Blocking Crochet: Five Methods

I recently updated this post and created a permanent page for it at my new website!

One of the methods below could be the perfect finishing touch for your next crochet project, depending on your yarn and project type. It also depends on your own preferences. Each crocheter has a favorite method.

Special considerations for a specific stitch, technique, or project follow.

Five Crochet Blocking Methods

This is how love knots crocheted in wire look at first.

 Listed from the least aggressive to most.

Same love knots, "dry blocked" (method #1; 
I used the crochet hook to help open them up)

Dry Block

A.k.a. hand iron. Every crocheter has done this without even knowing that it has a name. Stretch, spread out, and flatten your crochet piece on something flat. 

One's knee always seems to be nearby! Using one's knee or upper leg is not too bad for a small item, especially if you're wearing jeans or other fabric that provides a bit of friction. (Don't use it for measuring a gauge swatch though!) 

If your surface is hard and flat, such as a table, you can also press it, i.e. "hand-iron" it. 

Personally I almost never use this method.

Damp Block

A.k.a. spray block, and block with mist. Spritz liberally with water, especially the edges, then spread out on a toweled surface to dry. It's ideal for a quick block as you crochet every 8 inches or so of rows. Especially if you use yarns that respond dramatically to it like I tend to do, such as those with at least 20% rayon/viscose/tencel content.

This method is my personal favorite. I blogged about it back in 2010. I also combine it with methods 3 or 4 below: damp block while crocheting, then a final wet block when the project is completed. I prefer damp blocking partly because it's the most portable, and partly because it's fast. For most of the year here in humid Florida, wet things take too long to dry! 

Use a bath towel on a flat surface; the towel will provide some friction that I find in most cases replaces the need for pins.

Wet Block

Fully immerse it in water. This is Doris' favorite method. You can soak plant fibers like cotton, linen, hemp, rayon in warm or cool water a bit. 

For non-superwash wools, immerse briefly in cool water to avoid fulling (felting), then remove excess water gently before spreading out on a toweled surface to dry. ShamWow super absorbent microfiber cloths help to speed up the drying here in humid Florida. I use them instead of/on top of a bath towel on a table.

I like to add a little hair conditioner to the water if the yarn is wool or silk. 

Steam Block 

When it comes to crocheting clothing with drape, I'm looking at you, acrylic yarns. Blocking with steam is an aggressive method, so you must first carefully test, each time. 

It can really pay off! It gives some acrylic yarns the beautiful sheen and drape of silk. 

Using steam blocking is an art that can bring out extra softness and luster in some silk, camel, and llama fibers too. More on this below.

Pin It, or Stretch on Blocking Wires

This is the most aggressive blocking method and so there is an art to doing it the optimal way. (You don't want to block a stretched, stringy, stressed appearance into the yarn or stitches, or leave permanent dents in stitches from the pins.) It's combined with wet blocking.

Personally and non-professionally, I have only ever pinned crocheted snowflakes. I usually see this method used for afghan squares before seaming them together, and for knitted lace. 

Perhaps the most important thing of all is to use rust proof pins! I don't own blocking wires, but I sure admire the knitted lace wraps that have been blocked with them.

Special Blocking Considerations

Blocking is actually an art, and you might enjoy this newsletter issue about that. 

Picots 

Tug and pinch each picot to round it out and make it visible, adding more water to them than the rest of the stitches, if necessary. 

Love Knots

Most love knots are intended to be plump, like a semi-inflated balloon. If yours are, damp block them. Spritz lightly with mist and smooth gently in a way that doesn't flatten the love knots, nor weigh them down with too much water. You might feel like it's not worth blocking them at all, but I tested this in my love knot classes and people could tell the difference.

UNBLOCKED Tunisian filet-style leaning crochet swatches

Yarn Color Issues

If the yarns you used might give off some excess dye, avoid wet blocking. Use light spray blocking instead. Maybe combine light mist with heavy #1 and/or #5.

Special Laces  

WET BLOCKED to remove biasing. (method #3.)

Tunisian crochet lace and filet crochet respond great to wet blocking (also very careful steam blocking if you used acrylic yarn). 

Aim for squared filet eyelets. 

For Tunisian crochet lace specifically: tug on the return pass lines to straighten evenly. Tug vertically more gently. On extended Tunisian stitches to fully extend them, if you used them, you must tug on them vertically to open them up. 

Garments

Wet blocking is the method here for a stylish fit, silhouette, and an elegantly flowing, breezy movement. See Doris Chan's blog post. If you used acrylic yarn, steam blocking can bring out fashion drape and gleam as if you used silk! 

Be sure to block the accessories that need to drape stylishly, such as wraps, scarves, collars, and even necklaces. 

Tip!: Steaming some animal fibers will soften them enough to wear around the neck. This came in handy for a men's scarf I crocheted in a yarn that had camel hair content!

Home Decor

Especially doilies, snowflakes, and afghan squares; also flowers and other appliques: These are the projects I have the least amount of experience blocking by any method. The most notable thing about them is that they usually need to be as perfectly flat and square, or round, as possible. Wet blocking with pins or wires is common. Sometimes starch is added (especially for snowflakes). 

And finally...for all blocked items by all methods:

Let air dry completely, then admire your work and bask in the compliments! And remember: the best time to take photos of your work is right after it's blocked.

