Kiri is blocking!

Finished the beading late this morning. After some false starts I decided to revert to crochet to attach the beads (started typing "attack" right there - interesting slip, eh?). After all was said and done, I realized a rather blatant problem: my cast off edge was too tight. I blithely skipped the written instructions for casting off (what am I saying - I never actually saw them at all) and forged on without guidance late last night. There isn't time to go back and re-work, since this is due to be a present tomorrow and I still have 96 samosas to make today.

Here is where I found the wonders of blocking. While it won't fix the tight edge problem, I am in awe at how much stretching you can do with damp wool. The intended scallop edge is impossible with so much tension from the cast off so it ended up rather straight. All in all, I think it works. Naturally, all I can see is the mistakes I made, but I'm learning to let go and move on, especially when everyone else (read: my husband, also an extreme perfectionist) says it looks great.

Here is my beaded version of Kiri, soaking up some sun:



(better picture once it's fully dry)

I made it a bit smaller, as this is intended to be a waist wrap instead of a shoulder wrap. My yoga teacher often wears something lacy around her waist, and the ideal here would be to have something longer in width than in length so it's easy to tie around without adding too much bulk.