Tuesday 30 August 2011

An Old Fashioned Kerchief

I did manage to find a few minutes to knit.  I've added the last of Northampton's 3 colours.

Pretty, yes?  A friend at River City had the book and started picking 3 colour combinations and I joined in and started to play. And here I am with a copy of the book, a small stash of individual skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, and 3 future scarfs!  Northampton was not originally designed for this yarn, but oh, how it should have been.  It looks fantastic.  

I worried that I would run short of yarn in each section, but it is going to be plenty big by just knitting till a colour is gone and not worrying about perfect stitch counts in each section.  I am almost to the correct number for the end of section 3 before the lace begins and if I run short on the dark gray, I do have one spare gray skein to finish with.  I should note that I am replacing beads with a yarn over k2tog row.  Beads would be cold and not needed if the goal is to be warm.

Northampton is a traditional square scarf, the kind elegant women wore in the 60's with large sunglasses when riding in classic convertibles, not that many women rode in classic convertibles while wearing large sunglasses,  many women did wear large kerchiefs in inclement weather. Kerchiefs are still worn many places in the world as traditional head coverings , particularly by elderly women, sitting in the sun, while knitting.  

A good head scarf is much more usable by me than a hat.  I know I look stupid in hats.  A scarf lays a little more softly around my face and flows down and around my neck and can be tucked firmly into my coat lapels and under the collar all around (for that elegant 60's look, dontcha know) 

I would like to dream that I leave the picture of the elegant 60's woman in peoples mind as I walk by, but I'm pretty sure that the old woman sitting in the sun is much more to type.  It is what it is. Sigh.  

Oh to dream.

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