Killing it softly

7 Small Shawls: T - 172 days and counting down.

No, the title isn't a reference to the song contest. :) I'm just channelling 70s music again. Yikes!

So...yes! You all were correct: Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) by Billy Joel was the somewhat oblique reference. I had an :ahem: 8-track tape of The Stranger. Heh heh heh. When it died, I bought an album. A vinyl one. :) But enough of that tangent! The first reference was to Le Freak by Chic. I went on over to random.org and plugged in the number of commenters who talked about Billy Joel, and up popped A Crafty Lawyer's number!. So, my dear, you are the new owner of a Fiori di Sole pattern! I'm afraid you'll need to wait a little bit until it comes out, but nonetheless, it's your yours yours!

Back to killing it softly....

The one thing that isn't completely optimal about using sock yarn for shawls is the seriously bouncy nature of merino sock yarns (great for socks but not so great for keeping a lacy block). Even the superwash ones bounce back after I block them. You can see here that my Brandywine is plumping up instead of laying properly flat. Hmph.

So I decided to re-block and "kill" it, according to a friend's instructions. Happily, a small shawl like this is super quick and easy to block. First, I submerged it in my very favorite wool wash (Kookaburra) and let it soak through. I rolled it up in a towel and walked on it to get the extra moisture out. With larger and less delicate items, I spin them in the washer to get rid of the excess moisture. I pinned the shawl out on the floor on top of a towel and let it dry over night.

The next morning, I heated up my mother's old Rowena steam iron. And when I say steam iron, I mean steam iron. This thing packs a punch!

I pulled out an old bedspread, wet it down and spun it in the washer. It would have been easier to use a spray bottle, but all of the spray bottles had inexplicably disappeared into a alternate dimension and were never to be heard of again.

When the bedspread was just damp, I laid it over the shawl. I turned off the steam feature on the iron and just used it on its highest setting. I ironed the shawl through the spread. It sizzled. It popped. It sputtered.

When the spread was dry over the shawl, I removed it and let the shawl dry out completely and cool down. When it was thoroughly and completely dry, I unpinned it. Just look at that drape!!!

So far, so good. It hasn't bounced back yet. Fingers are crossed! One word of warning: do not do this with synthetics unless you want a melty puddle. There are other ways to kill acrylic, dear readers. (btw, did you all see Saloni's kind blog post about Brandywine? So sweet of her!)

In other news, the sekrit project is winging its way to a new home. Yay!!! More yarn for another stealth project came in today, and yarn was ordered for yet another. I'm really excited about these two projects! I cast on for the Maia fingerless mitts today. I am so thrilled to be knitting on these! I have some wholesale orders, both pin and pattern to catch up on, and I need to finish writing up the sekrit project pattern. Meanwhile, stage 1 of my summer pins & lace club shipment is going out on Thursday. Several of you have asked about signing up for next year. Although it's not open yet, I will announce it here, in my Ravelry group, and on my announcements list. I'm so excited that you all are interested! Thankfully, this weekend is not a swim meet weekend, so much catching up will be accomplished.

Lastly, here's a question for everyone: should I have a Facebook fan page or are there just so many now that they're annoying? Inquiring minds want to know. :) More tomorrow!