Thanks to
Susan who suggested (correctly) that my Berber scarf was not knitted or woven but
sprang, I've been on an interesting diversion to find out more about this technique.
Some of the features of the scarf that indicate it's sprang , apart from it's texture are the loops at each end and its mirror image.
The centre (pictured above) has the the threads doubled in a different 'stitch' and a characteristic 'seam' to prevent it unravelling.
Difficult to take a picture of the whole thing given its length but I did my best( above)
Final confirmation on page 139 of John Gillow's excellent
African Textiles with an illustration of a 'Berber women's headband of woollen sprang'
I've just noticed that this is my 200th post! Thanks for your continued readership and comments.
You can't go to Tunisia and not hear about Star Wars! We gave the 4wd trip to the film sets a miss but enjoyed a Celtia beer at the Sidi Driss Hotel in Matmata which was used as the location of Luke Skywalkers home!
We had a tour of a traditional Berber troglodyte pit dwelling (offered tea and bread) . I tried to ask about the embroidery on this lady's sleeve (it looked similar to a piece I bought in Yazd) but apart from establishing it was old and pretty didn't get very far.
We spent the night in our very own cave at Hotel Marhala and despite the beds being slabs of stone with a mattress on top had the best nights sleep of the trip
