Happy #NeedleWorkMonday! A few years back during my early days on Steemit, someone suggested I practiced my macro photography on my yarn fibers. I can’t remember who it was but I never forgot the idea. I decided to play around with it last night and the photo above was the clearest shot out of four. I had fun capturing it and will be doing more.

I am finally finished with my mother’s hat and fingerless mitts. Now on to the last piece of the set...the broomstick lace scarf.

This is my second time using this stitch. The first time I made an infinity scarf and used a finer yarn which is better for this stitch. When using a finer yarn it’s easier to shape the stitches into the “lace” design and they turn out more distinctive.

My mom likes her scarves long and skinny so this one will take me a little longer to finish.

I just wanted to take this photo to fantasize I was actually knitting for this project. I wanted to try the broomstick lace stitch because it reminded me of knitting . Although it may look like knitting it is still considered a crochet stitch.

19th century crocheters actually used a broomstick handle to create this lace. I can imagine how awkward and/or difficult that was to use. Instead, I am using a size US 50 (25 mm) knitting needle. You will also need a size I (5.5 mm) crochet hook.

Here is some of the process...

Normally I would ch. 30 to cast on 30 but since I am making a skinnier scarf I only needed to cast on 20. The broomstick lace is done in multiples of five, you always work with five stitches at a time. Oh and by the way it’s not necessary to say “cast on”, once again I am fantasizing. You are essentially pulling up loops through the chains and placing them on your hook.

Here is the backside...

The first row is ~~never the prettiest~~ always the trickiest. You have to work harder to shape the lace so that both sides flow evenly. You literally have to turn it into place. It gets easier after this because they began to sort of fall into place. Here are the first three rows...

Once a row is completed you cast on again and begin the next...

Gather up five stitches and ch. 1...

Remove the bundle from needle, shape the stitch where it’s even on both sides and sc 5 into the center...

To connect the next set of five you gather them together and do a sc...

Remove the bundle and do 4 sc in the middle. Each lace set will have a total of 5 sc...

Continue across until all loops have been grouped and gathered...

Here’s a closeup...

I started working on this yesterday and this is how far I was able to go...

I’ll be working on this throughout the next couple of weeks. My mom has been so patient with me. I was supposed to have this set completed at the beginning of Winter. Unfortunately she will probably have to wait until next Winter to wear it since Spring is around the corner. She may be able to squeeze in a couple of wears before then, we’ll see!