all my precious moneys.
