Snow Blockage

It's been snowing on and off for the past few days, meaning that blocking the Snowflake Shawl kept getting put off.  I finally got fed up this morning, and decided to pull out all the stops to get this thing blocked in one day.  I pulled out the largest pot I owned to give the shawl a little bath:

Before sitting with my blocking pins on the bed, resulting in this:

The yarn relaxed a little bit, which I think helps even out the hexagons where I had to bind the edges together.  Due to the lack of sun, I resorted to pulling my big fan out of storage and setting it on medium, aimed right at the shawl.  Every hour or so, I've been moving it around slightly to dry different parts of the shawl, and it's working wonderfully.  Hopefully it'll be fully dried by late afternoon/early evening, giving our comforter a few hours to fully dry before bed!  Then... maybe tomorrow... a photo shoot with the finished shawl?? ;)  We're supposed to get around a half of foot of snow tomorrow, which I think will be the perfect backdrop... :)
While this has been drying, I got to hang out with an old climbing friend this morning and work a bit more on The Dude Sweater.  I'm already past the first color stripe, and hanging out with Alex (while she was sewing) allowed me to get a couple of rows into the colorwork!

I have to admit, the first couple of rows were a little on the brutal side.  This sweater is knit back and forth, so I have to figure out how to read the colorwork charts correctly and how to knit with colorwork on the wrong side, which I've never done before.
Well... it's a chance to learn something, I suppose?
Hanging out this morning and doing crafty things is a nice break for my body- I climbed on and off for about 5 hours last night.  I got off my shift around 4, then kept climbing with various groups of people that showed up.  I didn't get off the wall until just after 9 pm.  My arms and back this morning at exceedingly sore, and my fingertips are absolutely raw.  I plan on doing some stretching and yoga today, maybe a little time on the Elliptical machine, but keep it pretty low-key.  I plan on climbing for a few hours again tomorrow, so today will count as an easier rest day.
Perfect for getting grading and knitting done. :)

(Oh, and if you've noticed that my pictures seem a little different- it's because they're taken from my iPhone with my Camera+ app!  I'm enjoying taking the pics and being able to add flash and clarity and borders, etc. right away, which is perfect for on-the-go knitting pictures.  I may try to take some in the climbing gym tomorrow... we'll see how it goes!)