Welcome to week 9 of the Lotus Moon Tiles CAL. This is our final week! I can’t believe it’s over. You’ve all made some amazing afghans and I’m so impressed by your workmanship, your color choices, and your determination. You all took on the challenge and soared!
This week assignment is two part:
- Complete the border
- Block your afghan
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. You want to put the border on but skip blocking. I completely understand. I’ve heard all of the anti-blocking excuses because I’ve used them all myself. But before you write off blocking entirely, do me a favor and check out a very special guest blog by Courtney Laube (you know Courtney! our CAL admin and the talent behind Spin a Yarn 32). Courtney put together an amazingly well done tutorial about steam blocking acrylic yarn. She’s made a believer out of me. So do us a favor and check it out and let us know what you think and if you’re going to try it.
Now, here’s my tips for this week:
- Last week I recommended you keep your stitch markers in the corners of the triangles and octagons that are around the edge of your afghan. This is so that you can easily find the chain spaces of those corners when you’re working the base round of the border. You put one sc in each ch space along the sides. The pattern includes a diagram for making sure your stitch count is correct on this round, but if your stitch markers are there, you’ll find this is really easy to get right.
- You may want to keep using those stitch markers for marking the 8 corner spaces in the base round and rounds 1 and 2 of the border. Round 1 corners can be especially easy to miss without stitch markers.
- I found a couple errors in round 1 of the border. Sorry!! They are not big ones and you can easily work the border in spite of them. But Here is round 1 re-written with corrected portions in red and underlined:
Round 1: Slst into next ch1 sp, ch3 {counts as first dc} [Color change option: standing dc in any corner ch1 sp at the beginning of a long side.] *^[Ch1 , sk next sc, dc in next sc] across side {one sc will remain unworked before next corner ch1 sp}, ch1, sk next sc, dc in next corner ch1 sp, ch1 {corner}, dc in next sc, [ch1, sk next sc, dc in next sc] across side to last sc, ch1 {corner},^ dc in next ch1 sp.* Repeat from * to * twice and from ^ to ^ once more. Slst to first dc to join.
322 dc, 322 ch1 sp
- If you want a truly finished piece, block your work. Not only will it look better, but steam blocking acrylic does last. Unlike other blocking that goes buh-bye when you wash your work, steam blocking acrylic provides a permanent finish. It’s also really easy. It does take some time, but compared to the many hours you’ve already invested in lovingly and painstakingly hand-stitching every detail into your beautiful afghan, a couple hours to preserve it is nothing.
- When blocking: count your pins. Especially if you’re blocking on the floor or on a bed (I’m really not sure where else you would block an afghan). Your family members will find it much more difficult to appreciate your hard work if they have a pin stuck in their foot or backside. (Trust me, I once stepped on a sewing needle a roommate lost in our carpet. It’s not something easy to forgive.) So I’ve found the easiest way to keep track of all my pins is to count them as I apply them, then I write the number down, and I count again as I remove them. As a backup plan, I always count the pins in the pack (even a brand new pack gets counted just in case there was an error before they made their way to me). I know there are definitely 100 pins in my pin box. If for some reason I lose count or just can’t find one, I recount the entire pack to see if I simply miscounted or if I really have lost one and need to continue the search. One last tip for finding a lost pin: use a magnet! Drag it all around the area until you find that lost pin. It’s so much easier than looking for it.
That’s it for our CAL! I know some of you aren’t finished with your afghans yet, but don’t worry. The Facebook group will remain open and all of the materials will continue to be available. And, if for some reason I have to close the group (though I don’t plan on it) I will move the bonus materials to a suitable location.
Thanks so much for playing along! Thank you for making the afghan and letting me play my little part in helping you create something beautiful for your home or for a gift for a loved one. I’ve loved every minute of the experience and I’ve learned a lot from you too. We had so many great tips and tricks from participants, inspiring color schemes and stories, and simply overall friendliness and helpful support. You guys are the best!
I’ll continue to be around to help in any way I can so feel free to throw more questions or comments my way. I’ll see you all at the next CAL.
Crochet on. Crochet strong!
Orissie Faloon says
I knitted a prayer shawl and am kill blocking it. I live in a very small apartment and am using my table. Must I wait for it to dry before moving it? I have had to block half of it at a time as my table isn’t large enough to do it all at once. Thank you! Orissie