Eh, no reason to feel guilty! It isn't important for a lot of items, but it can give them a nice finish. In wool or other natural fibers it helps even up stitches, help it lay flatter and can get wool to "remember" a bit of shape tweaking. I also often wash and block an item because I've been carrying it everywhere while knitting on it and want it to be nice and clean before giving it to the recipient.
For lace items, it is very important though, as the point of lace is the pattern and it needs to be blocked to "pop". It needs a bit of help to go from looking like a wadded up bunch of cloth to a nicely patterned flat fabric.
Many people block by pinning things to a sofa or couch. Others have found the interlocking foam floor blocks work well. I was using some generic foam sheets from the hardware store for a while before I was given this blocking board.
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Date: 2007-03-14 02:23 pm (UTC)For lace items, it is very important though, as the point of lace is the pattern and it needs to be blocked to "pop". It needs a bit of help to go from looking like a wadded up bunch of cloth to a nicely patterned flat fabric.
Here is a good tutorial by Eunny Jang on how to block lace. http://www.eunnyjang.com/knit/2006/12/how_to_be_happy.html
Many people block by pinning things to a sofa or couch. Others have found the interlocking foam floor blocks work well. I was using some generic foam sheets from the hardware store for a while before I was given this blocking board.