Blocking Mats for Knitting - 9 Extra Thick Boards With 1 Inch Spaced Grid - For Needlepoint or Crochet - Includes 150 Stainless T-Pins and Convenient Storage Bag With Handles

For years have been using layered towels on the carpet to block knitting projects. These boards are a godsend! My aging knees don't appreciate having to crawl around on the floor, so I set the mats up on the large plastic-top folding table I use for projects, knowing that because these mats are so thick, even if I apply my steam iron to my blocking project, the tabletop won't be affected-already ruined a large rotary cutting mat I put under the towels on the floor (to protect the carpet) by doing that :o(. When assembled, the 9 mats make a big 36 inch square, but you don’t have to arrange them in a square; you could arrange them to be a 2 by 4 foot rectangle, or even in a triangle shape for a shawl. After reading all of the reviews and all of the questions, here is my comprehensive review (please excuse caps, they’re just to help you focus in on the important parts): #1) Here comes the “BUT” - I was hoping that reviewers were wrong about TWO sets not having the grid lines match up, that they just weren't setting them up correctly - sadly, they were correct. Technically, the grid lines do match up horizontally and vertically. All blocks interlock perfectly & easily, BUT no matter how you join the second set to the first set, the DISTANCE BETWEEN the markings between the last "inch" grid on set 1 and first "inch" grid on set 2 is larger than one inch (SEE PICTURE-the distance is a hair under 1.5" (~ 37.5 mm for my metric friends) while it should be exactly 1 inch). While disappointing, this non-uniform distance between the two sets is NOT A DEAL-BREAKER – with a little math finagling, you can still get your project accurately blocked (the non-uniform distance where the two sets join the only reason I didn’t give this product a 5-star rating). Disappointing because with a very slight design change, Craftolino could EXTRAORDINARILY EASILY FIX this problem by just making the interlocking “pegs/indentations” about a quarter-inch LESS deep – this would not affect how the mats interlock at all, nor would this affect how the individual mats stay hooked up (once assembled, they’re not carried around, they’re on a flat surface!!!). Craftolino – when you do make this design change, please send me (just kidding) replacement sets. In the “questions” section, here is Craftolino’s response to the several times reviewers have raised this issue: “We are sorry that you had issues with our mats and want to thank you for bringing that to our attention. This should NEVER happen as the mats were designed to be able to use 2 sets together. But they were not designed to use 4 together. The small blank white border is there by design when aligning 2 sets from 1-9 numbers. We take quality very seriously so we will do everything in order to fix this issue for you.” Heads-up Craftolino, you need to make a slight CHANGE to the design! #2) Also, in today’s world, many people are not mechanically inclined, so I’m really surprised that the little cards that come with the mats don’t have a simple picture of how to assemble the mats (left to right, first row is mats 1, 2, 3, next row is mats 4, 5, 6, etc.) #3) Straight out of the bag, I detected no chemical odor whatsoever – I think if you’re generally very sensitive to odors from plastic, you’ll smell it, but if your nose is just normally sensitive, you won’t smell a thing. #4) I was surprised that people actually complained that not enough T-pins were included; when these people bought their sewing machine, did they expect it to come with scissors & pins? Ridiculous! The included T-pins are a thoughtful freebie, along with the free 60-inch measuring tape. This is a GREAT product, except that between 2 sets, the distance between the last/first grids is more than an inch.

This is such a helpful toll if you are blocking your knitting or crocheting.What you get is a set of mats in a plastic bag and some non rusting pins.When put together these blocks will have straight lines on them that you can use to line up your edges of your crocheting/knitting.These are thick enough that you can put the pins into it and not worry about the poking out the other side. Additionally the pins are not difficult to push into the mat. One of the things I liked was that when I decided to move my project after I had pinned it, the mats didn't fall apart as I moved them. The other thing I noticed was that after I unpinned my project, I didn't see pinholes. I imagine this may change after time, but for now, after several uses, they still look brand new.I read other reviews that mentioned an odor. I did not notice an odor and did not have any problems with any odor.I would buy this again.

Sent this to my daughter, who has started knitting - evidently, knitting has become kind of cool again, and she says quite a few of her friends are starting to knit as well - who knew? Anyway, she loved this product - very durable, well-constructed. I honestly can't speak to much more than her enthusiasm and overall impression - I personally can barely cook, much less pull together enough creative juice to make a sweater! But she loves the fact that it comes in an easy container to move around, and that the mats are very configurable so there are many options for her, and she loved the overall quality. Since another reviewer had mentioned odor, I asked her about it, and she had not noticed any. However, in my experience with different products of this type of material, sometimes there is an odor, like with many yoga mats I have purchased. There are plenty of conversations about removing odor from yoga mats, such as a quick wipe with a solution of water and apple cider vinegar, then let dry.

to work together...which is really disappointing. I bought two sets to lay out blankets for squaring them - because they're gifts. You can't connect the two sets so the grid lines line up, so I had to eyeball it. Keep that in mind for larger projects.The mat boards themselves connect easily and are nice and rigid so they should last a long time. One set will be usable for smaller projects like sweaters, hats, gloves scarves and shawls, but throws and blankets are out of the question.One star removed because they aren't interchangeable with additional sets...otherwise, they're nice.

I bought this to block my hand crocheted shawls and anything that I crochet that will need blocking. It is easy to assemble, intuitive and sturdy. I am very happy with it and will probably need another set to make it large enough for everything I will need to block. As you can see from the photo, the blocking of this shawl runs off the grid. TWO SETS for hand knit or hand crocheted shawls is definitely a must. I only have one set at the moment. One set will work well for smaller shawls or shawlettes, hats and probably sweaters. These blocking mats work very well!

This was worth every penny. I have resisted blocking my knitted projects because I really didn't have a place to do it. With these blocking mats, I just set up a temporary table, assemble the mats, and finish up my projects. I like the way the mats came packed in their own case and they even came with pins to set out the work. I will buy more if I make larger pieces.

What a difference it makes to have mats of this thickness! I just blocked a shawl as a gift for my sister. The shawl was really wide but the mats lock together beautifully as the correct grid alignment is ordered. The thicker surface really lets the pins stick into them and they did not move. The other side of the mats is rugged so they do not slide on your table. I think eventually I am going to want a 2nd set so I can do bigger projects but I am very happy with these. I'm glad I splurged for the extra thickness, it was really worth it.