James Divine: I'm blocking you, Katie.
Katie Rempe: What? Hey,
James Divine: I'm blocking it all out.
Katie Rempe: I
thought we were friends. You blocked me?
James Divine: You on blocked
Katie Rempe: Nancy. Block you
from my social
media and from texting me ever again.
James Divine: That's not what blocking means when we're knitting.
Katie Rempe: It is not. It is a entirely different process altogether having nothing to do with blocking someone from coming towards you,
James Divine: unless you wear the thing and then
the piece can block
the frost.
And the
Katie Rempe: true.
James Divine: and your negative judgments.
Katie Rempe: Yeah,
James Divine: Not you.
Katie Rempe: Exactly. Yes. You wash
it right away, right
in the water. So that's what we're talking about today. We're talking about blocking and how that can set magical intention into your knitting.
Light from Lantern presents Knit a Spell. I'm magical maker Katie Rempe. And I'm the maker of magic James Divine. Join us as we stitch together the symbiotic relationship between crafting and the craft.
What Is Blocking?
---
Katie Rempe: First
we should talk about
what the heck blocking really is.
James Divine: I think I know this one
for once.
Katie Rempe: Yes, you, in the back?
James Divine: Oh me, me, me! Is it setting
the shape of your project?
Katie Rempe: Yes!
James Divine: I don't know if it's done for other fiber arts, but I have seen large pieces pinned out on the bed or on the lawn or in the backyard.
Katie Rempe: That is correct. Blocking is an essential.
but often overlooked step
in what you are correct in assuming is a
multi
fiber
approach,
Crocheters benefit from this, knitting
weaving, anything that you're using the yarn to make
into another shape I
think, will benefit from this, because once the project is off the needles, and you've woven in your ends, or not, I actually prefer to weave in my ends after blocking.
Then you have
this perfect
shape of
exactly what you want.
Maybe you want it to be a little wider.
Maybe it needs to be
a little bit longer.
But it also will transform the yarn. If it's
a wool
or especially
like a linen,
it will soften after you
wash it
and block it.
And then all the stitches get more uniform. And is a essential step in lacework to really enable it to have that full open look. Otherwise, it just looks like a crumpled up piece of paper.
James Divine: Ah, got it. Yeah.
I've noticed that pieces certainly do lay more flat and act a lot more like
fabric
and less like a ball of yarn that you're wearing.
Energetic Release
---
Katie Rempe: It's releasing
the energy of the piece you can literally see the stitches
if you're doing it with a steamer Just go
and
lay flat. It is
magic.
James Divine: Do you like blocking? Is this fun for you?
Katie Rempe: I like blocking, even though it's a step that a lot of people skip. And I think that's a big mistake.
Huge in most cases.
James Divine: It's interesting that there's a finishing step like blocking in fiber arts, because you said it releases the energy of what you're making. The kinetic energy, like the physical
twists.
and everything that happens as you're knitting with the
yarn,
and that makes it look like a crumpled piece of
paper.
And there's something similar in magic is after we wind everything up and create our spell and raise energy we actually lift the energetic level, raise the energy, pour it into what we're doing, and then we have to release. And it's that natural cycle that we see everywhere of, building and then tension and then climax and then release,. That's a
thing we see in the seasons. We see it in regeneration. We see it in fertility, we see it in everything. And so this is just the same. So when we're doing magic, if we don't release it, it's just going to sit there and be stuck. We have to you. let our intention out into the world so that it can manifest for us.
Katie Rempe: Yeah.
James Divine: love this one to one, comparison. It's all magic.
Katie Rempe: All that transformation
James Divine: that's right.
Water Energy for Blocking
---
Katie Rempe: Another interesting element
to consider is
blocking typically involves water. That is a
great way to bring in
the emotional element of water, the,
Metaphysical elements, energies of water and put it right
into your
piece.
James Divine: It seems like blocking is a really great opportunity to put your final intentions into the piece. So if I was knitting and I was angry at something, but I was knitting this beautiful healing, stocking cap for you during that process, I had an argument with someone. What a great way to have the healing waters, the emotional cleansing waters, come over the piece.
