Got 90 seconds?
Published On: February 1, 2018

We’re having a KAL for Palpitation, and I’d be delighted if you joined us!  I find I want to knit a few more of these, but it feels like some sort of breach of etiquette to knit in my own KAL.  So I’m going to pretend that what I’m doing is using a few more hearts as a way to talk about some finer points of making these.  But we all know what I’m really doing is indulging myself and making a few more.  But don’t tell anyone, ok?

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So let’s talk blocking.  I know…I know you don’t like to do it.  You say it’s too hard or it takes too much time.  But I found myself curious.  Just exactly how much active time does blocking one of these hearts take?  The answer…less than 90 seconds.  I really think you can spare 90 seconds to make your knitting better, don’t you?

Let’s walk through this step by step.  Get yourself and the knitting to a working sink.  Turn on the water (that’s when I started the timer).  Shove the knitting under the tap and start squeezing it in your hands.  Wool is a bit water resistant (that’s why it floats if you just set it in a bowl of water) and by squeezing it you help get it soaked faster.  Squeeze squeeze squeeze squeeze squeeze.  Get it really soaked.  Flip it over once or twice while you’re doing that to make sure you get the front and back.  This takes me about 45 seconds. Turn off the water and give the whole thing one massive squeeze to get rid of the extra water (if you have a clean hand towel around, you can squeeze it in that…but it works even if you just do it in your fist).  Let’s call that five seconds.  Now drop it on your counter and pat it smooth.  Give it a tug and a push and a shove and get it all tidy and straight.  That’s maybe, maybe 30 seconds if you’re feeling fiddly (that’s when I turned off the timer).

And that’s it.  You’re done. Go away and let it dry.  That part does take a little while (about 30 minutes for me, but it’s going to depend on your fabric and the temperature and humidity in your house), but you don’t have to actually do anything with it during that time (if you’re me, you’ll cast on another one…it’s a sickness).

So, if you don’t want to block because you just don’t want to, that’s fine.  But, at least for these, I’m going to be fairly stern if you tell me you don’t block because it takes too much time!

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