The Home Coming

I didn't finish Isis before I left last week. I had hoped to take a new (and smaller) project on my carry-on only trip, so I agonized about taking Isis or forsaking her to finish when I returned. I gave in to my deep yearning to finish, and took her along. Those last few rows were sleep-inducing long. I knit a little, but slept most of the way to London. I started the final cast-off at Heathrow and finished it on the second leg of my trip, from London to Alexandria, Egypt...and it hit me. Isis was born as we landed in Alexandria, as the sun was setting. She was home. It was meant to be.

As I folded her up I realized I had lost my one stitch marker. Silver and amethyst. Probably on the New York to London plane or at Heathrow. The flight was British Air and if anyone finds it passing through London let me know!

Here she is, after a cool bath. I soaked her for about 60 minutes, to make sure the fiber was really wet before I blocked her. She didn't need to be washed, but if she did, I would have done it at this point.
I rolled her in a towel to remove as much water as I could before starting the pinning process. I block on my living room floor and I use a large bed sheet on my ancient Persian rug. I can't do much damage, because the rug is already pathetic. I use stainless steel T-pins.
I blocked out the corners first and used three pins per corner as this detail shot shows. I blocked each of the corners, making sure the lines that run from the center out to each corner are even. I did this by eye, but you can also use a yardstick.
After blocking out each corner, I blocked the center point along each edge. You will notice that the border forms points at each"flower" which each become a place to put a T-pin as you block.
Here she is blocking until tomorrow. I will try to keep LucyFur off by putting another thin sheet over Isis until she is dry. I will post some better pictures and my final notes over the weekend.

I will also post some travel pictures when I can unload them from my cell phone. I didn't take the good camera in the interest of keeping my load light. And you are thinking "If she finished Isis before she even got to Africa, what else did she knit while she was away?" All in good time...