Would you block a hat maybe?
Katie Rempe: Yeah, you can definitely block a hat, especially if
it has like
color work in it or lace work it will definitely
benefit from a blocking.
And it's interesting. that you say raise energy because let's consider that you made this project without intention, or you
got a knitted gift from someone that maybe didn't have any specific
intention other than as a gift, which is very nice.
You
can then charge the water and
put your own intention into
it, pour it into the water, put
your piece into it, that
becomes the primordial
soup that's stewing
into your stitches, and then
you
take it out and you can. Basically ceremoniously ditch the water, too.
Give it to a plant if you're blocking things that are natural. Put it down the toilet if it's something that you want to flush away. There's lots of creative
avenues for that, too.
Blocking Manufactured/Second Hand Items
---
James Divine: If I go to Goodwill and pick up a natural fiber sweater, and it's a little, I don't know, just doesn't fit quite right, can I block it, even though it's already made?
Katie Rempe: Yeah, blocking is not a
one and done step. If it's something like a sweater that you wear often and you wash on occasion, then blocking it afterwards as a part of the drying process
is key. Thank you.
James Divine: Wow. Okay. So , do I have to immerse everything, like dunk it into water every time? Is that how we block or are there other ways?
Katie Rempe: Great question, Jim.
Wet Blocking
---
Katie Rempe: There are two methods, both which involve water to some degree. So method number one is probably the most used method which is
wet blocking,
And this is the entire submersion of the piece into a bowl or bucket of water, maybe with some Wool
wash
or something like that.
Why are
you laughing?
James Divine: Because
I kept thinking, I'm going to wet block you.
Katie Rempe: Don't think he would block you.
It
James Divine: It's still a new term for me. It was funny when we were talking before the episode started recording, I was like blocking, like I'm going to block you. And you said, I never made that connection. Isn't it funny?
Katie Rempe: Never
thought about it. Now
I'm thinking, like, oh, blocking is also a thing in, like,
acting. Where
you block out the
different scenes.
James Divine: And
those both seem to have a similar meaning you're setting the position. Because blocking is really like, where does the character stop, put a mark on the floor, let's make sure that the audience can see everyone. Oh, if I have this character standing here they're actually in front of and upstaging someone else in the back.
it's setting the shape in a way, it's
setting the shape of the actors on stage or the, Dance moves that are gonna happen and where they're gonna go. It's very similar to like I want to set the shape of my cloak and where the fibers are gonna go and where it's gonna stop.
Katie Rempe: setting the scene for how you want to look in your piece at
the end.
James Divine: I'm going to wet block.
Katie Rempe: Don't make me wet block you, Jim.
Steam Blocking
---
James Divine: Aren't there some fibers that like you don't want to immerse in water? Would you do that with linen or
Katie Rempe: Ah when you're wet blocking, you definitely want to use cold water, because that
will have the greatest chance of avoiding any
bleeding, and
agitation for felting, and things like that.
Yes. However,
method
number two is my preferred method and that is steam blocking slash spray blocking. Instead of submerging it into water, you put the water in your steamer or steam iron.
I
have a little travel steamer
that I use and it is amazing and totally worth it.
It's really handy for lace, especially
if you're pinning
it all out.
You can do all
the same
magical correspondences into
the water, but then you're
just steaming
it. And that is nice because not only do you not have to wait for your
entire piece
to dry unlike wet blocking, which would take much longer, usually overnight or more.
But this, you also don't really have to
worry about bleeding or anything if you're using multiple colors.
Let's say you're doing a rainbow scarf
with lots
of white in it. You're like a red and white candy cane blanket and you didn't test
to
make sure that it's not gonna bleed. Because that's the nature of red, as we've talked about in our past episodes.
James Divine: don't want to end up with a pink and red
candy cane.
Katie Rempe: That's right. Pink on pink is cute when it's intentional. Never fun to pull it out
and realize
it's an entirely different color.
James Divine: I love that both of these have the metaphorical elements, the water and then with steam blocking, obviously you have to heat the water up so you could think of that as fire and water together or steam.
Are the interchangeable or do you have to use one depending on the fabric? Does the fabric determine or does the preference of the creator determine?
