Why choose cotton yarn?

Cotton yarn blocks extremely well and retains its shape.

Blocking your Cotton garments

Some knitters are hesitant to work with cotton because it has “no give.” It is true that cotton has less elasticity, less bounce, as wool. My yarn has excellent drape and is ideal for lace shawls, scarves, summer tops and cardigans. The yarn can be blocked to one’s heart content – and it retains its shape beautifully, no re-blocking necessary as is often the case with wool.

Vitamin D Cardigan knitted in 2 x 150 gr skeins of Wolle’s 100% Cotton Yarn

Garments knitted in cotton yarn retain their shape very well. They “don’t grow” or get baggy. I have cardigans I have been wearing for several years and they still look as good as the day they came off the needles.

Blocking: What is it? What does it do? Why should I block something? Or not?

Blocking is the process of shaping a knitted item into its desired shape. For example a knitted sweater: When the front and back are knitted in separate pieces, it is important that both have the same size and shape before they are sewn together. In this case, one would block, i.e. pin, each piece into the correct size. Companies like Knitters’ Pride, among others, sell Blocking Mats that are super useful, but I usually pin my garments onto the carpet in the living room.

Once the pieces are stretched and pulled into the desired shape, I use pins to hold them in place. Blocking wires are also very useful. Such wires, available from Amazon, among others, are thin wires that are pulled through the edge of a garment or shawl; they work great for shawls since they make it easy to achieve a straight, beautiful edge.

After everything is pinned in place, I cover the knitted items with wet tea towels. The towels should be sufficiently saturated so that they transfer water onto the knit pieces. A water spray bottle comes in handy to add a little moisture if necessary. The towels stay in place, at least overnight, until everything is dry – and the garment looks even and flat, which means that the blocking has achieved its goal.

Cowslips & Catkins Shawl knitted in color FRAPPE

Some knitting projects, like sweaters, require blocking for sizing. For other items, i.e. lace shawls, blocking helps to show off the pattern in all its beauty, as this shawl illustrates. Just look at the stitch definition. So pretty!

Blocking can be tedious and many knitters don’t like doing it. Good news: many items don’t require blocking; I never block anything knitted in garter stitch. Lace shawls, however, are twice as nice when blocked. And more good news: Garments and shawls knitted with Wolle’s yarns block and retain their blocked shapes extremely well.