The Blocking Debacle

I promised to share the blocking escapade once I knew the items had been received so, here's the tale:

First, I had to go get some fiber wash.  Except for some reason, the craft stores I went to didn't have it.  I would have thought that they would.  But basically, it's designed to wash yarny type things so that they don't get damaged.  In the end, I ended up just buying regular delicate wash detergent. And carefully washing it in the bathroom sink.  A little bit of suds, some gentle swish, swish, swish and there we go.  Then I rinsed it and rolled it in a towel and then stood on it to get the excess water squeezed out.  Yes, I stood on it.  For anyone who's interested, this is a very effective way of getting rid of excess water.

This is what it looked like, unblocked.  I used the carpet to kind of hold it flat but really it was very much curled in on itself.  And the one end was all wonky.  And you can't really see the lace pattern.  So hence, that's why the blocking was required.  The process began as I stated above.  And then I had to pin it out.  So I got some cardboard boxes that I had already broken down flat and laid them on the bed with a towel over it.  And then I set about stretching the piece out to the shape it was supposed to be and pinning it down with...well, there are probably about fifty or so pins.  See?

You can, of course, click on the pictures to make them bigger.  But yeah, there are a lot of pins in it.  And I did it on the bed because I didn't want to have to sit on the floor and not reach what I needed to reach, but I had done it at about seven o'clock at night so I had to get it off the bed and onto the floor.  Now, the flat cardboard boxes were not connected in any way, so there was much careful maneuvering in order to get it off the bed and onto the floor.  But I managed it, in the end, and there it stayed.  I left it there, pinned down, longer than I probably needed too, but after all that work, I wasn't taking any chances. 

 Anyway, now it hangs all nice nice flat and you can see the lacy pattern well.  And that was the goal all along.  And truthfully?  I don't hate blocking so much anymore.  Except not having the room for scarves.  So those, I might just have to keep making in patterns that don't need it.





Oh yeah!  And I made a pair of gauntlet style fingerless mitts and a plot bunny!

He's so hungry!

One of my favorite cables