The Importance of Blocking

Aww blocking, the dreaded word, right next to guage.  I hate to block I really do but with lace work it is vitally important as shown by this work.  It was suppose to be the 198 yards of Heaven but ended up being about 500 yards of...well lets just say not Heaven.

I got this yarn from my friend Knitter Mama.  It smelled of mothballs and was quite rough.  A whole lot of washing, and conditioning, (yes one can use hair conditioner to soften wool, and it makes it smell good) it turned out not bad for my first lace work.

So here is it is pre-blocked  
It looks rough and small

This is after blocking, what a difference this made.

Pre Blocking 

Post Blocking

This pic does not do it justice