Blocking the Bolero

I am not very big on blocking, I have to admit. I am one of those who mostly wants to sew something together and wear it. Actually, I like to avoid seams in the first place, being a disciple of Elizabeth Zimmerman's bible, Knitting Without Tears. However, I did finish all of the knitting on my Trio Bolero last night, and decided that I should block the sleeves flat before setting them into the armholes (I had already altered the pattern so that the bottom half of the jacket was knitted fronts and back together as one piece, leaving only shoulder seams to sew). The front and neck edges are nice and flat with their garter stitch border with Fizz mixed in, but the sleeve edges were curling up, so I went ahead and dampened them and they are neatly pinned to my ironing board to dry, with the really cool Clover blocking pins. Those things don't bend or break when faced with a thick knitted piece of fabric - I am a fan! This also means I will have the jacket assembled and pictures to post in the next day or so! Yippee... there is spring in the air around here, with daffodils open everywhere and blossoms on our apricot and cherry trees, and I will have a new spring jacket to wear with my white platform sandals I debuted for a few hours in the warmth of the afternoon yesterday.