handmade by stefanie

A few weeks ago, I shared a post about blocking handmade gifts ; I thought I'd revisit the topic by sharing a few of my favorite time-saving tools to block finished projects with stellar results every time! This is by no means an exhaustive list of every useful item to have on hand - rather, it's a collection of my favorite blocking tools at the moment. Sock Blockers: Every now and again, I'm asked if it's necessary to invest in a pair of sock blockers. While they aren't exactly essential, it's undeniable that they make finished socks look extra-amazing (more about that here ). Not only do I use sock blockers on all of my hand knit socks for gifting, I also use them on my own every time I wash them!  Blocking Mats : It was years (as in, at least 10) before I got a set of blocking mats. I always figured that using towels and/or clean cardboard was every bit as good as a blocking mat, and couldn't justify the expense. Then, as I started to do more and ...

Now that the Gift-along is in full swing, I thought this would be a good time to focus on the subject of finishing those holiday projects with ease: td to me, that means mostly translates to all things blocking-related! .There are a lot of great blocking tutorials out there, and I don't plan to spend too much time on such well-covered territory. Instead, I'll be sharing some of my favorite tools, tips and tricks for finishing my holiday projects with ease in the hopes that others find at least some of this information helpful! The first question I always ask myself is: to block or not to block?  Usually, the answer is yes, and my personal default is wet blocking . It's a simple way to make projects look polished - you can fix wonky stitches and pretty much stretch your piece to whatever dimensions you like (within reason). Pretty much any stitch pattern (and even stockinette) is guaranteed to look infinitely nicer with the magic of blocking. Witness this before and af...