Blocking a handspun hand-knitted hat

I finished my Check Slouch hat yesterday (see the yarn and pattern here) It looked great on but arguably should be blocked in order to look its best.

1. a soak with a delicate wash such as Eucalan

2. The pattern says "block over a dinner plate or balloon". I've never done this before but it works remarkably well. It costs just a few pence for a balloon, plus I've sealed it with a food sealer here so I can re-use it!

The top of the hat is a little more puckered than it looks on the pattern, this could be because when I switched to dpns for the final decreases, I went down a size thinking this would be ok.

I'll post "start-finish" pictures when this has dried and I can model it.