Arrived!
I’ve arrived at my new home in Indiana, and now I finally have time to get back to blogging!
Of course, now that I have the time, I’m working on a top-secret project I can’t show anyone. Ha. But trust me, it’ll be awesome.
For this project, I need to buy some blocking wires for the first time. I’m going to visit a few LYS (oh darn, right?) to see if anyone has them to purchase right away, but I might end up needing to purchase them online.
Knit Picks has these ones for $19.99:
But I’m a little worried about the speed of shipping. I’m trying to get the project done by the weekend, and my (non-negotiable) deadline for this piece is the week after that… so unless I paid for super-expedited shipping, I’m not sure I’d get them in time.
I saw a few mentions on Ravelry of buying welding rods from a hardware store (plenty of those around!). I found this picture online when I searched for “welding rods for blocking”:
Those look pretty good, but I also found lots of pictures of wires in spools, like this one:
And I wouldn’t know the first thing about straightening the wire to make it useable. Hrm.
Probably my best bet is to call around to the LYSes and see if anyone’s got them. I would much rather have wires designed for the purpose, even if they’re a little more expensive.
Do you have blocking wires? Where did you get them?
I’ve heard of using coated floral wire from the craft store (Joann’s, Michaels, etc.) for blocking.
Ooh, that’s a great idea. I’m totally going to check that out, thanks!
I ordered the nickel plated welding rods off Amazon for $20 or so. Although the ends can be a little sharp, I like that they came in a plastic tube that I can screw together when I’m done using them.
That’s a good idea! I looked at the hardware store, but they didn’t have any smaller than 1/8″, which seemed way too big. I bet they have the skinny ones at Amazon, though.
Glad you made it safely (and sanely!) to your new home, and that your settled in. Not sure about the wires though – I’m sure your LYS will help you out. Can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to!