Blocking

I finished a Multnomah shawl a few days ago. This is a pattern I love. I think this was my fourth or fifth Multnomah.

I used a yarn of "questionable heritage," shall I say, which I bought while in China in 2005. If I remember correctly, I paid the equivalent of around $4.00 for six skeins of this yarn. Fiber content, yarn weight, care instructions are included on the label of each skein,...but I can't read Chinese.

It was a lovely, soft yarn to knit with, and I am certain, from the feel of the yarn, that it has a heavy wool content. Maybe it's even 100% wool.

I know there are ways to test the yarn to see if it's heavily wool or heavily acrylic. If it's acrylic, for instance, the yarn will melt when a match is touched to it.

Maybe I'll do that test yet with a piece of leftover yarn.

I knew another way to test the yarn for fiber content would be to block it after finishing the project.

So block it I did.

It blocked beautifully. Wool and other natural fibers relax when soaked and blocked; acrylics hardly move a muscle when blocked. Look at the difference between the first photo, with the shawl in the chair, and the final photo, with the blocked shawl back in the chair.

Quite a difference, isn't there?

 If that's not wool fiber, then it's another natural fiber, not a synthetic, that's a definite.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this Multnomah. Donate to someone, for sure. A program in Minnesota called "Wrapped in Care" gives hand knitted shawls to women who lose their babies at birth.

I sent one shawl to the program last fall and received a lovely thank-you note as a result. Perhaps a grieving mother would appreciate this shawl.

Regardless, the Multnomah is an enjoyable shawl to knit...and admire, once it's completed.