Blocking Question

[KEDEK5]

I am finishing up my first sweater and I have a blocking question. Do you weave in the loose ends before or after you block?

[Ingrid]

I do it before hand.

[MaryS]

So do I. Actually I try to do it as I go, so I don't have a raggedy mess when I'm finished

Mary

[KEDEK5]

I started wet blocking my sweater last night, this does take awhile, anyways, my pieces seemed to grow!!!!! As I was knitting I was making sure all my dimensions were correct stitches correct etc and I was so glad I was spot on on everything, but now pieces are growing a-l-o-t. What do I do? The yarn is Plymouth Suri Merino, and it did knit up nicely.

[Silver]

That's what blocking is for. You'll have to maneuver the pieces into shape and let them dry that way. The fibers will retain some memory and stay that way until it's washed again, when it will need to be blocked to dry again. Unless it's machine washable and dryable. Machine drying tends to tighten up knitting for the most part.

[KEDEK5]

I have tried to pin to the measurements but it seems that the sweater has grown so much that I can not get downt to the specified measurements. Do I re-block or just be patient and see what happens when totally dry. I may never knit a sweater again, and I have so many cute patterns.

[Silver]

Did you knit a gauge swatch... and wash and dry it? Sometimes yarn will do weird things when it gets wet, which is why you should always treat your gauge swatch just as you would the finished article.

I too once knitted a sweater to the correct gauge, but when it was washed, it grew about 4+ sizes, and no amount of blocking or machine drying would fix it. I was very distraught, but I wouldn't have ever said I wouldn't knit a sweater again. I will not knit with that same yarn again though.

I'm sorry.. I know what you're going through. But please don't let it ruin knitting for you!