Aw, Bob is such a good 'lil helper. I wish Rocco would help out more around the house. LOL

I really love that yarn. It's gorgeous.

I wish my cats helped as much as Bob does. Their version of help is eating yarn, and yes, that means I have to pull it back out of them. Regurgitating yarn is NOT helping, but try telling them that as they purr and purr, pleased as punch with themselves.

It turned out great!
After reading your original post about the scunci steamer, I asked Santa to bring me one for Christmas, but have been crocheting things that havent required much blocking since then so I've yet to experience the botox like blocking.

Cooooooool! Being a new knitter, I have yet to block anything, but I am taking notes! I don't have kitty help, but I suppose an 80 pound lab could flatten out a scarf . . .

Watch out for the *voice of doom* severe weather!

What a great job!! I'm a blocking virgin, but I've think you've encouraged me expand my horizons! I too have too many cats (who just can't control themselves when it comes to yarn) and a sweet (but stinky) beagle who loves lying on anything that smells like me. Oh and two teenagers who scream "what stinks like a wet sheep??" anytime I felt something.

I think I lost my train of thought.....oh right, blocking. I'm going to try the scarf pattern with some Blue Sky alpaca I have and since I only have 2 skeins I'll try blocking it to make it really loooong.

Sorry to ramble on and on! Great job and send the furry kids a smooch from me!

Ya gotta love the Kitty Help. Almost as "helpful" as Small Child Help. Mine likes to pull the blocking pins out before blocking is finished. Helpful!

Liz-- I also blocked my blue sky bulky scarf last night since I had the steamer out and couldn't use it for this scarf. It grew in length by almost two feet!!! I have to add the fringe and then I'll post pics sometime next week. It was the best way I could figure out for stretching my teeny February yarn budget into a looooong scarf for Paris :)

I'm still always AMAZED by blocking, it's magic with wool. Now when I make a scarf, I try to envision it after blocking, trying to picture in my head if it will grow longer or wider or whatever. I can't believe I used to be so scared of this crazy blocking step, now it's one of my favorite parts, it made this piece grow from a handkerchief into a real scarf :)

Oh, and the help I get is really top-notch. Yup.

What IS it about cats and blocking?... Even when the object is wet and full of sharp pointy things, they still want to recline on top of it.

Love the scarf. I will definitely try that pattern for my next scarf. Not to rain on the parade, but in general you should do your yarnover in the opposite direction (from front to back on the needle). Otherwise you end up with twisted stitches. As I look at the pix again though, the first pic shows the right direction, but the second (where you show the YO itself) is in the wrong direction. It's probably just the YO for the photo, though.

Really pretty. Love that yarn.

The scarf turned out great! I also bought a steamer after your original post on blocking.... But I have not yet used it becuase I cannot seem to finish a single freakin' project!

Hi Kelly!

I've done yarnovers both ways on the many iterations of this scarf (I knitted it like three times and frogged it because I was unhappy with how many stitches I cast on, or then I thought the borders on the sides were too wide, etc.) I took the YO pictures on version #2 I think, LOL

But I did the YOs two different ways on two different versions, testing what Annie calls the "it's right if it looks good to you" theory. heh heh. I found that as long I yarnovered consistently, everything was gravy. Wrap from behind, wrap from the top, whatever, as long as I did it the same exact way each time it seemed to work OK.

I fully admit I am not a knitting specialist! Too much wine, not enough good brain cells left. But this is how I did it for this particular scarf and it worked ok. I'm wearing it today because... a storm's a'comin!!!

"100% more cat!!" My absolute fave!! The scarf is beautiful! You're a jack (or Jane) of all trades, you are! Have a great time in Paris!

There is another yarnover picture, wrapped from behind, on this post:
http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2005/12/dropstitch_and.php

hhmm... i might have just been convinced to try blocking... although when i happen to use or wear wool, it makes me sort of sick (like headaches and sick to my stomach)... is that normal????!!!! because it makes me really sad :(

Jessica. I have never heard of that! I feel that way everytime I hear a certain politician speak ;) Maybe you're allergic??

There is nothing in the world my cats like better than sleeping on some wet wool. Bitches are crazy.

Now I'm worried that people will be confused, thinking they are yarnovering wrong. Maybe I should remove that picture?