Katie Rempe: Both
Probably the fiber should determine it
James Divine: some overlap.
Katie Rempe: Yes.
James Divine: So if you think about the emotion and the transformation of fire and the emotion of water,
there's,
An idea for steam.
Very cool.
Blocking Correspondances
---
Katie Rempe: So if you were looking to use blocking as a way to set spells,
you could consider The steam method
as being the quicker acting one, since it's got that steamy fire element in
James Divine: Sure. Or a transformation to emotions. I wanna make sure this transforms my emotions. I'm gonna put it on and feel better.
Yeah. And then the wet one,
What's your idea for the wet block?
Katie Rempe: Like a bigger
impact because
you're totally submerging it,
but like a longer acting kind of a thing
since it does take longer to dry, figure, use those correspondences.
James Divine: that's really cool.
Acceptions to Blocking
---
James Divine: So do people block everything that they make? Is everything need to be blocked?
Katie Rempe: Not.
everything
needs
to be
blocked, and not everything really can
be blocked.
James Divine: Oh, do tell. Silence.
Katie Rempe: still
would. But, There are also instances where the fiber is just not going to respond to blocking.
Acrylics don't want to
be blocked. Wet blocking is maybe your best bet, but
even when
they're dry they tend to just snap back
into their original
shape.
And if you heat steam it,
that's a big
mistake because you're
gonna kill it. So you're gonna
melt the fibers a little bit and they're gonna get sad and droopy and
It's not a good time.
Acrylics, just don't bother.
James Divine: Yeah, so grandma didn't have to block the Afghan that's on the back of the couch downstairs.
Katie Rempe: Grandma may not have even known what blocking was. I don't know. Yeah.
James Divine: So Did you block those socks you made for me?
Katie Rempe: Oh, yeah,
I
definitely block the socks. Yep.
and there are,
James Divine: Sock block.
Katie Rempe: Sock blockers. Yes,
It looks like a flat foot sock looking thing, and you put them in the socks to dry them into the shape that is like
this perfect, beautiful
sock shape.
James Divine: Oh, you have a sock form?
Katie Rempe: I don't
use them because I
always think they overblock them but some
of them are very cute. And they're a great way to display socks.
James Divine: Do you ever block something
on the body? If those socks stretched out or something, could I put them in the bath.
Katie Rempe: Yes. Okay. Number one, don't ever steam something on your body. That will hurt so bad.
James Divine: Thank you for telling
and
reminding everyone
when you put the ski mask over your head and don't steam block it to your face.
Katie Rempe: Is like the worst facial you'll ever have.
James Divine: Especially if the yarn especially if the yarn is acrylic
and then it melts to your face.
Katie Rempe: Ooh,
yeah, it's a hard shell. You pull it off and it's like a Bioré strip. All your pores come all out.
Bleh!
James Divine: Oh
my god, that's so
Why do we think of these
things we're
nuts.
Katie Rempe: my mind. Hello, welcome.
James Divine: Welcome to the squirrels in my brain.
Katie Rempe: Going back
to socks, I
do have a friend who blocks her socks while
she's wearing
them. Even though this gives me a little bit of
the cringe, she'll let
them
and then wear
them until they form to the shape of
her foot.
James Divine: Because it's so wonderful to wear wet socks
Katie Rempe: Even though
if you made them in wool, and you gave them a squeeze, they'd probably be
pretty dry. But it's
not, I don't know, it's, I don't like it.
James Divine: When you step in something wet
in socks,
There's a special feeling.
Katie Rempe: Oh my god, as long as it's not pee. worse when it's pee.
James Divine: With that note, I think we're going to let all of you marinate your feet
on this little break.
And when we come back, we'll get more into magical things you can do while
blocking.
Learn Palmistry!
---
Hey Katie, you took my intro to palmistry course. Sure did. Why would you recommend it, or would you? I, well, first of all, absolutely I would. Maybe I'm biased, but I don't think so. It, for me, was very empowering. It shined some light on how I tend to be personally self critical, and you were really able to help me break that habit.
