All Hands on Deck!

There I was this morning, attempting to steam block my second completed shawl for the "Fiddler on the Roof" school musical. Being home alone, it was pointless to yell out, "All hands on deck!" to my family to help me steam block it as they did for the first shawl. (Mr. Dee is busy working at his new job, and the kids are at school.) I could pin it, but my pins went MIA after a crochet demonstration I did awhile back; I was meaning to replace them, but you know how it goes: you get busy, you forget.

So there I was this morning, trying to pull & stretch this shawl into the shape I wanted it to take while steam blocking it. I simply do not have enough hands. And, it was killing my back (not good when you have 2 ruptured disks!) What to do? What to do?

I stopped steaming ... as a youngster I was a Girl Scout AND (unofficially, thanks to having many brothers) I was a Boy Scout too ... motto: Always Be Prepared, or in my world, Always Think Creatively. I looked at the shawl. I thought about the wire hangers I've been collecting (they work great, when cut, as extra holders for the weed control paper used in flower & veggie gardens). I thought, Do I really want to tangle with wire hangers? Yes, Joan Crawford's image did pop into my head on that one. What about PVC pipes? Hmmmm, I don't have any small enough (PVC pipes work great as banner holders!)

Think woman, THINK!!! And then it occurred to me! Hey, last year while at the CGOA Conference I purchased those blocking wires ... where did I put them, and better yet, WHY haven't I been using them ALL year???

I quickly found them, inserted them into the shawl, and as I steam blocked one-handed, with my other hand holding my morning cup of coffee, all while listening to archived Getting Loopy Shows by Mary Beth Temple, I thought, this is the way it should be! Life is good!

Now, if only I had a blocking board! Hopefully a vendor will be selling them at this year's Conference! :)