Welding meets Lace

I was fascinated with Rubysasha’s blocking wires & MacGyver (aka my long-suffering husband) was very impressed with the lace pattern when he saw it blocked. Prior to this, my knitting prowess & “show & tell” moments received a nod and “very nice” but he was genuinely interested when he saw the blocked Ishbel, going back to it several times & commenting on it. When he realised that welding rods could be used as blocking wires he was intrigued so, this morning, he rang every engineering company he had in his business card list and eventually found one that had stainless steel TIG welding rods. He headed off to fetch them and came back with 16 1m rods for a very modest fee.

I just adore Malabrigo Sock. I think I could happily exist with it as the sole yarn available to me. This skein, in Indiecita, was picked up in This Is Knit some time in 2010 and was a beautiful mix of colours.

After some deliberation, I settled on Holden as the pattern that my lovely skein would grow up to become. Ishbel was still blocking when I cast on & due to a re-scheduled paediatrician appointment for son #3 the following day I got a lot of the stockinette section knit in Cavan General Hospital while waiting. The 5 year old whom the appointment was for was kept busy with a Lego sticker book.

The shawl took on a life of its own & was finished in just over a week. The picot cast-off took ages and set the finish date back a little but it’s very pretty & effective. So, today, once I had the welding rods here I started blocking Holden.

I left the shawl steeping for 15 minutes…

…then after gently easing out any excess liquid, I rolled it in a towel…

..and then set to blocking. It turned out a good bit bigger than Ishbel, needing more playmats, but I had anticipated that as there was far less yarn left over with Holden.

Not sure if I am as expert a blocker as other locally-based lace knitters but I think it’s ok.

Now for some gratuitous yarn drool shots.

and

I’m willing it to dry fast. My parents recently converted our playroom to a sitting room for themselves & then had the attic converted as a bedroom for my 8 year old twin boys. The fireplace only went in last week & the inaugural lighting of the wood-burning stove is tonight. I’m sure if I leave the blocked Holden in the room with it overnight it’ll be well dry by morning.