Necessity - the mother of invention!

A couple of weeks ago I posted details of a small scarf which I'd greatly enjoyed making. However, blocking it out was 'fun' (not!) - in fact, the blocking process is the part I really hate, (almost as much as sewing up knitted garments!) all those little picot edges to be pinned out individually and to shape......eugh! :-(

Still, I decided to replicate the scarf in a different yarn - a lovely, soft, 75% Bamboo mix.

It looked like a limp bit of dishcloth as it came off the needles - but then, lace knitting never looks its best at that stage, that's where the (previously dreaded) blocking comes into play!

Of course, it's so much easier using blocking wires/rods - but not so easy to find where I live in the UK. Then I got inventive.......!

A quick trip to one of the DIY 'sheds' saw me procure some anodised metal rods. The narrowest gauge I could find were 4mm but as the scarf I wanted to block had a suitable sized slotted edging I thought I'd try.

Well - it was SO easy I couldn't believe how I'd never tried this before! The rods were 1m in length, so I had to use two, slightly 'overlapped', along the neck edge, then use the third along each diagonal edge seperately.

The end result is drying out nicely and I'm rather pleased with the outcome.

(Of course, if any of my family are reading this, I might still put a set of 'proper' wires/rods on my Birthday/Christmas list, anyway.....if you can find/afford them! ;-p)