203:365 The final verdict

Anna: I didn't get around to taking photos of these until quite a bit later than I expected. My husband has been mucking about inside our computer since yesterday. We got two 1gig cards of RAM for our computer - and they didn't work. After fussing some more with it today, he had to take them back. While he and our elder daughter were gone, my younger daughter and I re-arranged the living room in preparation for Thanksgiving (for us Canadians, Thanksgiving is the second Monday of October). We actually found a way to put a table into our living room! We still can't sit at it, but that's ok. *L*

So here are the two test swatches. The one on the left was pinned, then steamed; the one on the right was soaked, then pinned. As you can see, there's quite a difference!

The steamed swatch leaves the pattern very open and visible - but there's NO side-to-side give at the solid rows. Since the body is made up of rows of double crochet, this is really important. The wet-pinned swatch kept some of the yarn's elasticity.





Here, my younger daughter is holding the swatches up to show the drape a bit. There really isn't too much difference between the two. The steamed one is a bit more floppy, but it's not any softer.

So I'll be wet-blocking my sweater. Which is good, since it'll be a LOT easier than steaming it!

I'll just have to take over the living room floor overnight with a futon mattress to be able to do it. *L*

Oh, and, with our seeming inability to upgrade our computer, it's starting to look like we'll have to get a new one. *sigh* There was a time when you could buy a computer and upgrade it as needed. Most new ones are not upgradeable at all, so I guess I should be happy we've been able to do as much as we already have.

Maybe this time, we should just buy parts and build one ourselves?