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A few weeks ago the weather was warm, sunny, and beautiful in Colorado! This must be the definition of sweater blocking weather! I took advantage of the warm temperatures to block my green cabled baby sweater that I recently cast off. This was the first sweater that I blocked using my Knit Picks Lace Weight blocking wires. If you don’t have blocking wires yet, I highly recommend investing in a set. They are SO MUCH EASIER than using 100 different pins and hoping for a straight edge.

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The pattern is Small Cable Cardigan out of the book Lullaby Knits, by Vibe Ulrik Sondergaard. There are over 20 patterns in the book, and several of them made it onto my ever growing “To Knit” list. The book is well laid out with crisp, clear photographs and the instructions are fairly easy to follow. You can use this link to purchase a copy of the book Lullaby Knits.

I will admit, I don’t always block my finished projects. I just want to wear them! But if you read my posts Goldilocks and the Many Sweaters, you will know that this sweater turned out on the small side. I had read the comments that other knitters on Ravelry posted about the pattern and I knew it ran on the small side. I swatched and went up a needle size and cast on for the largest size that was written in the pattern, which was sized for 18 to 24 months. The sweater still turned out to be on the small side.

I decided to finish the project and do some sweater blocking even though it was smaller than I intended. I assume there will be a future baby in my life that could use a cute cabled sweater. Plus, I really loved the look of the cables and wanted to see the full effect of the sweater.

I soaked the sweater in luke warm water in our large bowl usually reserved for popcorn night. Then I took it outside, towel dried the excess water out of the sweater, and laid it out on my blocking mats. I use some mats that I found at the local hardware store, but it looks like Knit Picks also offers blocking mats.

Here is where the blocking wires come into play. I inserted the wires along all the edges of the sweater; along the sleeves, front, and back of the sweater. The wires made it incredibly easy to make sure every edge was straight and even. It also made it easy to readjust sides to make sure both sleeves were blocked to the same width.

After letting the sweater dry outside and taking it off the blocking wires, the final chest width was 20 inches and the wrist width was 2.5 inches. It was still smaller than a size 18 to 24 month sweater, but I have hopes that it will be big enough for a future baby. Now I have to seam the sides and underarms. I haven’t decided if I want to seam up both sides or add the button band all down one side like the patterns suggests. Either way I have to seam, which is one of my least favorite parts! At least each time is an opportunity to improve my finishing skills.