We’ve been talking about blocking, and it’s one of those topics that lends itself to before and after pics. So I want to show you two sets. The first pair you saw last time, and it shows the bits from Shiversome. Start with before:

Then after:

I’m going to assume you can all see the differences and don’t need me to belabor the point too much.

I want to show you what they looked like on the snowmen before and after blocking as well, but I preface this by saying it absolutely is a bit more subtle. But take a closer look and you’ll see more changes than you think. Here’s before:

And here’s after:

And look, I’ve been doing this long enough that I know, absolutely know, that at least one of you is going either ‘I don’t see a difference’ or ‘I like the before better.’ If you like the before, that’s cool, everyone gets to have their own preferences! But if you don’t see a difference, let me talk you through it so you can see what I see.

Start by looking at the yellow hat, especially the top. Notice how much more defined the points at the corner are in the second photo. Then look at the blue hat. See how in the before picture it sort of schlorps in at the top before its blocked but is a much smoother and more uniform shape in the second photo? A similar thing happens with the purple hat, it’s just much more relaxed and even in the second photo. Now look at the scarves. See how they all have a tendency to roll up in little tubes on the first picture (you can’t really even see the purl stitches on the blue one at all)? Compare that to how much flatter and more defined they are in the second picture.

Again, it’s fairly subtle here because the underlying structure of the snowmen will hold the hats under enough tension that they’ll still be cute even if you don’t block them. No one will make you do it if you don’t want to! But they just look much more polished if you go ahead and do it.

Once again, wander over here if you want the long version of how I did it. It takes about five minutes of active time, and I know I think the results are worth it.