By looking at patterns as not things that are wrong, but just things that you can work with. The minuses became pluses and I think that was something that really was very empowering. I'm really glad you said that. This is one of my major ideas, is palmistry and tarot and other things reveal patterns. not predictions.
And to be able to also look at your own hand and transform and reframe your perceived character defects or your self critical analysis and look at that as a tool that's super useful and can be very positive for you, I think that's an amazing thing to do. and having it apply to a practice that is traditionally fairly fatalistic.
Your approach of the divine hand method is so positive. I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in palmistry to any degree. Where can they go to find out more? You, listener, can learn the divine hand palmistry method at your own pace with my brand new palmistry course. Go to introtopalmistry. com to read more information about it and to sign up.
Hey Knit Aspel fans, we are back on Patreon with a new dedicated page. For just 5 a month, you'll gain access to behind the scenes posts, exclusive downloads and resources, and you'll be able to participate in influential polls with fellow fans. You'll also receive a free exclusive Knit Aspel sticker sent right to your door after being a subscriber for three consecutive months.
It's a great way to support the podcast and Jim and I are so appreciative to everyone who's joined so far. To learn more and patreon. If you'd like to sign up, visit patreon. com forward slash knit a spell. See you there.
Hey knitters! Jim and I talk an awful lot about all of the patterns that I design on the show. But we don't always mention where you can get them. All of my patterns are available on Ravelry. Odds are if you're a knitter, you're already familiar with this website. However, if you're not on Ravelry, That is not a problem.
You can still just send me an email to hello at lightfromlantern. com with which patterns you're interested in and I'll help you make it happen. Thank you so much for your continued support and remember that you can always stay up to date on the latest news and coupons by signing up for my newsletter at lightfromlantern.
com. Merry make!
Katie Rempe: All right, Jim,
Charging Blocking Water
---
Katie Rempe: let's
talk about some rituals and intentions that we might do during the
blocking process.
James Divine: When you're blocking something, you're immersing it in water. Let's talk about wet blocking. The water itself can be charged. So the way that we charge water there's multiple ways You can stir herbs
into the water,
You can put crystals in the water. Obviously, there's some crystals that are not happy going into water, so you should research that, but if you put a quartz point or an amethyst point in there.
If you're floating rosemary in there, it's probably not going to have much of an impact on your piece if it's whole rosemary, if you're shaking, your Italian blend spice mix in there,
James Divine: I don't
know what the garlic,
and if it has salt will do. If you're using something like turmeric or something that might color the fabric, that's something to keep in mind if you want that or not.
So what you want to put in your water can be aligned with your intention. So you can look up the herb or the crystal or the scented oil or anything that you want to put in the water and.
Put that intent into it.
Cosmic Waters
---
James Divine: Other ways of charging water is you can create moon water by exposing water to the energy of the moon. If you are at a full moon, that is symbolic of
fruition and fullness
and the fulfillment of what you are
wanting.
If you expose it on the night sky where there is no moon, where it's a dark or a new moon, that is exposing to the planting and the starting and the beginning of something.
If you are in a waxing moon, that is things that are developing and growing.
And if you're in a waning moon,
that's things that are leaving and, finishing and completing. So you have this whole cycle of the lunar phases where you can charge water and leave it outside or leave it in a window With the energy of the moon or sky on the piece.
You can also charge something because it's intentionally poured and mixed during a particular astrological event.
So later this summer, we're going to have a huge alignment of planets in relationship to the earth with the sun.
That might be a time to charge water because of the astrology of this grand alignment. Or if Jupiter is in, Capricorn, maybe that's what you want.
Katie Rempe: I just missed out on all that eclipse energy.
James Divine: Eclipse energy, which you may or may not want. In any case, these are ways to think about it also. And finally, you can also do
toning or singing or anything that's vibrational. you can transmit those vibrations into the water. If you hold an instrument close to the water, you'll see the water start to vibrate at the top.
And so you can bring some of that, you can sing above the water, you can play music above the water, you can drum next to the water, all kinds of cool stuff
like that.
Katie Rempe: That's my favorite thing to do
is drumming on the cup or whatever, the container.
