Pointwork And Needle-Hitching

Day 355: It has taken me a week to finish a covering for my dagger sheath because I changed horses in midstream at least half a dozen times when my mental vision exceeded the physical execution of a particular pattern. For this precise reason, it's always best to use multiples of threads which have a number of different possible divisors. In this case, I was working with multiples of four, making it easy to drop out threads as the taper grew narrower.

This type of marlinespike seamanship is largely decorative, and is a dying art despite its close relation to macramé. The techniques are discussed in detail in the "Ashley Book of Knots." From the top of the sheath near the dagger hilt, you see a turk's-head executed in artificial leather cord, two sections of common underhand needle-hitching separated by a panel of Carrick bends, and then two turk's-heads spaced at either end of a long pointwork section. The cord used in the body of the work is nylon. None of the knots/hitches shown here is particularly difficult to do, but in combination, they become a piece of fancywork any good pirate would covet.