Balaclava – Beige & Brown

Earth colours, set down in the order a ploughed field keeps them: cream, tan, dark loam, and a fleck of sage at every centre like the first green coming through. Worn, it frames the face the way a hood once framed travellers on long roads, quiet, practical, a little mysterious. Pull it on for the dog walk at seven, the cycle across town, the bus stop where the wind finds you. The crochet is dense and warm, with a scalloped edge round the face and a close band at the neck. Every square is made by hand, so the colour shifts slightly from one to the next.