Blocking Knits with a Hot Car

I just got back from Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. It is a wonderful show. Thank you to Laura, who picked it up and kept it going after the pandemic. The students are wonderful. I am especially grateful to the repeat students who have entrusted class time to me year after year. You are all dear to my heart!

I mention this because the "upcoming" section in the blog sidebar is getting thin. My schedule is opening up. I have not been putting in proposals. I am intentionally making 2025 a year of staying at home and getting things done. That 90-page handout from my Folk School class looks a lot like a rough draft for a book about reversible knitting. Additionally, registrations in knitting classes seem to be down. Crochet is having a moment. Knitting not so much. Now might be just the time to skip what had been my regular circuit of shows, do a new show here or there, or teach for a guild, but not overload my schedule.

Speaking of overloaded schedules — I flew home from Pittsburgh last night and DragonCon starts on Thursday! Yikes! September is almost here. Much of the country is already feeling summer shifting away.

Entrelac class swatches drying in the cargo area.

For me, the heat is a feature not a bug. Before we lose the heat altogether, here is the list of ways in which it is useful:

1. acid dyeing (what looks like making sun tea with a skein of yarn)
2. killing moths (put suspicious stash in the car and park in the sun to end an infestation)
3. blocking (pin the swatch in the car and park in the sun)

Basically, a car in the sun in Atlanta is an Easy Bake Oven. It is warm enough to provide useful heat, but not so hot as to risk boiling or scorching. My little Honda Fit has a felt cargo area. If you are blocking swatches, this can be handy. I didn't bother to pin them, but I could have. There was enough friction with the felt just to lay out the swatches. Setting the swatches in the hot car meant they dried out. I think it is particularly good for acrylic. If you use an iron or steam, you risk melting or "killing" acrylic. Once it is dead, there's no going back. It will always be limp with drape and can not be revived to have spring. But in a hot car, the acrylic can relax a little without dying.

If you have any acrylic knits, finish them before the hot days of summer have left us until next year! You also have probably less than a month to deal with any suspicious stash or to do any sun dyeing before it all must hibernate until May or June 2025. And enjoy this upcoming weekend which, for many people, signals the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.