As crafters we have access to so many tools, and sometimes it’s hard to know why you should buy them. (Sometimes the answer is simply “because it’s cute!” And for me that’s a great reason…)
Blocking is a great example. Your mother probably never had dedicated blocking tools, but now there are so many options! Let’s look at what they can do for you – assuming you even need to pin your work out at all. (That’s a separate conversation, but right now let’s talk about the stuff.)
All blocking really demands is pins, and something to stick them into. For generations of lace knitters, that probably meant a mattress, a towel, and standard sewing pins. Cost? Basically free, assuming you already have those things!
You can make things a bit easier for yourself by using T-pins (which knitters used to find at hobby or hardware stores) and foam mats (similar to those sold as baby play mats).
Then we come to the specialist supplies. The one drawback of T-pins is that, with “hard blocking” – when you put your lace under real tension to open it out properly – you may end up with unwanted points along the edges, rather than straight lines. They also just take a lot of time… If you do a lot of lace knitting, blocking wires are a really good investment. Inserted along the edges of your work, and then held in place with pins, they make it much easier to create the desired shape.
For lace or other pieces that don’t need quite so much tension, Knitpro’s comb-style Knit Blockers are a brilliant upgrade on T-pins. Just like blocking wires, they save time while making it much easier to create straight edges and regular shapes. Is it absolutely necessary? No. Will it make blocking much, much less annoying? Definitely.
All these things are pretty much optional! But they definitely count as “things that have greatly improved my own knitting experience”. If you are a bit sick of T-pins, I’d say they’re worth the investment.