A Triangular Shawl Blocking Tutorial with Blocking Wires!

As promised, I am going to do a blocking tutorial for a triangular shawl, with lace bottom, using blocking wires!

This shawl was a test-knit for a Ravelry member. All details are on my Ravelry project page, here.

You will need:-
Pins. I use T pins.
A suitable blocking surface. I like these foam mats on my dining table, but some people use a mattress. Either way, I would get foam mats. They hold the pins in firmly.
Blocking Wires. I bought a whole kit from Hulucrafts, because I block a lot of shawls! The wires ARE optional, you could just pin each point out individually, but as I promised a tutorial using blocking wires, I thought I had better use them!


Rightiho!

First up, start as with the semi-circular shawl (and all other projects!) and sort out your blocking surface! I love these foam alphabet boards, they have had many projects pinned to them and aren't falling apart yet!

I lay out my shawl before I soak it, and see what shape it will be, where I will need extra boards etc

Step One! 

We need to get our blocking wire for the top edge. Here, we look at the shape of the shawl above. You can see where the straight edge is across the middle. We will pin the tips on either side of the 'wings' out separately. 

Take your blocking wire, and go over and under each purl-bump on your selvedge. 

 Under

 Over

It will look like this:-

Then use your T-pins to pin it straight.

Step Two:-

Take another blocking wire. Look at your shawl, and then decide where your pointy bits are going. If there are no pointy bits, just a straight edge, then do the same as in Step One along the bottom edges of your shawl. If you aren't sure where to put your points, look at the pictures on the pattern, or other peoples projects if it's on Ravelry.

Once you have decided on your points, then thread the blocking wire firmly through the fabric. Make sure it is through both loops of your cast-off edge, not just one.

Carry on along the edge of your shawl, only putting the wire through the bit you want to be pointy!

Do the same on the other side of your shawl. 

DO NOT pin the wires into place yet.

Step Three:-

Now, you need to pin your bottom centre point, in a straight line from the centre of the top of your shawl. Unfortunately, you can see that I didn't use my metre stick for this on this shawl! Oops. I have a wonky spine! But it's not that noticeable when worn. Anyway, I digress! Pin your bottom point. Then pin each wing tip out.

Now you have two points between which you can place your metre stick (or just straight edge, doesn't need to be a metre stick) and start to pin your blocking wires out!

And Voila! Your pinned-out shawl will look like this!

Step Four:-

When your shawl is dry, unpin it, remove your wires, sew in your ends, and then enjoy wearing your beautifully-blocked shawl!