2 white scarves

Photo courtesy of Katie Fullmer

I didn't end up getting my grand blackwork plans accomplished, but the scarves were well received and done within the short window, so I have to say they were a success.

Here's Kynewynn the Kind, Artemisia's premier Dona of the Order of the White Scarf about to attend the ceremony for her son, Giovanni Il Ratto, as he becomes the youngest Don in the Kingdom.  Research is still out as to whether he's the youngest Don in the SCA Known World or not.  He also might be the first second generation Don.  He certainly is the first in Artemisia.

I was so honored that Kynewynn chose to wear the scarf I made her for the ceremony.

I have to say, I'm totally nuts about drawnwork.  I think it may be my favorite type of needlework,  That's rather amusing to me since I am such freak for color and I would swear I don't really care for counted work. There's just something peaceful and easy about the white on white and the manipulation of threads though.  It makes me happy.  And it looks classier than I really am.

Here's a couple of in process pictures since I never went back and wrote up the post I'd planned on it.  Here's the mess of drawing the threads after I'd stabilized the ends.  The scarves are just over 2 yards long so, while there really aren't that many threads pulled, they're long and make quite the pile. 

Still not a great picture, but this is a little better at giving you an idea of what the laced hemstitch looks like.  Each side is 3 passes with the first one securing the hem and bundling the edge threads.  I did bundles of 4 threads.  Second pass is going back the other way and bundling the other side of the drawnwork section.  Final pass just takes a thread down through the middle.  The lacing is really easy.  Rather than doing a bundle of the bundles, which is what several other patterns call for, you just pull one bundle over the other and the thread keeps them from flipping back in place.  It's one of my favorite stitches.  I did the same one on the towel I made for Serafina's Laureling last year.  This was just a lot more of it.  There's a little over 24 feet of hemstitch.  I was working pretty solid on them starting just before Thanksgiving, other than the week I took off to make Mikey's doublet.

Photo courtesy of Sue Fullmer

I ran out of time for the more complex borders I'd planned, so I settled for simple backstitch monograms with some elements from their heraldry.  They both have vert  and sable and Kynewynn is well known for her heart (both heraldically and as one of the sweetest human beings ever.) Gio wants a frame drum as part of his, but it didn't translate well, so I settled for rapiers.  The fringe is handknotted.  It's just Gutermann  white silk sewing thread and their gold metallic.  I secured the short edges with a buttonhole stitch after hemming them and tied the fringe into those stitches. I use a crochet hook to pull the bundles of thread through and then do larks head knots. Super simple, but a lot more time consuming than you would hope.  Definitely worth it.  I love the fineness of this fringe rather than the perle cotton I usually use on things.