Blocking knitting projects when they’re finished isn’t always essential, but sometimes it is (lace) and sometimes it just helps to make things look a little nicer or to get two pieces of knitting that ought to be the same size to actually be the same size (say, the front and back of a sweater).
I have a purchased blocking board, which is great, but it’s heavy, and they can be expensive.
This alternative from Jessica Joy is quick, easy and cheap to put together yourself with foam board and gingham, which is used not so much as a measuring tool but to allow you to line up edges on the straight lines of the fabric.
She notes in her tutorial that the foam board curled up at the edges because it doesn’t really like to be wet, but this is still a great in a pinch option for blocking, particularly if you need a really big space, because foam board is pretty inexpensive.
Have you ever made a DIY blocking board? I’d love to hear about it!
[Photo via Jessica Joy.]
I’ve heard that kids interlocking play boards are good for blocking on. They’re a bit like pieces of jigsaw and make up a play mat.
I bought the thick pink insulation foam board at HomeDepot/Lowes. Covered with gingham and stapled to the back of the boards. So that it wouldn’t be to big to fit under a bed, I did a kind of dovetail hinge where the two boards met so that the whole thing could be folded in half. Cheap, store-able and still working years later.