Snoods !

The women of 1940s wore a lot of turbans, scarfs, bandannas and snoods as a way to relinquishing elegant and elaborate hairstyles for more simple ones thus supporting the war effort by not being wasteful and vain. They were also practical when working in the factories were women were replacing men on the line due to the war.

Some of these head gears however became quite elaborate as these beautiful pictures show where the every day snood has been made into a little work of art that could be worn with an evening dress ! The picture is from ca. 1940 The model standing is wearing a red silk crepe dress, with diamond and ruby jewel and the other, sitting,wears a royal blue silk jersey dress, matching snood, and sapphire and diamond jewels - Image by © Condé Nast Archive/CORBIS

If you have a talent for making things you may want to make your own snood. This is a pattern I found on knitting-crochet.com

From: FlossieB.

I have a snood pattern I made for my daughter 2 years ago. It is from a book I have written in the 1940"s. All of the patterns are from that time but I kind of remember what the one that Scarlet wore in "Gone with the Wind" looked like. I think this will work for you. Very simple and my daughter that has hair to her waist could get all of her hair in it. It is an open weave though. She had to use a pony tail holder and a few bobby pins on her hair to keep it neat.

Materials: (Medium size)
2 oz.4-py yarn (wool) I used acrylic
crochet hook :size 3 I think I used a "G"
1 yd. grosgrain ribbon.
22" round elastic
Gauge: 4 meshes = 3"


Ch 49.
Row 1: 1 long treble crochet (long tr.) in 12th st from hook, *ch 4, skip 4 st on ch . 1 long tr in next st; repeat from* ending ch 4, skip 1 st,. 1 long tr. in last st. Ch 9. Turn.

Row 2: 1 long tr in first long tr of Row below, * ch 4, 1 long tr. in next long tr; repeat from* ending ch 4, 1 long tr in 5th st of turning ch, ch 4, 1 long tr in same st as last long tr. Ch 9, turn.

Repeat last Row 6 times (23 meshes). Ch 9, turn.

Row 9: Skip ch 4, 1 long tr in next long tr., * ch 4, 1 long tr in next long tr; repeat from * ending ch 4, 1 long tr in 5th st of turning ch. (23 meshes). Ch 9, turn.

Repeat last Row 7 times, ending last Row ch 5 instead of 9.

Row 17: Skip ch 4, 1 long tr in next long tr, work even to within 2 meshes of end, ch 4; yarn over 3 times, insert hook in next long tr and draw up a loop, over, take off 2 loops 3 times in succession, wrap yarn over hook 3 times, insert hook in 5th st of turning ch and draw up a loop (6 loops on hook), over, take off 2 loops 3 times in succession, over, take off 3 loops (a decreasing long tr), ch 5 turn.

Row 18: Skip ch 4, 1 long tr in next long tr, work 18 meshes, ch 4, work a decreasing long tr in last 2 long tr. Ch 5, turn.

Decrease 1 mesh each side of each of next 6 rows as in last Row. Ch 1, do not turn.

BORDER: Sew ends of a 22 inch piece of round elastic together. Working around elastic, work 2 sc in each mesh on entire outer edge, join with a slip st to first sc. Fasten off.
Make a tailored tie of ribbon and sew to front of snood.

*** note*** Along treble (according to the book) can be made by yo (Yarn over) any number of times and still drawing through 2 loops at a time, until one loop remains on hook.
I think I just did a regular treble crochet (tr) except where it stated. I would have to make this again to really remember. Good luck with this.



If you, as I, have no inclination what so ever to crochet, knit or sew... ;) Then you should check out these pretty snoods at Arthelias attic on Etsy. They are only 9.99 USD.

Going away for a while...

So I´m off to Africa and don´t know when my next post will be, but I´ll be back ! :)

I´ll leave you for now with this neat "receipe" for making your own nail polish.

How to Make Your Own Nail Polish Color

By Carly cooper

Are you tired of constantly seeing the same nail polish colors in store after store? Have you always wanted to purchase a specific color of nail polish, but never succeeded in finding it? Good news. Now, with just a few simple steps, you will be on your way to creating all sorts of different nail polish shades!

Here is what you will be needing:

1 regular sized index card 1 bottle of clear nail polish any color pigment (eye shadow colors work wonderfully) 1 mixing stick a paint brush

Directions:

What you're going to be doing first is to make sure you have an index card in front of you because this is where you will be doing all of your mixing. If you do not have an index card available, a paper plate works well also.

After you have got your index card in front of you, you are going to take your preferred color of pigment, or eye shadow color, and simply break away at the pieces, and let them fall on to the index card, plate, etc.

Once you have your desired color of pigment or eye shadow on your index card or plate, you will then take the bottle of clear nail polish and you will be pouring out just a tad bit more than you have of the eye shadow color. I suggest starting out with just a small sample of the eye shadow color and clear nail polish so that if you're not satisfied with the color, you won't be so wasteful.

After you have mixed the clear nail polish with the eye shadow pigments, you will then take your mixing stick (I like using manicure sticks), and you will carefully mix the nail polish and the pigments together until you start to see a new color appear. Keep mixing until the substance is milky. You do not want the nail polish color to be too gloppy or else your nails won't look so hot. Feel free to mix in a bit more of the clear nail polish if you notice that it's still too gloppy looking.

You should now have made your very own shade of nail polish color.

You can test it out on one of your nails to see whether or not you like the color. If you are not satisfied with the color you have made, simply find a new eye shadow color and repeat the same technique as stated above.

However, if you are content with the color, you will then take a new index card, and a nail polish bottle that contains clear polish inside. Now, you will fold the index card in the shape of a funnel, place the pointy end of the index card inside of the nail polish bottle, and pour the whole rest of the eye shadow pigments inside.

After you have done this, you will then shake up the nail polish bottle to make sure it mixes well. If you would like, you can also take an art paint brush, and mix in the pigments inside of the nail polish bottle by simply placing the paint brush inside of the bottle and stir in a circular motion.