National Sweater Day Knitting Challenges: Lucinda – Step 4 – The finishing touches!

By Lucinda Iglesias, one of two guest bloggers devoted to knitting for National Sweater Day, and owner of Mont Tricot store in Sutton, Quebec.
Whoo! We’re almost done! But there are just a few details left before we are all finished with our sweater.

1. First, you have to weave in all of the ends. I recommend a good yarn needle with a bent tip. It is particularly good when you go up and down the stitches.

2. The next step is to weave in the ends up and down the stitches. Note: you do not have to make a knot when you are working with wool. Over time, the ends will felt slightly with the sweater stitches. Remember that the goal of weaving in stitches is to make sure they are invisible and yet strong. All of this will be done on the reverse side for a more professional finish
Here is a link for a great video on the technique recommended.



4. Now that the sweater is almost finished, it is time to block it. Blocking is very important because the stitches relaxes and even out. To block a sweater, I let it soak in a basin filled with water and a biodegrable product like Eucalan.
Knit purl hunter has a very good video on blocking.

Once it is done soaking. I get all the excess water out by rolling it in a towel.

Then I lay it out flat to dry adding pins here and there so that it keeps the shap I want it to have when it dries.  Remember, it is always more fun when you have a little furry friend that can supervise your blocking 😉

5.  After blocking, we are ready to sew the buttons. And voilà, we are ready to wear our gorgeous hand knit sweater
Thank you very much for your participation!
At the beginning of these blog posts we said that we would be doing a weekly draw for prizes amongst the participants. We decided to do a few draws on the actual sweater day. So, if you have been knitting there is still time to post your pics on our facebook page to be eligible. Winners will be announced shortly.
Also, don’t stop knitting just yet! It is still snowing here in Canada and we can still keep up the good work of lowering our thermostat by wearing handknits. Follow me on facebook and I will continue to do a few knitalongs, share great patterns for inspiration and lots more.
See you soon on Facebook!