My Sock Blockers

So, I'm surfing the net and this thought comes to mind. I really should block those Manly Rib Socks I just finished. Their looking kinda strange and not at all like socks. Then I contemplated buying sock blockers...they are pricey. On average your spending 26 - 30 bucks for blockers. And to be honest, I normally don't knit large men's socks, so buying blockers for this project knowing that the blockers would sit and never get used... not realistic.

That's when I discovered some websites that showed you just how to make your own. cool.

The Knitting Zone has inexpensive and an easy way to make your own sock blockers out of metal coat hangers. Then there is Little Sesame Knits who shows you a super easy DIY sock blockers tutorial using a plastic placemat. What a great idea and while at Walmart the other day I found some cute colors. It wasn't as sturdy as I had hoped but I think they work fairly well and to know that I spend $4.50 for three sets of blockers is pretty awesome too.

There is a PDF you can download from the Little Sesame Knits blog with the template file for sizing, but I ended up tracing my own. I double checked my sock books for the full foot length of each sock block size I was wanting to create.

Here you can see my cardboard template in size Ladies 7 and below that are the placemats I picked up.



I traced with marker around the template and then had within minutes I had 3 sets of sock blockers. The blue one are for ladies size 7, the orange is a ladies size 9 and then the yellow is a mans size 9 1/2. I think my son was a bit disappointed to not see his size 12 template...



This was a fun project and now I have templates in hand, so when ever I see some sassy plastic placemats I can quickly add it to my collection.

Here are the Manly Rib Socks on there own blockers drying away after taking a nice bubble bath.