How to block Acrylic Yarn using Steam & a Blocking Board

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This is a free crochet tutorial about how to block crochet projects that use acrylic yarn. This tutorial uses steam and a blocking board.

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Does your bag sag? Does your dress look a mess? Do your granny squares have edge flare? Could your sweater look better?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then have I got the tutorial for you!

For just a few hours of your time, you too can have such things as bags with even edges all the way around, dresses that flare down instead of out, flat granny squares, and sweaters that fit perfectly!

If this sounds like something you’ve always wanted, then continue to read below so that you too can begin making professional-looking, blocked, acrylic crochet projects!

Video Tutorial for Steam and Wet Blocking Your Acrylic Yarn Projects

As I noticed that many crocheters did not know how to block acrylic yarn, I decided to write a tutorial for you on how to do just that.

Also I am featuring the awesome blocking boards from Chetnanigans as they are truly the best to work with.

When it comes to acrylic yarn, I always thought you had to block by spraying water on it and letting it dry on a blocking board! Well, guess what?

I was wrong! Luckily I did not ruin my project, but with water it sure did nothing. So how do you now block acrylic yarn?

Can acrylic yarn be blocked?

It is much easier than you probably thought. In fact, there were actually crocheters that messaged me and told me that you CAN’T block acrylic yarn.

That is wrong. You for sure can. And it will be permanent! So be sure you do it right the first time.

So, let’s go over what you will need in order to start. Go grab these materials and read over the tutorial to block your granny squares or other crochet items properly.

Materials:

• Chetnanigans Blocking board, such as the one shown in the picture: BlockAll 812
• Chetnanigans Perfector Strips
• Steamer
• your crochet project that needs blocking. Here I am showing the Granny’s Flower Garden Blanket

Now that you have all your items together. Take your crochet item, let’s say it is a granny square like I have in the tutorial.

The granny square needs to be 8 inches when blocked. That does not mean you can stretch out a 2 inch square to be an 8 inch square.

But of course, when a square is not flat, you might not know until you pin it down. See below how the left one is smaller than the right one.

Well, I just finished the one on the left, whereas the right was already pinned and blocked. It is amazing what a difference blocking produces.

How to block acrylic yarn granny squares

I started pinning one square only, even though I made an entire blanket of 30 squares.

I used the pins that came with the Chetnanigans board which has a nice 8 as well as 12 inch square shown.

You can use the Block All 812 board for any size of a crochet project up to 12 inches.

Once you have pinned your square (pins are about equal distance apart), you will need to turn on your steamer, add water and once it is ready (mine is a really quick one of less than 2 minutes).

You will start steaming over the projects at no closer then 3cm (about 1.2 inches) otherwise you will melt the acrylic.

I go over the entire square in a pattern so I remember where I went (without having to use my hands and burn my skin).

Be sure to use a steamer that allows you to tilt it in any direction and is anti-spill proof (like mine).

Once you reached every area for a few seconds, wait until it has cooled down.

Then you can add your next square and repeat the process. For any other square, beside the first one, I always slide it on to the pins from the top down.

Be aware that the more squares you add the pins will bend and make the very top square less than 8 inches (for my example).

Using blocking boards

To prevent uneven pinning of the squares you will need to use the Perfector strips and add them right after the last square.

By the way, when using #4 yarn, you can add up to 30 squares to the pins on the Chetnanigans BlockAll 812 board.

As my yarn was slightly thicker, (although still considered #4 weighted yarn) and my squares add a lot of texture due to the front and back post double crochets, I was only able to add 18 squares to the pins and using the strips.

Once everything cools down (I waited about 10 minutes). You can safely without any fear remove the squares and see how perfect they look. I promise you, you will block acrylic yarn from now on.

Recommended Boards

Also, be sure to try out the Chetnanigans BlockAll 812 board, because they are handmade and like no other.

They are perfectly made with 4 coats of commercial polyurethane to make sure the board does not get damaged when using it with water or steam.

By the way, natural fibers such as wool, can be wet with water and dried on the boards overnight or for 24-48 hours to make sure they are blocked nicely.

The boards come with fifty 6″ pins and twenty-five 2″ pins, as well as a display stand with every shipment.

And I will tell you the stand is not only great for display, but I used it for pinning too. It worked great and my back and neck thanked me for it as well.

Now that you know how to block acrylic yarn using pictures, I would also like to provide you with a nice video that shows every detail of it as well.

So if you are more of a visual learner, be sure to check out the tutorial below.

I have provided you with a quick video tutorial you can WATCH HERE.

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Please share this tutorial with others so they get to enjoy it and learn something new and important. Thank you for supporting me.

** This post was sponsored by Chetnanigans. They provide me with the board, stand and pins and asked for a review and tutorial using it.

Everything written here is my honest opinion. I was not paid extra, besides receiving the free products.