Blocking Boards

Interweave's Knitting Daily had a piece on blocking boards. The writer of the article had just bought a new blocking board from WEBS and wanted to know what surfaces the readers used to block their knitted items. Well, I use stryofoam packing boards that I've gotten from work. I have them in different sizes. The boards are in the boxes the refrigerated and frozen reagents that we use at work. They would be thrown out, but I grab a few of them when I can. I handwash the knitted item then block it on the board with pins. The flat flower pins used in quilting make great blocking pins. They don't rust and flat flower heads are easy to handle.

I'm knitting garterlac dishcloths for my aunt's birthday in August. The variegated cotton cloths look better than the solid color one. Nichole sent me the garterlac pattern (and the pink, orange and yellow variegated cotton yarn) in my Spring into Summer Dishcloth Exchange package.



Speaking of blocking, my roommate had landscapers cut down the beautiful, old tree in our front yard on Tuesday because the tree had 3 beehives in it, and my roommates' grand-daughter got stung. Maria, the cat, is sad too. She used to climb up the tree and sit in it. The huge piles of branches and other parts of the tree are blocking part of the driveway and the front lawn. Is it possible to feel claustrophobia when you are outside?