Dimensional Fabric Paint for Crochet Projects

School Teacher's "Gallon Friend"

'Melted Chocolate' Coffee Cozy

Dimensional fabric paint, also referred to as 3-D fabric paint, comes in a full rainbow of shiny, glittery, iridescent, and matte colors.

I've found that fabric paint is very useful for certain crochet projects.



With fabric paint you can:

• Use on slipper soles for traction
• Reinforce edges (fabric paint is waterproof and more durable than yarn)
• Replace cross stitching and other surface embellishment
• Add permanent facial features that won't pose a choking hazard to very young children
• Add calligraphy-like text and symbols



Valentine (Ravelry Project page)

• Glue yarn ends to secure from view, using a paint that matches the yarn color.

Pokemon Toy blogged here

Sometimes it's simply the best option for embellishing, adding facial details, even text! I love the fine touches embroidery can contribute to crocheted fabric, but some crochet projects need to stand up to hard wear and tear; for example, kitchen items and children's toys.

Crochet stitches themselves are durable, even self-reinforcing! Dimensional fabric paint, which is a machine washable and dryable acrylic polymer, is the only material I've used with crochet that not only holds up as well as crochet, but can even outlast the life of it.

My best advice to you, if you've never tried combining crochet and fabric paint, is to practice, practice, practice on swatches. You have one chance to get it right when applying this paint to crochet!

My Favorite Way to Add A Professional Look FAST

2018 Update: I revised this post and created a permanent page for it at my new website. Also see issue #26 of my Crochet Inspirations Newsletter, "Creative Stitch Blocking".

I give it spritz so I can drape it on the mannequin and
see if I should keep going! "Tripuff Tunic"
in DesigningVashti Lotus yarn.

I'm going to describe a "finishing technique" but I don't wait until the end of a project to do it. It is usually called "blocking"...but this is only one blocking method of many. 

I'm talking about the power of mist. Not steam, not water, not a special soaking liquid, just low-tech plain cool water mist!

It's an essential tool in our project bags along with scissors, and yarn needles for weaving in ends. 

Ten ways I use plain mist first and sometimes exclusively with crochet:

pre-blocked Tunisian Islander Wrap

 1) When I want to see how the project might look when finished but I don't want to wet it and have to wait more than 15 minutes for it to dry. I mist it enough on a flat surface so that as I pat it out evenly, I see and feel that the stitches are relaxing and socializing with each other nicely.

2) For solid stitch patterns like Tunisian Simple Stitch, or single crochet, post stitch patterns, etc., I mist a bit after I work 12 inches or more of the project so that I can see the fabric look its most sleek, flat, and even. It's a boost for me to see my stitches look so good.

Tunisian Islander Wrap 
after simple blocking.

3) When I start with the inside end of a new ball of yarn and it's too crinkled. I mist the stitches to see if the crimps are distorting my gauge. Or, I pull out enough of the yarn from the ball, wind it loosely over a chair or something, and mist it lightly so that it relaxes the wrinkles enough that I can crochet it comfortably in 15 minutes or so.

4) To renew my confidence or excitement in a lace project. I want to see its real beauty as I go! It was great for the Weightless Tunisian Wrap.

The Eilanner Shawl:
diagonal crochet loves to be blocked.

5) To learn more about an expensive yarn that may be delicate. Mist is very gentle. I choose expensive yarns for their beauty, so I mist a swatch of one to get a preview of the full finished beauty of the stitch pattern I'm using. I can also see if it sheds easily, if it goes limp and flat, if it gives off dye, has a strong smell, etc.

6) To make minor adjustments in the fit of clothing.

7) To avoid re-doing a seam or edging if possible. Mist might be all it needs to look smooth and make the stitches play nicely with each other.

8) Mist may be enough to make picots, corners and angles look crisp and pressed. I mist, stretch, pat, press it with my fingers like it's dough until it's the way I want it, then let dry.

9) When I swatch with a yarn that's new to me and it's unexpectedly stiff. It's amazing how a little mist will bring out a yarn's true personality! Especially linen, hemp, cotton yarns.

Tunisian crochet lace, unblocked.

10) When I mist a swatch with any yarn while designing, I can get a quick sense for whether I'm on the right track: how good a stitch pattern looks in the yarn, whether I think I should go up or down a hook size, and how much the stitches might stretch out or grow.

     I know that many crocheters (and knitters) don't block their work because they simply don't want to! It sounds optional, or boring and time-consuming. Others don't know how, and once we complete a project, we don't want to learn an additional finishing step. We want it to be finished already!

Spritzed with water and spread out.

     I spent most of my life not blocking my crochet. If I liked how my stitches looked, I kept going until I was done. When I was done, it looked fine to me, and that's that. I wasn't crocheting clothes, nor doilies that needed to lie flat and even. When I went through a phase of crocheting every snowflake pattern I could find, it was a new world of wetting, starching, and pinning them evenly so that the lacy stitches looked gorgeous. I hated waiting for them to dry. I did not call this "blocking"–I'm not sure if I knew the word. I thought it was only for snowflakes and doilies. 

     A spray bottle is a crocheter's best friend. I even keep a tiny one in my project bag.