How to Block Crochet

Why crochet needs it more than knitting

Crochet fabric has more yarn per square inch, more tension locked into each stitch, and taller stitches that lean. The consequences show up in exactly the places blocking fixes.

• Edges curl harder, particularly in single crochet.
• Granny squares come off the hook as rhomboids, not squares. Blocking is what makes them match.
• Lace and filet look like a tangle until they are opened out and pinned.
• Shells and clusters do not sit evenly until the fabric is settled.
• Dense fabric also takes far longer to dry - a wet-blocked crochet blanket can take two or three days.

How to block your knitting covers the same techniques for knitted fabric, where the emphasis and the timings are different.

The three methods

Wet blocking, step by step

1. Soak the piece in cool water with a little wool wash for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Lift it supporting the whole weight. Wet crochet is heavy and will stretch if held by one corner.
3. Press the water out against the side of the basin. Never wring.
4. Roll it in a towel and press. Stand on the roll if the piece is large.
5. Pin it out on a grid mat, measuring rather than eyeballing. Pin at the corners first, then the midpoints, then between.
6. Leave it until completely dry - genuinely dry, not nearly. A damp piece unpinned will spring back.

Steam blocking acrylic

1. Pin the dry piece out to shape on a heat-resistant mat.
2. Set the iron to steam and hold it one to two inches above the fabric.
3. Move steadily across the surface. Do not dwell in one spot.
4. Never let the soleplate touch the yarn.
5. Let it cool completely before unpinning. The set happens as it cools, not as it steams.
6. Test on a swatch first, every time, with a yarn you have not steamed before.

Blocking specific things

• Granny squares: block them all to one grid square on the mat, and they will seam without fighting.
• Doilies and filet: wet block and pin every point. This is the one case where a light starch is traditional and appropriate.
• Shawls and lace: thread blocking wires through the straight edges so the edge blocks to a line rather than a scalloped set of pin marks.
• Garments: block to the pattern's finished measurements, not to whatever shape the piece currently is.
• Amigurumi: do not block it. The fabric is meant to be dense and the shape comes from the stuffing.
• Blankets: usually not worth it, and drying is a multi-day operation. Steam the edges if they curl.

How long it lasts

Wet and spray blocking last until the piece is next washed, at which point you block again as part of drying it. Steam blocking on acrylic is permanent because the fiber itself has been reshaped.

Superwash wool is the awkward case: it takes blocking well and then relaxes further with each wash, so a superwash garment tends to grow over its life. Blocking superwash wool covers what to do about it.

What blocking cannot do

1. It will not shrink a piece that is too big. Blocking opens fabric out; it does not close it.
2. It will not fix wrong gauge. A few percent, yes. A whole size, no.
3. It will not hide a structural mistake, though it hides a surprising number of cosmetic ones.
4. It will not make stiff yarn drape. Mercerized cotton blocks crisp because it is crisp.
5. It will not survive a tumble dryer. Lay flat, every time - caring for hand knits covers the rest.