Before you move on to the next set of facecloths or other patterns, let's take a moment to celebrate all you've accomplished! Lay out all the facecloths you've made and admire your work.
Nine facecloths is approximately 450m of yarn, nearly half a kilometer! (492 yards, 0.28 miles) You've probably spent between fifty and a hundred hours knitting them and you've mastered the most important skills in knitting. You can cast on, knit, purl, count stitches, count rows, and bind off. You can weave in ends, read your knitting, measure your gauge, and create beautiful textures and patterns with what you know.
If you would like these patterns in an easily printable format, you can download the bundle for free from my shop.
As you were laying out your facecloths you probably noticed that they were not all the same size. Even though we cast on the same number of stitches for each facecloth, the finished pieces are very different sizes because we used different stitches. The stitch chosen affects the visual appearance, texture, density, drape, elasticity, reversibility, and size of the finished object.
You'll also have noticed that your facecloths are wonky shapes rather than perfect squares. That's normal! As we're knitting the fabric is bunched up and pulled around. Tension is naturally different at the beginning and end of a row, when casting on and binding off, and varies from day to day. There's one more skill to learn that will help your knitting look picture-ready: blocking.
Blocking is the process of dampening and drying knitting to even out tension and ease the finished object to the correct size and shape. For facecloths, which are going to be wet, washed, and dried regularly you don't need to block them. The second you use them, especially a cotton facecloth, the blocking will be reversed. However, if you want to take pictures for social media or impress your house guests, blocking will make your facecloths look professional. Additionally, it can be helpful to learn to block your knitting on a small project just like we practiced all the other skills before you try it on a project in which you're emotionally invested.
How to Block:
For cotton and cotton blends it is best to steam block, which means that we will dampen the knitted fabric using steam. You will need your finished knitting with the ends woven in, an iron with a steam setting, and a protective cloth. The protective cloth should be clean and not have any dyes that could bleed onto your knitting.
Start by wetting and then wringing out the protective cloth. Lay out your knitting on the ironing surface and then the protective cloth on top. Set your iron to steam and hover the iron over the protective cloth, allowing the steam to penetrate the protective cloth and your knitting.
Check your knitting occasionally to see if the fabric has relaxed. (After taking away the iron. Don't burn yourself please!) When the fabric is malleable you can stop steaming. Lay the steamed knitting out on a dry towel on a flat surface and gently shape the piece how you want it. For facecloths, this will be enough to get them into a square or rectangular shape. Optionally, you could use a blocking mat and pins.
A blocking mat is made of interlocking, waterproof foam boards. Blocking pins are rust-proof T-shaped pins that you can poke through your knitting and into the blocking mat. These tools are useful if you need to be very precise with your blocking or if you need to stretch your finished object to be slightly larger. You could also use sewing pins as blocking pins and a yoga mat, ironing board, or cork board for a mat.
Allow the knitted object to dry, which can take 24-48 hours depending on the temperature and humidity where you are. Once dry you can remove the pins (if you used them) and take your blocked knitting off of the board/towel. You're done and ready to snap photos for The Gram (TM).
Blocking Summary
Wet and wring out the protective cloth.
Use the iron to steam through the protective cloth and finished knitting until the knitting relaxes
Lay out flat and shape
Allow to dry for 1-2 days
Profit
Share Your Art
The best part about knitting is the community. Knitters love to show off their work, get excited about other people’s creations, and share tips and tricks. If you haven’t already, sign up for Ravelry! It’s an outstanding resource to help you keep track of your projects and yarn stash, find patterns, and socialize with other knitters online.
All of these facecloth patterns are on Ravelry. You can create a project and upload pictures of your knitting to keep a journal of your knitting journey and share your art with the world.
You can also submit photos of your knitting to my website, where they will join the gallery of work submitted by people learning to knit just like you and be an inspiration for others about to start their knitting journey.
Keep Knitting
If you are ready for a bigger project, scarves are the next logical step. After all, scarves are just extra long, extra wide facecloths.
Here are some patterns recommendations to get you started!
The Basic Beginner Scarf by Laurie Perry
Wheat by Tin Can Knits
Side Line Scarf by Fifty Four Ten Studio
Easy Mistake Stitch Scarf by Purl Soho
The following patterns are also big facecloths that are then sewn together afterward to make shapes.
PussyHat Project by Kat Coyle
Easy Fingerless Mitts by Roxanne Richardson
Scrappy Headband by Skeinny Dippin
Keep Learning
When you are ready to learn more knitting techniques, check back here! "Set 2: Shaping" of the Learn to Knit series will be on adding and subtracting stitches to knit something that changes shape. Shaping is used to make hats and other garments, though we'll stick to facecloths.
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