Ashes of Roses: Blocking Terrors

So I blocked the ashes-of-roses shawl last night. My normal way of blocking has been to spritz things with water, then pin them to my blocking board. I consulted several experienced knitters about blocking this shawl, knit in bulky alpaca, and every single one of them said that I should wash it with a mild detergent, and squeeze the water out, roll it in a towel, and pin it to the board.

And so I did.

I'm a bit panicked now. It was knit pretty tightly, and now it's almost lace like, and the cables are huge. I'm not sure if it's going to work out, and I might have to knit the whole damn thing over again. Lace done in bulky alpaca? I'm not sure I can wrap my mind around this.

Here is what it looked like before blocking. Pretty tight.

Here it is a-soaking in cold water, with a bit of detergent. I knew when I took it out of the water that it was much looser than when it went in.

Here it is, a-pinned to the blocking board.

You can see how the knits and purls between the cables really opened up, and how the cables have become very broad.

I am not sanguine about how it looks right now, and I'm not certain how it is going to be once it's unpinned. I will check it this afternoon, when I return to my blocking board and what may well be a travesty of knitting.