I hope Annie reads today, she always has the good knitting answers to my bizarro dilemmas! But I do think that in general if you are getting a result you like, then you're doing it right for you.

But I don't want to confuse people. Need more caffeine.

Love.It. I am going to use that pattern on my next scarf. It is so neat! I am a fairly new knitter and am somewhat afraid to branch out from worsted weight yarn of the varying colors. I love the things you have posted pics of, I just can't see the final product when I am looking at balls of yarn on the shelf. How do you determine what yarn will make a good __________ ?(fill in the blank: hat, scarf, mittens, blanket...)

Beautiful scarf. Bob cracks me up. Hee. I bet he is such a sweetie, though.

Aren't the Lantern Moon needles awesome? I love them!

I take it you will not be staying at a bed-and-breakfast-type establishment when visiting Paris?

Mary, we're staying in a cheap hotel ... with a private bathroom in each room ;)

Rhett! Oh, that's a pretty easo one for me, since all I ever make are scarves and hats!! LOL. "Will this yarn make a nice scarf, or a scarf? How about a scarf!"

Love the scarf! Blocking is pretty awesome - if you love blocking, knit some lace. The gnomes go crazy for lace - it starts out looking like a big pile of dental floss, and ends up looking, well, like lace! Definitely gnomes.

It snowed over night here. I can't even get out of my driveway. The weather guessers had no clue whatsoever, and then told us it would melt by about 930, so that everyone could go to school and work and the city itself can function.
It is now 1047 and snowing like mad.
I'm in Portland. Of the Oregon variety. By the by.
But the reason I'm telling you all of this is because I'm about to go post wonderful picture on my livejournal (which my name links to) including a couple of my cat, and I know how pictures intrigue you :)

Actually, technically that would be "infinitely more cat." but never mind.

I wonder if one could steam-block lace... I fear I will probably have to stick with the method that involves actually getting it wet and then waiting very impatiently for it to dry. For DAYS, sometimes. Good thing we have a guest room with a door, not that the Five Felines don't try while I'm pinning the thing.

I love all the colors in the yarn. It made a beautiful scarf!

I'm so impressed with your blocking skill. Though a long-time knitter myself, I've never been able to do that with a scarf. I'll have to try it sometime.

I love all the pictures of your cats. They make me smile. Even though I know my darling kitties will go after my yarn when they climb on my lap while I'm knitting, I never have the heart to push them off. Go figure.

What a great blocking tutorial Laurie. Thanks!

Jessica, I too am allergic to wool. It makes me queasy and it's super itchy when I wear it. I have to knit with a lot of acrylic yarn mostly. :0( There are wool blends that seem to have less of an allergy-inducing attack though.

Does blocking work on acrylic yarn? I'm thinking not . . .

Blocking is GOD.

Super-cute scarf!

I do different YO's than you do, but I agree with the notion that if you always do it the same way, then the results will be fine no matter how you do it.

For me, if I am doing a purl stitch, for example, I do a YO by simply leaving the yarn in back, as if I am about to do a knit stitch instead. It makes a YO, but, it does "pull" a bit on the previous stitch. I just sort of hold it in place while doing the YO, and, I try to keep the fabric pretty loose.

Of course, this might be totally wrong!! Your results may vary. Or, as they say on the diet commercials: Results not typical...I'm not too worried about it--it works out.

My cats love to help with blocking, too! What is the deal??? Do you suppose it is the thousands of stick pins that they can't resist?

Great tutorial. I just finished blocking a sweater, and I certainly need help in the yarn over department. Your tips will be a great help.

I just love Bob! He is such a sweetie. Especially if you don't take time to worry about little things like wondering why the bed is wet.
The scarf is lovely, btw.

MORE GRATUITOUS BOB PICTURES, PLEASE!!!

i have that same steamer, except mine was originally purchased to clean the grout between the tiles on my shower walls. not as glamorous a job as blocking wool. i never thought to use it for blocking until i read your previous post about it. no more one trick ponies for me! wahoo.

Laurie, the voices in my head are telling me that we may get the same symptoms from the same politician. Anyway, the scarf looks great, I love yarn overs and now I have to try it this way.

I do not have kitty help but I have a cockatiel who loves to "help" knit, mostly by playing with my glasses, earrings, and roosting between the "twins".

