How to Block a Lace Scarf with Blocking Wires

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There are some knitting tools that you rarely use, but, man, when you need them, you really need them!  This is how I feel about blocking wires.  You can pick up a set for about $20 and it’s totally worth it – they aren’t too cumbersome to store and are super handy for projects like this scarf below.

Honestly, I didn’t plan to bust out the blocking wires for this project — I was just going to lay the scarf flat and possibly use a few pins to anchor it down.  Then, when I started the process I realized that was not going to work.  The scarf kept moving every-which-way, the edges were not straight, and I would have needed tons of pins to try to get them to be.  The scarf is 86” long – can you imagine I had to place a pin every inch all the way around? No way.  So, here’s where the wires come in — you can thread them along the edge of the scarf to keep the edge nice and straight – then just pop a hefty T pin in every foot or so to hold the wires in place. See:

Now, I actually cheated a bit with my wire placement.  I probably should have been a bit more detail-oriented in how often I threaded the wire in and out of the edge of my piece.  I sort of took a shortcut and just scooped up a piece of the scarf when I felt like it.  Ideally for a perfect edge, I should have done it probably in every third eyelet.  But, whatever.  It works!

In related news, if you don’t have the blocking mats like in these photos, I highly recommend them.  They are particularly handy for blocking scarves because you can make a long surface to lay it out on.  Knit Picks sells two sets of these.  I just have the basic ones, which you can get for $20.  They also have premium ones that have a 1” grid printed on them that are about $15 more. I bet that is super handy.  If I ever replace mine, that’s what I’d get.  Knit Picks used to sell this HUGE blocking board that folds in half and has a grid on it.   I think it was like $60+ when I bought mine several years ago.  It’s neat, but a total pain to store.  I see they don’t even carry them any more now that they have these mats with the grid on them, because that’s way better.  Definitely the way to go, IMHO.