blocking ideas

Blocking is difficult on ones back.  It's also a very time consuming task.  All of that bending over, measuring and pinning.  I doubt that any knitter finds joy in the process.

I've found that blocking on a bed is very helpful.  Not so far to bend.  For quite some time I've used the queen-sized bed in our spare room for this purpose.  I used to cover it with towels to absorb the moisture.
Then I thought ... why not pick up a very thick, cotton mattress pad cover?  That would provide plenty of protection from the moisture for the mattress.

Then the idea came to cover the pad with this plaid, cotton flannel bedding (from LLBean).  It provides the perfect grid for pinning wires and points.  With this rectangular scarf I slipped the wires down the sides, measured once and pinned on grid.  Super quick and straight.

The grid is great for all shapes.  With a circle, find your center, count an equal number of squares out to your four compass points, then the midpoints, then fill in the rest.

Pinning out the points on a triangular shawl was just as easy.  Thread the wires straight across, line up with the grid, pull the bottom point straight down on center and then, counting squares from the spine for the other points, line them up across.  I only need a yardstick for the first measurements.  The rest is as easy as following the squares.

Please leave a comment with any time-saving, back-saving ideas you've come up with!