Now all we need to do is hang it up and wait for it to dry. You may have noticed I haven't said anything about getting your fabric wet yet. That's because I do not like weaving the wires through damp fabric. It just feels icky in my hands (and it's harder to take decent pictures of damp fabric, but that's probably only a problem for me). If you don't mind working with damp fabric, you can run the wires through while it's damp. Or, if you don't like it either, you can totally get it wet with the wires [...]

This...this is mostly here because it has a certain low budget space princess vibe that amuses me. But it is a good chance to take a moment and see how different fabric looks when it's under tension. Compare it to how it looked before. In the first picture, you've got the cowl with one wire at the bottom and another at the top. It's not actually blocked yet! If you take the wires out it will sproing right back. And in the second, you've got how it looked without the wires. Look at the difference in the edges (curled up [...]

Next step, do pretty much the exact same thing up top. This really is exactly the same process as at the bottom, so I'll just sort of vaguely gesture at the previous post and assume you can handle it.  Just pick your point, run your wire through, work your way around, and stretch it out. Don't be afraid to fiddle with the wire to adjust how much tension it's putting on your fabric. And remember you can stick a binder clip on the wire if the fabric is pushing back and making your circle close up too much. But the [...]

So, to block a cowl, I start by threading my blocking wire through the bottom of the cowl. I pick a landmark in the stitch pattern and bring my wire through that spot, all the way around the cowl. I'm bringing the wire through the same point in each pattern repeat. I picked a point that would emphasize that lovely rippled edge.  On this pattern, I mark on the chart where I recommend you do that. But if you're using this on a pattern that doesn't do that, just find a point you can identify (like 'just to the side [...]

One of the things I'm trying to show you here is how blocking changes fabric, so let's start out by really looking at the fabric fresh off the needles. This is how it looks flat. Notice that the top and bottom edge are sort of rolled and a little wavy. Notice how the hole in the lace are a little uneven. Notice how the fabric is a little crumpled.  This doesn't mean you did anything wrong! This is just what lace looks like before it's blocked. It's totally 100% absolutely normal. And this is how it looks on the dressform.  [...]

I thought we were going to dive in to blocking the cowl. But enough people ask what stuff you need for blocking that I wanted to talk about that first. The answer, as with so many things, is it depends. Remember, blocking is OFTEN just wash it, smooth it out, let it dry. For that, you need somewhere to wash your knit (I use my bathroom sink) & somewhere to lay it out (I use a towel on the counter or floor). If you want to go slightly more involved, you can wash it, smooth it over something that matches [...]

When you're deciding how to block something, you need to consider what sort of fiber you're dealing with. Most things you knit with (animal fibers, plant fibers, man made fibers) will benefit from Basic Blocking. That's where you're just washing it to get it clean, primping it a bit to even out the stitches, & letting it dry flat. It's the equivalent of hanging up a damp shirt & running your hand down it once or twice to smooth it out a bit. Just about anything you knit needs this, & I'm going to recommend you always do it. (You [...]

You know how I say 'blocking is often just getting it wet and smoothing it out?' Yeah. Well. Sometimes it's more than that. There's a fancy version too. And this thing will just absolutely shine once we get it blocked the fancy way. But I know the fancy blocking can be scary! So I want to show you how I do it. Because it's not hard, but there are some tricks to it. But before we dive in, do you have any particular questions about the Fancy Version of blocking? Because I bet we can talk about most of them [...]

I got these questions a bunch last week, so I wanted to put the answers all in one place. I'm not a doctor or a lawyer, but this is what I've been able to find (it's fine to share).⁠ ⁠•EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION VS ABORTION PILLS: You take emergency contraception (also called plan b or the morning after pill) after sex (within 72 hours is best, within 5 days can still work). They prevent pregnancy. You take abortion pills when you are less than 10 weeks pregnant. they end an existing pregnancy.⁠ ⁠ •WEIGHT LIMITS: Emergency contraception is less effective in higher [...]