I do that all the time
with
The dog's
water.
Just
like charging it, just
move it around a little bit. Get
those frequencies
going.
James Divine: you can do it to your coffee, you can do it to your water bottle.
You can do a sigil. Also,
If you're using a tub, you can put a sigil on the bottom, most markers will probably be permanent, but you could use a piece of paper or something on the bottom,
or you could
do it with tape or soap or something that you can wash off.
And that sigil can be really powerful as well.
Katie Rempe: Just draw over it in the water after you fill it up
James Divine: with your finger. That's right.
You could do a sigil with your finger in the water.
These are all ways to charge that water.
Ritual Blocking Prep
---
James Divine: And then of course, as you're doing that,
suggestion is before you do it, you
wanna map out
What are you gonna do, what are the steps?
And then you want to
sit.
in a moment of silence and collect yourself. Ground yourself into the abundance of the earth and the of the sky and be in a place where you're ready to do ritual or do this working and be aware. Of your intention.
Let's say you knit a healing blanket for your friend who is sick.
Great. You want to do all the things in the water that are healing. Maybe you have a little sachet, a little tied up some herbs and you put those in and you have some beautiful, healing crystals that are in there and you have natural spring water that you got and you have exposed it to the waxing moon to increase the healing energy, or if it's the waning moon to decrease the illness.
So you can have all these intentions and you want to be aware of those as you're placing the packet of herbs in, and as you're placing the crystals in, and as you're putting the garment or the piece into the water, as you are. doing a sigil
And maybe using that
to stir, and get the piece totally wet.
So these are ideas that I have, even when it emerges from the water and maybe you're squeezing it out, you're thinking
I'm squeezing
out what doesn't serve her. I'm squeezing out what isn't working, And then you can place it where you're going to block it. And as you place it, you can be imagining putting this blanket over your friend and it's bringing healing energy
and you make it into the shape.
intended to be.
and then you can say, I,
set
the spell or you can say something
and then leave it. In its special place and know that maybe you're drawing it outside in the sunlight on a beautiful day because you want the sun and the energy of the sun to be purifying and
to be radiant on it.
Maybe you're drawing it
on your
bed, or on the guest bed or somewhere where she slept or
something like that. So you could decide
all these things can be intentional as you can make them and really do something beautiful with it.
Katie Rempe: keeping yourself present in the moment, which I think is the key.
Getting everything ahead of time, putting the instructions somewhere where it's
not on your phone,
because we get on the phone and then we're on Facebook and Instagram and all that other stupid stuff and then all of
a sudden we're not doing
the thing
that we were
intending to do.
Keeping that away,
keeping distractions away, putting the dogs away, whatever you gotta do, even if it's five minutes.
These are things that we can
Figure
out to do at some point during the day one way
or another, and
just like
you said,
putting yourself in that whole different space to really dedicate yourself
to the
intention that you want to put in there.
Traveler's Talisman
---
When we're making something for someone because they have a need or because you have an intention. A lot of times that person could be as twisted up and as stressed as the yarn is before you
James Divine: block. And so the
act of blocking as a magical act, or for yourself, Could be the way to remember this is relaxing
all the threads,
all the fibers.
This is giving you a moment to open up and to be open to the possibilities that are available to you in these situations.
So like your travelers talisman has these open, holes to allow for the open roads and for the going to be
easy.
When you first knit it, it's not really holding that energy very well of like open roads because it's all twisted and it looks like you said, crinkled paper.
And when you block it, it really is opening up those holes for, may your path be open. May you have the open doors. And also like a semi permeable membrane and also keep the weirdos away.
Katie Rempe: Yes, all of that.
James Divine: I love that you created the Traveler's Talisman you can get that pattern at
lightfromlantern. com at Katie's website. I love that scarf.
Katie Rempe: And I have a whole video that I made in April that
talks all
about my Taraveler's Talisman and the fun magical qualities that I
put in there. If anyone is curious to
learn more.
James Divine: How hard is the Traveler's Talisman to knit? Is
it a beginner project, an intermediate project?
Katie Rempe: I would say it's relatively easy.
If you're comfortable with doing yarn overs, you can do this. There we go.
