Between blotch and blok

My current winter hat is my Scareisle tam--yup, fair isle with more than a touch of Hallowe'en about it. This is fine in October, but a tad odd in January. So, this week I knit this:


I am in love with the yarn (Buachaille by Kate Davies Designs) and the pattern was sweet to knit. And the result is really warm--all that extra buk from the stranded knitwork.

I've never really bothered with blocking: for sweaters and such a steam with the iron while maing up deems to work well and gloves and hats strect to fit. But lace, that needs a good stretch:

Looks really huge, but it's actually a neat little wrap for my nekc for under the new winter coat (and possibly the green smart coat too). I'l be on the lookout for a new brooch to fasten it in place. Closeup of the lace pattern (and my yarn):

 

The plan: to follow some, if not quite all, of the knitting patterns in Mrs Beeton's Book of Needlework.

And why not? as a certain film critic used to say.

And why?

• There's some cool, if not always (ever?) strictly useful, things in there.
• There's the challenge of following the not-always-complete written-out patterns.
• There are too few opportunities for typing the word "antimacasser".

First off, a knitted veil, of the sort one can imagine pinned on top of a suitably severe hair-do.