An Inspinknity Blocking Wire Review and Giveaway!

I do love to wax poetic about blocking, especially blocking lace!  If any of you have watched my Craftsy classes you'll know I delve deeply into my adoration of what happens to a piece of lace when you wet it and stretch it out!  MAGIC!

But, I've never loved my blocking wires, I always had to be careful with the tips of my wires as they weren't "delicate" enough for the yarns I work with and I easily snagged my yarn. Also, many of the wires in the set bent with use and wouldn't "un" bend again.  Blocking takes time, but no where near as long as it takes to knit a whole lace shawl... why not use a tool that makes it enjoyable and fun to do!

So, for my birthday I decided to buy myself a new set of wires... it was an impulse purchase, I didn't do a ton of research.  But, I had heard about Inspinknity Blocking Wires, and decided to invest in a set as a little present!  (The fact that it was a write off didn't escape my keen business sense!)  I decided to start with the Premium Wires as they were described on the site as "Super flexible and strong, you can use premium wires for blocking sweater pieces, scarves, and fingering weight shawls."  Since most of my knitting leans in this direction I decided to start with those!  I do, though plan on getting the Ultra Fine Wires for a lace shawl that is on my needles next!

Once I got them I decided some testing was in order... right?

First I blocked some Pioneer Cuffs I have almost ready for a kit release:

In this case I was testing how straight I could get the wires to lie.  I used my ironing board with it's handy dandy ruler marks to help me keep things line... and it was EASY!

Next up, my Kinetik (sans beads) that I wore everyday in Iceland and really really really needed to be rewashed and blocked.

Kinetik is blocked with a straight upper edge, and two parallel wires coming down each side of the center panel, and finally has wires going up each triangular edge.  Want to hear the coolest thing?  I've always had to use more than one wire from my set for long straight edges at the top of shawls, but this set has a 67 " long wire that worked perfectly!  For the center panel I was able to use one long wire instead of two!

Finally Clarus knit in Anzula Cloud which I always meant to block bigger, and really needed a good soaking as well... this is another shawl of mine that gets alot of wear!  

Clarus has delicate points that need to get blocked out in a arc along the sides and bottom edge.  Holy moly, these wires were easy insert and the shaping just came together without too much coaxing or finagling!

I'm not entirely sure what the material is that the blocking wires are made of, but the website says they are "Made from a super-elastic wire with seemingly magical flexibility, these blocking wires will not rust, tarnish, corrode, or easily kink. They will not stain your knitting, and will last for many, many, many years! These premium blocking wires are incredibly strong, yet flexible enough to use for curved edges as well as straight lines. You can arch and curve these wires as you need, and they will always return to straight. This special property allows these wires to be used over and over again without weakening from repeated bending and straightening."

I can attest to this last sentence... when I was done with my blocking experiments I wound my wires back up and put them back into their handy bag ready to be used again.  They did not show any visible bend or kinks and I was purposefully rough with them!  The other thing is that the tip of the wire was so smooth and fine that it slipped in between the stitches perfectly not causing any snags or damage to the yarn.

So, WHO WANTS TO WIN A SET of the Deluxe Premium Wires?????  Just leave a comment below by May 10th letting me know what you want to block first when you if you win them! I'll chose a winner by random number generator on May 11th!

Disclaimer:  I was in no way paid by Inspinknity to write this post, I ordered the wires, fell in love, and then e-mailed and asked if they would be willing to give a set away to one of you!  When I do reviews like this it is because I have purposefully sought out something I think you would be interested in!

A note: I just found out that Inspinknity is waiting on more premium wire... so they have offered a coupon code to you all!  NELKINGIFT and will be active through the month of May. It will take $3.50 off any order placed now through 5/31. It is only good for purchases made at www.inspinknity.com