James Divine: You mean on purpose yarn overs or accidental yarn overs like me?
Katie Rempe: On
purpose yarn overs. It's, and if you're not, this will be a great learning tool.
James Divine: How to do a yarn over on purpose,
Jim.
Katie Rempe: That's right. Holes. Intentional. What?
James Divine: So this is the same thing. So if I got a wool sweater from a used clothing store.
You
said I could re block it, right? So are there ideas you have, Katie, about what intention I might want to do with a beautiful sweater that fits me really well, maybe a tiny bit loose, and I want to re block it?
What should I think about? Because it still smells like mothballs.
Katie Rempe: If it's
a little bit loose it may benefit from a warmer water
bath
without being agitated because that will help it
All come back together without
which is not what you want, probably, unless that is what you want, in which case this is a whole different conversation.
Mainly, I think
blocking
is really good if you need a little extra width or you need it a little bit longer
because those are
the directions that
the knitting
wants to go.
If you want something to shrink, usually blocking isn't like the best method to go
James Divine: got
it. So if it's a great sweater, it's just I would like it to be a half an inch or an inch longer.
I could maybe block
the body.
And
have it be a little longer,
Katie Rempe: you
could submerge the whole thing in water, put it on a hanger,
like a
one that has a nice pad on the side so you don't get those little weird points.
And then you can, put weights on the bottom to hang it
And then
when it dries, it will stay in that shape.
James Divine: Wow. That's really magical.
Re-Blocking Used Items
---
James Divine: And so the water that I use, what are your ideas for the intention I would have while blocking something that I got at the used clothing store
Katie Rempe: Definitely a
steam blocking
for literal cleanliness and sanitization.
You could
put in a
little lemon, you can put in like a little vinegar, and then it will really brighten up and freshen up that whole thing. And I always think when you do that, it wakes up the piece, especially since it's probably, been in somebody's.
Closet
for many years before that, or been hanging out
in the store for who
knows how long.
James Divine: Or process through the national. Processing center.
Katie Rempe: Yes,
it's a nice way
to make it feel special and to introduce yourself
to the
piece because then you
can, you know, look at the
wash and care label if they
have one. You
can see all
how it's made on the inside.
You can
see all
of its little bits. So it's a nice way to be like, hello, garment. Nice to meet you. What's going on with you?
James Divine: I think about that when i'm ironing. There's a lot of things where I realize Oh, this shirt has these extra buttons at the bottom in case I lose a button Oh, this shirt has an interesting panel, under the arm or darts in the yoke or something like that. Like it's fascinating
that what you find when you're ironing a shirt.
Katie Rempe: Little things that you may not find otherwise unless
you're taking the
time to be present, and actually notice them.
James Divine: I think blocking is hugely powerful. The setting of the shape
blocking.
I
Katie Rempe: of the shape, yes.
James Divine: I think blocking people
and blocking their energy is also really powerful,
but That's not exactly what we're talking
about here.
Katie Rempe: This was so much fun and
I hate to tell
you this, Jim, but do you realize that next week is our final episode of the spring season? AHHHHH!
James Divine: It
went by so fast. What are we going to talk
about?
Katie Rempe: Appropriately,
we're going
to be talking about
charming bind offs.
So we started with casting on, and we're gonna end with binding
off.
James Divine: Sounds great.
Katie Rempe: So I
hope you'll join us then, and
we'll see
you next week.
James Divine: Bye.
Thanks for listening! Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a friend, leaving a review on iTunes and Spotify, or following Knittaspel on Instagram. You can also subscribe to the Light From Lantern YouTube channel to enjoy full episodes of Knittaspel and see our happy faces.
You can also learn more about readings and knitting. classes and events going on with your favorite maker of magic, James divine, by visiting the divine hand. com and subscribing to his newsletter. Then follow Jim's fun and interactive Instagram account at divine hand. Jim keep up with Katie, the magical maker by subscribing to her newsletter at light from lantern.
com. You'll receive a free. If you'd like to receive a free knitting pattern as a gift then follow Katie on Instagram at light from lantern for even more magical making tips. See you next week.
