After the scouring to get the mill oils out. I get to tell the new parents that it’s already been washed in water too hot to touch.
The answer to the lace pattern pulling the edge pieces upwards after the cast-on: run in the ends only through there, and then again from the other direction. Weigh them down, add the bulk, it’ll straighten them out and make them stay straight–and they did.
And while I was doing that I worked on the back of the join areas to tug down anything sticking out and it worked. Nice and straight now all around.
I didn’t get a good picture of any of that but I did manage to capture the damp afghan in direct afternoon sunlight.
On a political note, should you be interested, my cousin Jim, formerly a Republican and definitely far to the right of me, had a few things to say. 