Block Party: Between-Meal Centerpiece Edition

After seeing an awesome time-lapse video project that my husband made, I demanded requested a video of my own. He put together a quick time-lapse video while I blocked the Between-Meal Centerpiece.

Many thanks to him for making this video for me.

I have to be in the mood to block a piece, but when I am, it’s so much fun. (And it’s important, as the great Doris Chan explains much better than I can.) That’s when a project really starts to show its true potential instead of looking, as the Between-Meal Centerpiece project once did, like a tangled mess.

I didn’t really block my projects properly until I had a good way to do it – namely, some good blocking board material. I use Step2 24″ Playmats. A lot of fiber crafters use similar playmats for blocking, and I can personally confirm that they are, indeed, awesome.

I think 24″ is a nice, generous size for blocking a doily, and I love that they can be connected to block a long piece (such as a scarf) or a larger square piece (such as a baby afghan). These, plus regular old ball-head pins, are my go-to blocking tools. (Side note: ball-head pins, in my experience, are ridiculously hard to find in big-box stores. But why?)

Usually I just block with water and spray starch. I know that many prefer liquid starch, but that seems like a hassle to me. Convince me otherwise? I’ll try it if it’s worth it. 🙂