finishing

Having invested in good-quality yarn and many hours of knitting, your crafted piece deserves to be finished beautifully.

First of all, block your finished pieces. Blocking is the shaping of knitted pieces to specific dimensions. It is a process of wetting or dampening your knitting, allowing the fibres to relax; this evens out the stitches, enhances details such as cables or lace and, well, makes your knitting look amazing! There are two ways to block – wet and steam. Which one you choose depends on your personal preference.

WET BLOCKING

1. Fill a bowl, bucket or sink with lukewarm water and some wool wash – never hot water, it will felt!

2. Immerse your knitted pieces and soak for a few minutes. Lift out and gently squeeze out any excess water.

3. Place the knitted pieces on a towel, roll in the towel and press to remove further excess water.

4. Refer to the schematic of the pattern for the shape of the finished pieces and suggested measurements. Pin out the pieces on a flat padded surface or blocking board to the required measurements and shape.

5. If you are blocking a lace piece (such as Forage) use blocking wires. Pin the wires in place with T-pins and use the edge of the blocking mat or a ruler to ensure you achieve straight edges.

6. Allow the pieces to air-dry and then remove the pins.

STEAM BLOCKING

1. Lay out your knitted pieces on a flat padded surface or blocking board.

2. Pin out to the required measurements. Cover with a fine cotton cloth, such as a tea towel. Set your iron to steam.

3. Hover the iron over the knitted pieces so that the steam can permeate the cloth.

4. Do not press the iron on to the knitted fabric. Note that rib edges, neckbands etc. should not be steamed, as this may flatten the ribs.

5. Remove the cloth and allow the knitting to dry before unpinning.

Now you are ready to join the pieces together. Often the instructions will say to join the shoulders with a three-needle cast off on the outside, this technique gives a raised chain along the seam for added detail.

THREE-NEEDLE CAST OFF

1. Hold the two needles with the live stitches parallel to each other in your left hand, with the wrong sides of the knitting facing each other.

2. Knit the first stitch from each needle together with a third needle.

3. Knit the next stitch from each needle together.

4. Pass the first stitch knit over the second stitch.

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all stitches have been cast off.

Refer to the specific instructions given in the pattern for the order in which to sew the pieces together. The following two methods are the ones that I use to create neat, professional seams

INVISIBLE SEAM

Invisible seams are used to join all side and sleeve seams, or where a flat seam with no bulk is required.

1. With the right side of both pieces facing you, secure the yarn to the edge of one piece.

2. Take the needle across to the opposite edge, pick up the equivalent stitch on this piece, pull the yarn through; take the needle back to the first edge, returning the needle through the hole of the previous stitch, then pick up the next stitch and pull the yarn through.

3. Continue in this way picking up and pulling together stitch to stitch (row for row) along the length of the seam.

4. Once you have mastered this, you will never look back.

BACKSTITCH SEAM

A backstitch seam is used where a firm edge is required to hold the shape, such as a set-in sleeve, or to give strength at any point where the garment may take extra strain.

1. Place the pieces with the right sides together. Work along the wrong side of the fabric one stitch from the edge. Secure the yarn and work from right to left.

2. With the needle at the back of the work, move along to the left the length of one knitted stitch, bring the needle back through fabric to front and pull the yarn through.

3. Take the needle from left to right across the front of work to the end of last stitch, insert the needle through the fabric to the back of the work and pull the yarn through.

4. Continue in this way to the end.