As mentioned in a recent post, I have acquired some equipment to help me advance in my knitting. I finally knit something that required blocking and blocking requires equipment. While there is considerable debate about how much equipment blocking requires, everyone agrees, it does require some. Blocking is a finishing technique that takes a piece of knitting from this (lumpy, misshapen, unidentifiable blob):

To this (wearable garment with recognizable function):

The blocking board is one of the most debated pieces of equipment since you can use foam squares or a bed – basically any surface that you can pierce with pins to hold the item being blocked. So, a gridded blocking board isn’t, strictly speaking, necessary. As it happens, I do not have a free bed – as anyone who has spent quality Aerobed time with me as a houseguest can attest – and I wanted the precision of a gridded board (that also has potential quilting applications). Alicia Paulson goes into better detail (and has better photos) of the blocking process in her most recent blog post.* One of the issues raised there is whether to block with pins or a combination of pins and (stainless steel) wires. Following Frances’ example, I went with the latter for my first blocking attempt:

The wires are from Handworks Northwest and so far, I am loving them.

*Turns out, the Yarn Harlot also recently posted about her blocking technique.

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