Blocking a Slouching Octopus

I recently completed the last round of knitting on Jared Flood's gorgeous Hemlock Ring Throw (pattern here: http://theraineysisters.com/?cat=51). Like many who've made the throw, I went ahead and knit the extra few rounds past Jared's pattern (suggested by The Rainey Sisters site). I did it in Cascade Yarns Ecowool, and love the feel of the throw. Actually, everyone in the family loves the feel of the throw, from Mrs. TSMK all the way down to Mrs. TSMK's cat.


The trouble is, I can't manage to get it properly blocked. Before blocking, the piece simply looks like a blog. I went after it with warm water, a bunch of towels and every pin I could find. Pinned to within an inch of its life, the blog turned into a lovely throw, taking up essentially all of Mrs. TSMK's bed.

After several hours on the bed the throw was not yet quite dry (although very close), but I needed to remove it. I unpinned it, and did my best to keep it stretched out overnight. In the morning, it looked ~ok~ but not great. Over the next several days, it gradually crept back into the slouching octopus shape shown below.



I brought it into my LYS yesterday and spread it out on the table in all its rumpled glory. At first, we wondered whether I'd missed something in the pattern, causing the outside rows to need to stretch much more than was appropriate in order to get the interior section to lay flat. On re-reviewing the pattern, however, it looks like I actually got it done correctly at the end (although there are a few, ahem, design elements in other portions of the piece). So, I've shot an email off to the designer to see if he might offer a suggestion or two. Hopefully, we can get this whole situation straightened out (pun absolutely intended). - TSMK