Folk Shawl finished

It's been almost 5 days since I have finished the Folk shawl Sampler from Folk Shawls: 25 Knitting Patterns and Tales from Around the World by Cheryl Oberle. I promised to myself to finish it before school began and 1 hour and 10 minutes before the stroke of midnight before teacher planning I finished knitting it. Now, after taking it off the needle and finally stretching it out to take a picture, I measured it's length - it's nine (yep 9) feet long - now I have to figure out where/how to block it? No bed will handle it - I don't think I have 9 feet of open space that will work. Can I fold it in half and block it?

This shawl was one of the most challenging works I have done and completed (completed being the KEY word here). I did learn how to fix some mistakes without tinking a row or two back. When you cast on 401 stitches, the very thought of tinking will make one sick and want to throw the whole piece in the corner.
I chose this one for two reasons: I liked the pattern and shawl and it was a KAL for the yahoo group Folk Shawls - they have a quarterly KAL from Cheryl Oberle's book. I used extra fine merino wool (superwash) and size 7 needles. If I did it over again, I think I would have used the 6 needles and a fingerling weight yarn. However, this will be wonderful to wrap in during the winter.
It feels strange not to be working on this - I worked on it most of the summer and I am missing working on the challenge. All good things must come to an end I guess to allow for another!