Crochet Essentials: Fixing Curled and Twisted Fabric with Steam Blocking

Have you ever had your knitting get twisted and twisted and wondered what to do about it?
It's not written in the book, so you might start to wonder if your knitting technique is wrong.
Before you lose motivation and decide to give up on crocheting, please take a look at this page.

Even though I've just started crocheting, I found the curls in the knitted fabric to be rather untidy and wondered if there was a trick to the way I crocheted it.
After that, I knitted a lot and learned that no matter how you knit, if it's going to twist, it's going to twist, and if it's going to curl, it's going to curl.

However, there is a way to alleviate this, and a steam iron is a great tool, so I'll explain it here.

This twisted knit fabric

This is a knitted fabric made with the very popular raffia-style yarn (rayon yarn).
Both are knitted using the most basic knitting technique, the round knit stitch. The left is a round knit stitch, and the right is a round knit stitch.
The knitted fabric is the most curly with the knitted knitting needles. And this yarn is the curliest as far as I know, but it is also the yarn that responds most effectively to a steam iron, so I will use this one.

Pins at the four corners

Turn on the steam iron and heat it up while pinning the four corners of the knitted fabric. For thin pieces, pin as many corners as necessary.

Floating ironing

The heat from the steam iron is enough to even out the knitted fabric, so when ironing, hold it above the fabric so that it doesn't touch it. Try doing it as if you're only using steam.
Being careful not to burn yourself, apply steam while gently smoothing the knitted fabric with your hands.

Remove the pin

Even after removing the pins, it looks like this. It's hard to believe how neatly the knitted fabric was when it was first wrapped around itself.
The yarn used this time is particularly effective. Other materials, such as cotton, linen, and wool, don't naturally curl as strongly, so you probably won't see the same effect, but the knitted fabric will generally settle nicely, so I recommend you give it a try.

Generally, once the piece is complete, a final touch is given with a steam iron.
However, when knitting a bag using yarn like this, I recommend using a steam iron once you have finished knitting the bottom of the bag, as this will make it easier to continue knitting (it is a bit difficult to flatten the bottom and use a steam iron after completion).

I'm not very good with irons in general, so when I was a beginner at crocheting, I sometimes thought that I would prefer knitted fabrics that didn't require a steam iron.
However, once you get used to it, using the steam iron after you finish knitting becomes part of the complete process, and you will naturally find yourself turning on the iron.
Since you've gone to the trouble of doing it, you want to finish it nicely.

I hope that even beginners to crocheting will find this useful as a guide for creating more beautiful pieces.