Blocking Sweet Dreams

I finished the Sweet Dreams shawl a couple of weeks ago but didn't get around to blocking it until today.

I'm using flexible blocking wires that I ordered on etsy a couple of years ago.

They're really good for curvy items. I even put them through the points of the lace.

Here you can see the difference in look after pinning out each picot.

There are 32 points and 8 picots on each point. That's a lot of pinning!

In addition to the t-pins, I used up an entire container of 250 stainless steel sewing pins.

The key to a nicely curved crescent shawl is to increase 6 stitches every 2 rows. If you only do 4 sts every 2 rows (or 2 per row) you get a nice trianglar-shaped shawl. The extra 2 sts every two rows creates enough extra fabric for the curve.

Also, instead of starting with a small garter stitch tab at the centre back, I knit a long one before turning it on its side to pick up sts for the stocking stitch area. This avoids a strange point in the middle of the centre back. This is where I got the idea to do this.