Now that we are settled into our new larger house, I now have the most amazing set up for keeping my handmade items clean and blocked nicely. I managed to get an entire small bedroom to dedicate to my yarn mess. It is a place to open the door and toss stuff. I love it. No one has to see it. My husband doesn’t have to see it. It is just my mess, for me. Really an idea situation for a yarn hoarder.

Here’s my set up:

I use unscented Soak ($10 for the small and $16 for the large) to wash my hand knits and the PHIL tub. (JUST LANDED! $30) I fill it up in my bathroom, which is right next to the craft room, throw a few drops of Soak in it and let the item soak for a few hours or overnight.

I drain everything out in the sink and put it into a towel, roll it up and smooooosh out the excess water.

I then take the item to my craft room where I have a tall work table that I picked up on super clearance at the Crate and Barrel Outlet. It is heat resistant since it is supposed to be used in a kitchen. PERFECT!

My work table has a set of these permanently set up on it ($30):

And a dish with T-pins ($4 for box of 50):

I lay the item out and let it dry. It helps that there are two heating vents on either side of the table. Things are usually dry in a day. Generally, there is almost always something on the mats. Since Maddy has a large collection of knit and crochet items that constantly need washing, I put things in the PHIL bin as soon as the blocking mat is empty again.