That’s it. I did it. I proved it.

Not only is it unnecessary to block your blanket squares before joining, but it’s actually a MASSIVE waste of time and resources.

To recap, I made 30 squares using 5 different patterns. (Maybe someday I’ll post the charts.) Some patterns were very solid, while others were very open work. All were the same size and had the same stitch count along all four edges.

I blocked half of these squares using a blocking board. The results were obvious. The blocked motifs were perfectly square and identical in size. The unblocked squares were, well, pretty unimpressive to look at.

This picture right here, I think this is why people pre-block. Look at that. Right now, short term, it looks amazing. It looks like it makes a huge difference. Massive. Look at that, it’s so satisfying.

But that’s short term. Very short term.

Right after taking this picture, I began joining them and added a simple border of two rows of single crochet stitches around.

I wasn’t exactly sure what the result would be at this stage. Would the blocked side look tremendously better than the unblocked side? Would it look good enough that no other finish work would be needed?

The answers are NO AND A BIG FAT NO. The blocked side (right) is almost indistinguishable from the unblocked side (left). In fact, the pre-blocked squares look a little bit worse, actually. The satisfaction of laying them out next to each other was immediately dispelled as the squares started to gather and pucker.

I have a theory to explain this. When you block your crochet, there is a fair amount of stretching that happens. Wet yarn stretches, and it holds that stretch pretty well as it dries. Now, as mentioned in a previous post when I actually did the blocking, I specifically mentioned that I purposefully did not over-stretch the motifs on the blocking board. But you know what didn’t get stretched at all? The seams. These squares were joined using a simple whip stitch. Basically, use a yarn needle and a piece of yarn to sew each stitch together along an edge. There are a lot of much more intricate joining stitches that people use, and I can only assume those would have an even more pronounced gathering effect.

The result? The motifs were blocked, but the joining was not. Therefore, no matter what prep work you did before joining the motifs, the whole blanket must be blocked again as a whole in order to include the seams in the blocking process.

The key word there is AGAIN. That means that first blocking will be REDONE. It was therefore an entirely unnecessary waste of a week.

Want more proof? I’ll go on.

Now, in the dozens of blankets and shawls I have made, both solid and openwork, I have two finishing methods that I use (both according to care instructions for the yarn):

Washer and drier

Wash and lay flat to dry

I did both here. First, I put the blanket through the washer and drier. This is an important step, because most people receiving a blanket like this as a gift will do exactly this on multiple occasions. It’s a baby blanket. There are a lot of worse things that come out of a baby than drool, which is bad enough on its own when it comes to fabrics. This thing is going to get washed repeatedly, and I can guarantee no baby mama is going to bother with laying it flat to dry. Nope, it’s going into the drier with the rest of the freshly cleaned baby items.

Fortunately, that’s not a bad thing. I ran this blanket through the washer and drier, and already it looks a thousand times better than before. And what’s more, if it weren’t for the little piece of contrasting yarn in the corner, I wouldn’t be able to tell which side had been pre-blocked and which had not. Further proof that it makes no difference whatsoever to pre-block.

After using the electric drier, I went with my other method. I ran it through the washer one more time, then stretched it out on the clean carpet to dry. There were no pins involved. In fact there was nothing involved at all. No tools, no paraphernalia. Nothing. Just the friction from the carpet.

Let me tell you, it took about four hours to dry. That’s four hours versus seven days on the blocking board.

And it looks amazing. Look at that beauty. If I had skipped the blocking board, I would have saved myself a week in effort and production time. I don’t know how much it costs to buy a blocking board (the hubby made mine from scraps at the cabinet shop), but that would have been money wasted on something entirely unnecessary to the process.

I know that some people have their reasons for pre-blocking. I’ve had several comments with those reasons, but none of them hold up. One of the most popular ones is, “I pre-block when my squares aren’t exactly the same size.”

Come on, dude. All of my squares were exactly the same size and they still puckered after being joined. You really think that having multiple sizes of squares will turn out better?

Crochet is geometry. Stitch count is the only way you should be measuring the size of your motifs when it comes to joining. If one square as 50 stitches on a side, it will not line up properly with a square that has 55 stitches on a side. No amount of blocking will change that.

Another popular one is, “I don’t have a bed/carpet large enough to block my larger blanket all at once.”

You know what? It probably doesn’t need blocked at all. Look at this beast! It’s king sized and it’s only ever been through the washer and drier.

Another popular thing is, “but steam blocking!”

You know what? I don’t know a lot about steam blocking. I’ve tried it once and it didn’t seem to have much effect. Maybe I didn’t do it right, but it doesn’t matter. I have made dozens of large items like this and I have never suffered from a lack of steam blocking. I think it, too, may be unnecessary. Crochet has been around a lot longer than electric steamers, after all.

Really, though, this won’t convince anybody. Nobody wants to be told that something they spent a lot of time and effort (and money) on was completely unnecessary. People will just say, “Well it works for me, so I’ll keep doing it.”

And likely almost no one will read this wall of text anyway.

But I tell you what, I feel a whole lot better. A whole lot. Because I am right. I have proof. I win.

P.S. Just for a good comparison, check out all three blocking styles side by side.

preblocked right side

washer and dryer