Blocking knitted squares for blankets

When you are knitting squares for a blanket, they don’t always come off the needles exactly the same size and shape. The squares can be coaxed into a better shape as you’re sewing up the blanket, but sewing is a bit easier and the result looks more professional when you lightly block the squares first.

Mum and I have been knitting 8-inch squares for the knit-a-square project. Our squares are colourful, varied and fun, but I thought they looked a bit haphazard. So I’ve been tidying them up with a quick spray blocking. Here are some photos showing how I do it.

I use a ruler, pins, a spray bottle full of water, and large foam jigsaw pieces with letter cut-outs that I bought at a discount store. (One day I’d like to buy proper blocking boards with grids marked on them, or simple interlocking floor mats that I can mark up myself, but these letter cut-out tiles will do for now.)

Start by pinning the 4 corners of the square, using the ruler to make sure each edge is the same length: in this case, 8 inches (20 cm). Don’t worry about making the corners perfect right-angles, just eyeball them.

Pinning the 4 corners of the square.

Lay the ruler against one edge, and place extra pins to line the edge of the square straight against the ruler. I pin the middle, then 1/4 and 3/4, as shown in the next photo.

Adding extra pins to each side.

When you have pinned all 4 sides, give the square a generous squirting with a spray bottle of water, so that it is quite damp but not entirely saturated.

Spraying the square with water.

Leave the square pinned out until it is entirely dry, then remove the pins. Your blocked square should hold the shape it was pinned into.

The square in this example is made from leftover scraps of sock yarn. I held 2 strands together and followed the reverse mitered square with stripes pattern, swapping in different sock yarns at random intervals.

Blocking works best on natural fibres such as wool, and is not as effective on synthetics such as acrylic. However, it doesn’t hurt to give acrylic squares a quick blocking as well, and I find that it does make a difference.