Spiderweb


The spiderweb is perhaps the best known mezza pattern; it is prominently illustrated in a portrait of an unknown lady by Marcus Gheerarts the Younger, 1605-10, and pictured in "Patterns of Fashion" by Janet Arnold. In that painting, the lad wears a white doublet, a red skirt, and a spiderweb overskirt of fine mezza.

It's possible to darn many mezza structures; but the spiderweb is the first I have encountered that requires darning to create the proper effect.

To do the spiderweb, first do a
Double Fan stitch. The size of our web will depend on the size of our mesh gauge (to create a web 5.5/12cm in diameter, I used a 10mm diameter gauge, and wrapped the thread three times around the gauge with each stitch). Eight stitches in the first row (before the big decrease), and eight stitches in the second row (the decrease row), will give you 14 spokes for your web.

Now carefully cut your anchor thread, and gently pull it out. I pin the fan down to a pillow or foam board, sticking one pin through the hub, and using pins to isolate, straighten, and secure each of the spokes in turn.
What you will end up with is 15 1/2 spokes. One spoke (illustrated in red, see left) will be twice as long as the others; this should be carefull cut close to the hub, and discarded. There will also be two unlooped, trailing threads. It, and the thread leading to our shuttle, should also be trimmed close to the hub. Pin your 14 remaining loops so the are evenly spaced in a circle around the center (a paper pattern may help).




Now, thread a needle and tightly tie the end to the hub, trimming the trailing thread. Begin to work a spiral around that hub, knotting the thread to each spoke with two tight buttonhole stitches. (See right) How many spirals ou can get depends on how big our web diameter is, and how closely your spiral is made. When ou get to the ver edge, work your way around one more time, catching the loop at the top of each spoke. Knot tightly at the end.

It is possible to do this pattern with more or less than 14 spokes. our double fan pattern will be the number of half the spokes, plus one; that same number (1/2 of 14 +1 = 8; 1/2 of 10 +1 = 6 for a ten spoke web) will be done on both the first and second rows of the Fan.

This pattern looks very unstable and very delicate. But in fact, it's surprisingly strong. I gave a test web to my 13-year old daughter, my 16-year old son, and my 1 year old niece, with orders to try and tear it up. Not even the baby could do more than distort it a little.





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