(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

Hi, I'm new(ish) to the community, and also fairly new to knitting. I've just got into knitting lace, which I love, but I'm having problems with the blocking. I've been improvising using a yoga mat, but I tried to block Traveling Woman (a lace shawl) recently, and the pointy edges didn't come out right at all - the mat's not solid enough, so it kept warping out of shape. The shawl looks OK, but it could look so much better.

Does anyone have any suggestions on better methods/ equipment, preferably from UK suppliers? I'm on a tight budget, but I'm willing to spend a bit, given that I really enjoy knitting and my cheapskate solution wasn't much of a solution *g*

I'd be very grateful for any hints, tips, or suggestions.

Comments

[jackandahat]

I use kiddie play mats. I got mine from Tesco last year, £7.50 for a pack of 4 that are 60x60cm. So I can do 120cm square, or a 60x240 rectangle for scarves. (I wish I'd got another pack but could only carry one and by the time I went back, they'd sold out - it was the end of summer.)

They're relatively cheap, pretty sturdy, and because they are pieces rather than all one big thing they're easier to store.

[tree_and_leaf]

Ah, I'll have a look out for them.

[aunty_marion]

I have the same sort of mats - they're about 5/8" thick, and like Jack's, mine are two feet square. I got a pack of 4, in blue, for a bit more than his (I think they were about £12?) a few years ago, from a large toy shop on a retail estate (not Toys'R'Us, but they might have them). A yoga mat is too flexible, alas, while these are pretty rigid. I use the glass-headed pins - not the very long ones, I have a box of the smaller 1" ones - which can just be stabbed straight into the mat through whatever you're blocking. I lay them out on my bed (which is my largest flat surface, being a 4' one!), but then I can lift them off and stand them vertically against a wall at night. For small things that I want to dry faster, I put an old pillowcase or double thickness of sheeting fabric down on a mat and pin them over that. So far I've only really had one thing that was really too big for them (Traveling Woman! But I had done 10 lace repeats...). You can see three of them in an L-shape being used to block my Wingspan here.

[tree_and_leaf]

Ah, that's very useful information, thank you! Wingspan looks great, btw.