full steam ahead

wow. so i knit an afghan for my mother-in-law for xmas, and didn't i feel special for finishing it early, especially when she decided to head south for the winter a full six weeks before yuletide!

problem was, while i was finished knitting, i wasn't really finished. i still had the accursed blocking to do. and, there was the question of where to block it - it's really a whole-dining-room affair, and there was the chance that she'd be staying over a night or two before it was ready. so, i arranged to block it at the house of my friend and neighbour, amylovesred.

problem was, i went to the fracture clinic (did i mention that i broke my foot seven weeks ago?) on the monday morning (after we found out about mil's travel plans) and the doc said i should start putting weight on it, and go without the cast - at home at the very least, but preferably all the time. one day of that and i was toast. so did i find the energy to make the one-minute walk down to amy's house with my pins and boards? no, i did not. and suddenly it was the very busy day before the day when mil was coming to lunch, and too late to block it anywhere.


before:


why not, i thought, just iron it? it's briggs & little, and i find all wool to be wonderfully forgiving, and b&l the most forgiving and hardy of all, so why not give it a shot?

and you know? it worked! and i'm sure it didn't take much longer than soaking and pinning would have, not counting the days it would have taken to dry. it was certainly tedious - i started from the middle (the pattern is a rectangle, knit from the centre out to each end), pinned what would fit on my ironing board, spritzed, pressed, and moved on to the next section. but! it is done. and it looks so nice. i'm quite pleased with myself.

after: