Even though I'm a dirty rotten cheater and have been playing with my FixIT project, I've been knitting my Cordovan Ribby on the #66. I've finished the Back, the Sleeves, and most of the Right Front.
Because I'm in a Finish-As-You-Go kind of mood lately, I've taken ye olde Steam Iron and blocked out the pieces.
STEAM IRON? Yes! I first read about doing this in the back of one of my Rowan Mags - right before the lists of worldwide yarn shops there is a paragraph in the middle of the page that says to *press* your knitting.
At first, I thought this was crazy - that it would flatten the stitches beyond belief and make everything as flat as a pancake with no remaining texture.
DUEfuss... That's acrylic yarn that does that - not wool.
Rowan says to press (using the correct temps for your fiber, but of course) using a damp pressing cloth, which would create steam. I have done that, AND I've done what you see above. Here I am using my left hand to *open* up the tightness of the 2x2 ribbed sleeve and *floating* the steam over the surface. The actual iron DOES NOT touch the piece - just the steam which makes the stitches relax and behave.
Here you see an un-pressed sleeve sitting atop the pressed sleeve from above. I've used the magic of Photoshop to lighten the color of the top sleeve because the yarn color is too dark to see as is and I outlined it with a little Ogerific Green~!
Really a difference! AND, the ribbing because it is, well, ribbing, just wants to keep its hills and valleys so, in wool, remains slightly textured, but looser fitting...
... to be continued - read the Ribby Notes here.