When I cast off or put something together, I must put him in the other room as he gets agitated, and it makes me do so too.

Yay for 100% more cat! Snort, that's funny:) Must get that yarn, it's gorgeous!

Just wanted to say that if you are planning on staying in Paris, rather than a hotel, check out an apartment to rent. My family and I stayed in Paris at a flat and found having a kitchen was helpful (especially when we were tired of trying to order food in restaurants to sustain ourselves). Sometimes, you just want TOAST!

To Jessica, who feels ill and headachy when she uses or wears wool: You're probably allergic, I hate to tell you. My brother is allergic to both wool and pine trees, and those are the symptoms he gets when he's around them. So I have to knit him cotton or acrylic gifts to go under his faux Christmas tree. :)

Amy Singer of knitty.com is also allergic to wool, and she says she's developed an intense appreciation for cotton in all forms. (I think that's a direct quote, so all credit goes to Amy Singer of knitty.com.) :)

Laurie, that scarf is beautiful! And so are your kitties. Soba definitely qualifies as infinitely more cat!

bwahaha!!! loved the before and after with the surprise cat! ha. i love the thoughts your kitties have!

I think your yarnover is correct, so there! (It's the method I use.)

If you bring the yarn from the back, wouldn't it then be a "yarn under" (tee hee).

(Don't mind me, I'm just sitting in Santa Monica waiting for the snow to fall.)

Thank you so much for explaining blocking to me! I just started knitting and when I came across this in another post of yours I thought "Oh dear God, what is blocking?" You've made it plain and simple for me. God bless you... ;)

laurie - awww... politically derived allergies... mas sucky.

colleen - i went to a yarn store and they said that *maybe* it is the chemicals that some wools go through... i have yet to try some ecowool and test their theory. i wonder too, will acrylic allow for much blocking action?? (laurie???)

julie - thank you for the link (im new to the crochet/knitting world online) to the cotton appreciator. i like to imagine what a wool tree might look like... :)

Jessica -- acrylic blends that have a fair amount of either wool or cotton will definitely block, though not as aggressively.

All acrylic? I don't know. I would never steam acrylic, because I bet it would melt the fiber. However, If you wet or wash your acrylic and then pin it out to dry, logic dictates that it would assume *some* shape from that ... after all, if I dry an acrylic blouse by shaping it in place, it retains the shape until the next wash.

I think of blocking as a pretty natural step -- at least for me, "Girl who shrinks pants accidentally in the dryer." If you wash your shrunken pants in cold, then stretch (block!) them all to heck, you can fit in them again. Usually :)

I have used the following method to block acrylic, with some success:
1. Set up an iron turned to High and an ironing board.
2. Get a towel thoroughly wet but not dripping.
3. Pin the patient to the ironing board in the desired shape and cover it with the towel.
4. Press vigorously on the towel over the patient with the hot iron. Hold for a few seconds. Repeat for all parts of the patient.
5. Remove the iron and the towel and allow the patient to dry thoroughly before unpinning.

Of course if the patient is 6 feet square this method may not be practicable (you could always use a rug instead of your ironing board, but you would need many towels and much time). It does tend to make acrylic rather soft and floppy, not a bad characteristic for baby items which are all I make from acrylic these days (because, HELLO, you do not really want to force a tired mom to hand wash something that's getting puked on every 5 minutes, do you?).

I rarely block, so I'm going to have to play with the "pliable" moment. I need more magic in my life!

Thanks Lucia and Laurie for the excellent acrylic blocking advice! I now have plans for the weekend. woohoo!

Actually it's going to be a total "chick" weekend for me: knitting and experimenting with blocking, seeing Sarah Jessica Parker's "Failure to Launch" with a friend, and meeting up for coffee with my aunt. Not a man in sight and it's alright. ; )

I love the cat pics and comments. And the scarf is nice, too.

Thanks so much for the scarf instructions. I used Colore #15 in aqua and purple but got 4 balls--the more the merrier!-- and did the 20 stitches with 3 knits on each end of each row. I worked it on Crystal Palace #11 bamboos, a gauge which initially looked a little tight and the pattern seemed not to show. It came out wide (8"!!!) and still short even with all 4 balls (like they'd been swimming in ice water or something). I blocked on a formica office table with towels, using our Scunci steamer which we, thank goodness, already had. Awesome! Instant success, except for the initial barnyard smell. The pattern now looks nice and lacy and the scarf is now 5.5" wide and 84" long!

