A Blocking Story

I finished Laminaria last week, and it was blocked atop my hotel room bed.  I’ve shown it off to anyone who cared to look since then, but there’s been no official photoshoot for it.  It’s not that I didn’t try, but rather that every time I even vaguely considered taking it’s picture the sky darkened and rain pelted down. (I eventually gave up. Coming to understand that the planet didn’t want it done and didn’t mind inflicting a pleuvial deluge of misery on me everytime I tried.  I hate rain.  It was a highly effective deterrent.) I thought you might like to see the pictures Tina took while I was blocking.  I’ve got a pretty simple process for silk.  Since it’s not elastic at all, it really stays where you put it and there’s little, if any point to stretching it at all – so it’s a quick block.  It’s not like with wool where having it under tension really changes the shape and character – silk does as it’s asked, once it’s had a relaxing bath. It’s all about patting and spreading it where you’d like it to be, then it just lies there like melting butter.

I gave it a little swim in the sink,  then lay it on a towel, rolled it up and walked on it to remove most of the water, then spread the thing on the bed like a mighty pondscum green wing.  I used some pins to anchor things, and to get the points I wanted on the tips, and that was about it.  A few hours later it was dry, and being silk, it stayed exactly as it was when I picked it up.

I’m hoping that I’ll have managed to ditch the rain curse by the time I’m home.  Right now it’s followed me to Vancouver, but Toronto is far from here, and my plane is fast.  Perhaps tomorrow the shawl and I can take a walk to the park.

I think you can already tell how pretty it is. 

(PS. I know I told you that I’d show you our further yarnbombing efforts today, but we’ve only just left, and I know the staff won’t have found them all yet – and that they’re bloody sneaky enough to cheat if I post anything on the blog. Let’s wait until tomorrow… shall we?)

(PPS.  Yes.  You’re right.  I am wearing my jammies in those pictures. I don’t feel badly about it either.)