Handspun Infinity Scarf

Day 115: You'll have to forgive the model. I made this snood/scarf/hood for myself, so it's only fitting that I wear it for the photos. This is how I put the "8-Ball" handspun to good use. The wool came as a package of eight colours, an ounce of each, hence my name for it. After putting the work in to spin it, I didn't want to waste any of the yarn, and decided the most effective project would be an infinity scarf. I chose to knit it in the round which, if you know anything about knitting, was a huge pain in the neck because I had to wrestle with a twist. It is a simple pattern of two knit rows followed by two purl rows on 120 stitches calculated for a circumference of 24". As I was knitting it, I didn't realize that the yarns were an exact colour match to a pair of leg-warmers I made a couple of years ago from variegated commercial yarn! What are the odds of that ever happening? Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

Netted Snood

Day 37: This one's for the mediaevalists out there (and you know who you are). I only recently discovered detailed instructional material for making netted lace (something I've wanted to add to my repertoire of needlearts for at least fifty years). I played around with making simple bags for a bit, and then wanted to advance to a level where the end product stops being a net and begins being true lace by virtue of having a more textural design. Although this is generally executed as filet embroidery (adding surface threads to a base net), texture can also be incorporated into the net itself by making increases and decreases in the structure. I opted for simple clusters. These are made by putting two stitches in two adjacent loops in one row to produce four loops, and then joining those four loops in the next row. An increase of one loop at the center of each sequence must be made in the third row if the piece is to maintain a uniform diameter, and then one plain row is worked in order to be in the right position to begin another cluster. Snoods are known from the Bronze Age onward, and were most commonly worn by women during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. They were often made from metallic fibers and frequently incorporated pearls or other gems into the lace.