Lace Blocking and Why It's Fun

So I washed and blocked my first piece of lace. It's a shawl from a pattern I got from Creative Knitting magazine. The original pattern called for a silk ribbon yarn, but I used a plain red wool instead (I was stash-busting). It looked pretty good unblocked, and the pattern didn't call for blocking. But since I'm working on a more intricate lace scarf, I thought that this would be good practice! It looks even more amazing than I thought it would. The blocking has brought out the stitch definition, and you can see the pattern! You can also see some of the mistakes, but I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt at lace!

As to the other lace project I've got going on, it's still going great! I love the pattern. It's got enough variety that I'm not getting bored, and I'm absolutely charmed by the look of the yarn in pattern. I'm flying through it, which is good, because there are 17 repeats of the 28 row pattern. So far, I've completed 3 repeats of the pattern, and no mistakes yet! Bragging about that is inviting the wrath of the knitting fates, I know, but the pattern is easy enough to know where you are most of the time. Hopefully I will have this done soon, and have pictures posted of its charming loveliness.