My mom got me the Knit Picks Blocking Mats for my birthday a few weeks ago! I had my eye on these for years, and have been using towels laying all over my house to block on since I started knitting.
My Stack of New Blocking Mats
One of the main reasons I wanted to get these mats is because I thought they’d attract my cats less than towels always do. I swear my cats lay in wait for me to block things because they are only truly happy when they are sleeping on wet towels.
Velma Scoping it Out
Velma, the smart one, was the first to check it out. She took a few minutes to sniff around, but lost interest quickly.
Pudge Testing the Water
Pudge really wanted to make this work! She is usually the one sleeping on the wet sweaters the most, so once Velma walked away she was all over it.
Pudge Giving Up!
But it just wasn’t the same! She walked around the sweater and the blocking mats for another few minutes, but ended up leaving, too. It was fantastic! No yarn pulls, no messed up sweater, no wet cat hair! And the sweater dried overnight, and even though it’s cotton, the sweater is worsted cotton! Overnight drying is still pretty damn good.
So I’m in love with my blocking mats! Thanks mom!
… and y’all can just go ahead and ignore that sweater drying on that mat. There is nothing to see here.
I want the sweater and the cats! Thanks for the great tip. For me cats and knitting go hand in hand, but cats and blocking, not so much! Why they like the damp towels is beyond me!
Comment by Laurie — January 23, 2012 @ 9:19 am
Haha. I was just gonna call you out on that sweater! I spy some of my fave cellular stitch—very exciting!
Comment by Tara — January 23, 2012 @ 11:57 am
so glad that you found a great solution!! One of my cats, Gatsby, likes to pull out the blocking pins and plays with them around the house… which is totally not cool. So anything blocking has to be done behind closed, kitty-proof doors at my place.
Julie´s last [type] ..Modification Monday: Lacy Top
Comment by Julie — January 23, 2012 @ 3:30 pm
YAY
thanks for the link to mats.
I can only find similar things at Target with Thomas the Engine on them, or Lightning McQueen
I need a set!
and I WAS kinda staring at that beautiful sweater….just sayin’
Cindy´s last [type] ..Got chill?
Comment by Cindy — January 24, 2012 @ 10:38 am
That’s pretty impressive, because Vera loves my blocking mats. They’re not the KP variety, I don’t remember where they came from, but I have to hide everything that needs to block from her, because if she doesn’t decide that she needs to lay on the mats, she goes after the pins I’m using to hold things in place.
Amy´s last [type] ..FO: Ignus Junior
Comment by Amy — January 27, 2012 @ 11:59 am