Oh yes, blocking is magic, and not just for lace! I'm with you on the dryer for socks and some sweaters. For example, laying my garter stitch sweaters flat to dry works okay the first couple times, but after like 3 washes, the stitches are way too stretched vertically and the garter loses its delightful squooshiness! The wet blocking makes the sweater too heavy to condense the rows back to where they were, so I'll toss it in the dryer for a timed dry on low or air dry to get it back in shape. My sweaters have a tendency to become tunics after too many washes, and I haven't figured out a good way around it without using the dryer to shrink it back to its original shape!
Oh yes, blocking is magic, and not just for lace! I'm with you on the dryer for socks and some sweaters. For example, laying my garter stitch sweaters flat to dry works okay the first couple times, but after like 3 washes, the stitches are way too stretched vertically and the garter loses its delightful squooshiness! The wet blocking makes the sweater too heavy to condense the rows back to where they were, so I'll toss it in the dryer for a timed dry on low or air dry to get it back in shape. My sweaters have a tendency to become tunics after too many washes, and I haven't figured out a good way around it without using the dryer to shrink it back to its original shape!
So glad to know I’m not alone! (My way around the tunic issue is that I plan on my sweaters becoming tunics 😂)