Blocking Board

Here are my mittens blocking. They were pretty snug before I blocked them but now they are perfect.

Here's the thing - I block my knitting. I know some people don't but I always do. It's just really a hassle when you live in a very small house with no where to put a blocking board. Usually, the knitting would get moved to the bed when we were awake and to the dining room table when we were asleep. I couldn't really pin into my knitting because I would just have it on a towel. Not any more!

I was looking into buying Knitter's Block. This looks like a great product but I didn't want to spend close to $100 to get it. I wanted the ability to have small blocking boards as well as big ones. My sister solved the problem by suggesting I use something available at home improvement stores. I bought a sheet of foam board insulation from Menard's. It was 4 feet by 8 feet and 3/4 of an inch thick and cost $8.

It was too big to fit in my car so the nice gentleman in the warehouse cut it down for me. I have two boards big enough to block sweaters on and two thinner ones wide enough to block scarves, mittens, hats, etc.

Here's how it looked after I pinned into it. Obviously, it makes small holes. It's rather durable and I don't think the holes will be a problem.

When I was done blocking my mittens and my sweater I just packed up my boards and took them down to the basement. It's excellent!

Knitters have a huge number of very useful products available to us. I think we often only shop at yarn stores or craft stores when we're looking for knitting supplies. Consider what your local hardware store can do for you. I bought this blocking board and a new tiny hook for my broken drop spindle the other day. I saved a bunch of money by buying something that wasn't "cute" and wasn't being marketed to a specialized market.