I just googled this steamer and was sent to Amazon where they have two different models. The reviews are either totally yea or totally nay so I'm confused... (yeah, what else is new...) At any rate, which model do you have? Can you give us a pic? I remember when Annie visited but since the one on Amazon is 32 pounds I can hardly see her carrying that in her luggage as a hostess gift! I'm finishing a wool shawl and it will need blocking - I was just thinkin' a steamer would be a big help probably.
Thanks for your help.

Leslie... if you go to amazon.com and do a search for the following:

"Scunci 52040 Handheld Steam Cleaner with Bonus Floor Mop Kit"

You'll see the one I have. I didn't see any reviews for it, but I just did a quick search. Also, I used it a few times for cleaning and wasn't impressed... I use it for blocking only, hope this helps!

p.s. Annie totally brought her own steamer as carry-on!! She is the knitting goddess!

Did I miss it in the post? How many balls of Lana Grossa Colora Printa dida you usea here?

P.S. Loving The Bob!

Nancy -- I used two (small) balls :)

oh, nice scarf! And super cool ebony needles.

I gotta get me a steamer! I know a Target close by that certain famous designer frequents... I can use buying a steamer as my excuse to hang out... you know, just in case.

I particularly love that last Bob "helping" shot!

If you live in a part of the country (east coast, maybe?) that has CVS drugstores (the old "Peoples" drugstores), they sell the Scunci steamer, which is where I found mine after striking out at Target (who was advertising them, dang-it!). I must admit, it's way cool!

For the wool-allergic, some other nice fibers, in addition to cotton, (and the spendy but lovely silk), are rayon and nylon, which are both quite soft and lightweight for summer garments and southern climates. I'm currently knitting with Blue Heron Yarn's Rayon Metallic and it makes such a lovely fabric. They have other lovely non-wool yarns, too.

Oh, and great scarf, Laurie -- love the post-blocking look of the YO's. Nice job! It will look lovely on you in gay Pareee!

Just doing the weekly check - you SnB'ing tonite?

Very nice. I have to say I love your choice in yarn. So, if perhaps, I were to venture out of the IE, and travel west to LA, what is the one LYS I absolutely, positively need to visit???

Small balls and a 3" scarf. HEE I'm 12, apparently.

What a cute pattern! I think I'll use it on the beautiful hand-painted yarn I bought on vacation in Portland last week...

I want a scarf *and* 100% more cat! :)

"Your milage may vary with other fibers"- Hah! That scarf is SO pretty, and damn that Bob is a very handsome cat. Does he have an agent?

Why must cats always *sit on things*? My Gracie's favorite spot is the keyboard of my iBook. Not cool, man, not cool.

Lovely scarf! If the receipent is not thrilled with the scarf I would wear it proudly!
As for blocking, you have just discovered the wonder of lace! It looks ugly until the magic of streatching and the application of a liquid. The method you used is also a great way to even out slight irregularities in other projects as well, ie-pieces of a sweater. For full on blocking, I wash the piece first, then pin it down.

Blocking at 5 a.m.??!! *sounds familiar*

The scarf looks fab!

Jennifer, I have a Gracie too, and her favorite sittin' spot is whatever newspaper or magazine I am trying to read. And she purrs fetchingly, so I can't be mad at her or push her off. :) Still, hurray for kitties - what would we do without all their furry assistance?

Wow, it's really amazing what blocking can do. I myself am a blocking virgin and had never really seen the affects of it but now I am very excited to give it a try.

Beautiful scarf, way to go!

*laughing my ass off at "yarnovering"*

that's the best...

Laurie, I'm emailing you something...I think you'll like it...(big grin)...it's a potential pattern for your European scarf...I sent it to laurie@crazytourist.com

Love your blog....you always make me smile/laugh out loud!

I LOVE your kitties! They are all so sweet. Bob reminds me of my cat Lenny. Love the scarf, it will look tres chic in Paris!
Bon voyage!

Quite the transformation!Bob's a pro. I luuuuurve me some lantern moon needles . Got a pair for x-mas and they make me feel like a millionaire whilst knittin yarn from wal-mart ...michaels and uh .....hobby lobby.....