Best Steam Iron to purchase

isagobi wrote

on Mar 5, 2011 8:23 PM

Does anyone know which steam iron I should purchase for blocking my knits?  Of course, I want a steam button that gives out a burst of steam.  Went on line to my Consumer Reports subscription and all of them have reviews from horrible to wonderful.  Thanks.

Zoe wrote

on Mar 5, 2011 8:35 PM

isagobi:

Does anyone know which steam iron I should purchase for blocking my knits?  Of course, I want a steam button that gives out a burst of steam.  Went on line to my Consumer Reports subscription and all of them have reviews from horrible to wonderful.  Thanks.

Hi Isagobi,

You wont want one that is horrible.  You dont want the cheapest one but you dont want the most expensive one either.  I have two irons.  One I use for dry heat with starch spray for my quilting and sewing projects.  The other one I use as a steam iron.  They are both different brands.  I would recommend that you buy the least expensive wonderful one. 

 Also look at the warrenties -- some may have a one year warrenty and some may have a five year warrenty.  You will want the five year warrenty as they are made to last longer before giving out.  Does this help?

One thing you need to be careful about when using the steam iron, is to check what the label says about using heat with different yarn compositions.  You may also just want to wet a cotton tea towel, place it over your pinned down knitted item, and just press it with a hot iron to set it for the blocking.

Happy knitting, Zoe