Kimono Shawl - to block? or not?

I've never been a very adventurous person. This was evident when I finally bound off the last stitch on my kimono shawl at 3am last night, looked at the blue squiggley pile that's occupied the past 4 weeks of my life, and decided that I will not block it.

Yes - you heard right. I just cannot bear to think of the multiple potential problems that might arise with blocking - what if the color ran? what if i used the wrong shampoo & the yarn felted or something? what if... what if...it stretched & stretched like the rubber arms on that Fantastic 4 guy? So in my sleep deprived state, I thought it looked very pretty just as it was and didn't need blocking.

This morning my inner Aries decided to show up, and I worked up my courage to block it. It wasn't easy as I had used 3.6mm needles at 1 end, 3.0mm in the middle, and 3.25mm needles at the other end. Long story .. see earlier blog entry. Let's just say I spent a lot of time on my knees arranging pins.

100+ pins later

Blocked size : 19inches x 70inches (I only did 23 pattern reps but it's definitely long enough)

Posing prettily with the paper gift bag that I happened to find that matches so perfectly

I found an entire row missing only when I took this shot - it's cropped out of this picture, no sense posting a permanent record of my mistakes now, is there?

I'm so relieved that this is finally done. Today for the first time in an entire month, I am not knitting lace. And guess what? My fingers feel funny when I pick up my 4-ply cotton. I miss lace, I miss the floati-ness of Zephyr yarn....... I cant wait to cast on for another lace shawl!