We had our big Solstice dinner last night. I had 10 people around my dining room table for a 5 course dinner, capped off with a huge roast prime rib and trifle for dessert.
We were about to take the extra leaves out of the table while cleaning up this morning. Instead, I had the bright idea to soak my Douglas Fir shawl and use the table to block it. I've always blocked stuff on mats on the floor in the past, and the pets mostly left things alone.*
Zany Zoe the lunatic cat is a different story. I suspect the shawl would be shredded if I tried that. So I put the mats on the table and blocked it there. It's a lot easier that way as well, much less bending and contorting to get things pinned down.
And a close up of the lace:
Lace is just magic. It looks like a pile of crap** while you are knitting it. Then you soak it and pin it out, and it turns into something lovely.
More photos when it's dry!
*Except for that time when Curtis, the visiting dumb-as-a-post yellow lab was staying here. I had blocked a lace shawl upstairs on the floor. I went up some time later to find that he had taken a big dump on the shawl. I guess he didn't think much of my knitting.
**It looks like I need to straighten that lace point up there.
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I haven’t needed to block since kitty Sienna died in September. She never bothered any of our knitting, quilting, sewing, needlework projects. Now we have three untested kitties, though I suspect they will find a blocking knitted piece too irresistible not to explore with a paw, claw extension optional. Already, two of them consider a pile of fabric a napping nest that needs thorough kneading to make acceptable for an afternoon snooze.
Did you remember to pull out that lace point? Blocking at waist height sure beats scrabbling around on ones hands and knees…
How lovely! And I was really surprised that the pix wasn’t cat nestled on the shawl.
I love having a dining room table that I can use as a craft table!
It looks gorgeous!
Oh it looks beautiful! Good idea to use the table, I would have thought of that in about three months as one of those “Oh yeah” moments …
Isn’t it amazing how the blocking not lining up quite straight is so obvious in photos, and not in person? So nice to have the table to use, and the shawl looks great!
Love this! It’s beautiful.