Work In Progress: Big Softie Snood

Example of old school snood

Back when I was a youngster, a snood was a stretchy band with a mesh net on it that held your hair loosly at the nape of your neck. They were popular for about two seconds. The other day I was reading an article about what those in the fashion industry predicted would be the “it” items for the coming years. One such item: the snood. I immediately pictured my above description and envisioned girls looking like they’d just stepped out of a Jane Austen novel.

If you are as clueless as I, please allow me to enlighten you: the international fashion community has decided to take a perfectly good word that already describes a perfectly nice (but maybe a little dated) item and give it a second meaning. Confusing. NOW a snood is also a scarf that call also be worn as a hood.

Example of modern snood: Purple Peppermint Loop Scarf made by MaraBianca for sale @ Etsy.com

Snoods are very similar to cowls in that they’re worn around the neck, are large and loose, and are joined in the round. I think that the big difference between a cowl and a snood is that a cowl is supposed to be used as a neckwarmer and a snood is meant to be both a neckwarmer and a hood. Personally, I think both words can be used interchangeably.

When I was out yesterday I found some incredibly soft cotton yarn and I’m just improvising a  pattern for my own snood (the hood kind not the hair kind) in half double crochet. I’m making a rectangle about 20″ x 30″ and then I’ll stitch the piece together along the shorter edge. I’ll post pics of the finished project once completed.

I decided to make this since none of my coats have a hood. Yes, yes … I have tons of hats and just as many scarves but it’s nice to have some variety.

Christmas Gift Goodies

Now that Christmas is officially over I can finally share the gifts made for my family that have been consuming so much of my time since before Thanksgiving. I’ve already posted a few of these items on my Ravelry page so for those of you hooked into my profile there you might see some repeats.

Let’s begin!

Susan’s Hodge Podge Mittens

Mom’s Bullet Hat

Garret’s Scarf

Katie’s Poncho

Dad’s Cashmere Scarf 1

Dad’s Cashmere Scarf 2

Garret’s Pom Pom Hat 1

Garret’s Pom Pom Hat 2

Dad’s Loom Knit Hat 1

Dad’s Loom Knit Hat 2

Erik’s Pom Pom Hat

Erik’s Skater Beanie

Mom’s Hodge Podge Mittens

Krista’s Extra Long Scarf

Krista’s Bullet

Two Finished Projects

I finally finished the basket I’ve been working on. I like how this looks but to be honest I think it’s a little, um, floppy. The sides want to fall in on themselves. This was an easy pattern and I think if I make another basket I’ll try to use 2 strands of yarn.

Crochet Basket

I fell in love with Stitch ‘N Bitch’s one skein scarf from the moment first saw a photo of another person’s completed project. I knew I had to make one for myself. I used cotton yarn because I had some on hand that wasn’t designated to another project and I think this wasn’t the best yarn choice. It’s pretty but feels heavy. This was quick and easy and this would be a great last minute gift.

One-Skein Scarf

St. Patrick’s Day Scarf

Sorry for the delay in posting the project I made for St. Patrick’s Day. I couldn’t really find anything different or exciting  that was simple to make to wear to work so I ended up making another scarf. I created this like I did my black scarf posted recently. I used about a third of the pegs on the long, purple Knifty Knitter loom using the figure 8 wrap.

Skinny Scarf

I love this skinny scarf! I got a lot of compliments at work when I wore it the other day. I knitted this on my spool knitter and it’s about 82 inches long. I was shooting for 100 inches or more but jeepers creepers if I’d have made it any longer I’d have looked ridiculous.

March WIPS

Ah, a new month and new WIPS (works in progress). Here’s an update:

• I have an rose & gray colored afghan that I’ve pretty much stopped working on because I’m disgusted with the seaming work I’ve done on piecing the first and second panels together. I was about 1/3 of the way completed with the last panel when I stopped. I will finish the afgan but I’ve halted for the time being because I’m not happy with it. Maybe I’m punishing the blanket for looking bad? Lesson learned? If I do another afghan I’m going to buy a Serenity Loom – no seams!


Serenity Loom @ Crafts.com

• Inspired by the long, skinny scarves made by Buttcupbeadshop at Etsy.com I decided I would try to make one for myself using my spool knitter. I’m loving how this is turning out! I want these to be super long (the inspiration pieces say they’re about 100 inches long) so I still have a long way to go but this is knitting up very quickly so it shouldn’t take too long. The yarn I’m using for this project is Caron Rainbow Dreams in colorway Trade Winds. I love these colors and have actually used this same yarn to make two different cowls for both my co-worker and and myself. I’m excited to finish this and wear it!

• Also while looking at Etsy I saw a ton of cute, knit shrugs. While looking for a pattern I could only find needle knit patterns which I probably could translate to a loom-knit pattern. It’s basically just knitting a rectangle long enough to go from one arm, across the shoulders, and then down the other arm with seaming edges together to create the arms. Unfortunately for me I don’t needle knit (yet but maybe someday) but I found some guidance at Purling Sprite’s blog that should really help with knitting a shrug on a loom. As I said, this looks simple enough to make. I’m knitting it on the round, yellow Knifty Knitter loom with Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick N Quick in colorway Taupe with just a simple e-wrap knit stitch.

Black Scarf

I started this scarf last Friday and it was a really quick knit. I used the long, purple Knifty Knitter loom following the knitting instructions that came with the loom except that I only wrapped about 1/3 of the pegs to make a skinnier  scarf. The yarn is I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby in Black which is a very soft acrylic. I’m happy with how this turned out.