Olympics Day 15: Blocking on the Bed

I've had a day to recover from the elation of casting off Kiri. Actually, I needed to recover from all the walking I did at the Dogwood Arts Festival Home and Garden Show at the Knoxville Convention Center yesterday afternoon. I walked so much I thought it was an olympic event! LOL

Since I wasn't able to easily locate suitable wires for blocking, I just ran a long length of fishing line through the top of the garter stitch border prior to bath time. I used some lovely Italian bath gel(Elaria Jasmine by Perlier) for Kiri's warm soak in the sink. Twenty minutes later it was time to rinse, and rinse, and rinse, and rinse some more! My lovely red yarn made for lovely red rinse water! I added some white vinegar to the 6th rinse and called it quits after that.

I put an old comforter on the guest bed so any red bleeding wouldn't be an issue. I blocked Kiri to the pattern specifications wingspan 77" and top to tip 36". The shawl was a little bit wider than the bed was long, but I was able to fudge it.
I needed 3 measuring tapes for this pin out job. Who would have ever thought about that? Not me. Pinning out the tips proved to be easier than I anticipated because they lined up perfectly with the quilting on the comforter. That was a pleasant surprise. Using the fishing line made pinning out the top edge very easy--no dimples where the pins were. I will definitely use that trick again.

I plan to let Kiri dry for 24 hours. That will give me enough time to pull the pins and wrap up in her to watch the closing ceremonies tomorrow night. How cool is that?