Of BoInks and Lobsters

I apologize for not updating recently. This may be a slightly longer post than usual since I'm catching up on sharing all the photos. For starters, I need to write up a post mortem on Book of Ink Circles. I've showed the pictures around the Internet, but I really haven't squeed here properly. It's my biggest project to date so I'm understandably Proud.

I started BoInk when it was first online. This was the first project I actively picked my own colors for, rather than whatever was called for by the designer and I'm overall pleased with the results. Do over again, I'd do two things differently. First, I'd pick blues with more contrast. Since it was a Mystery project, I couldn't see all the pattern and realize "hey those will be next to each other and will need some pop!" I would also buy slightly more than suggested skeins for certain colors. I got a little bogged down a few years ago when I started running out of colors. People warn you of this all the time with overdyes -- buy early and often and even more than you think you'll need. There will be frogs and tears and you will suddenly run out of that one color and the next dye lot will be completely different. Fortunately for me, all the new colors were near the bottom in small areas, so it's not a massive change. I know where the issues are, but hopefully it's not too noticeable to the average person.

 Fabric is 28 ct Platinum Jobelan and the colors are all Vikki Clayton's Hand Dyed Fibers silks.

For this year I've gone back to small projects until I get started on the bigger ones. I finished up Ink Circles' (I don't just do her patterns, but it seems that way!) Ink Spot #3 aka "Lobster Bouquet" using some Olde Willow Stitchery "Philadelphia Red" thread I had in my stash. I used nearly two whole skeins on the project. I am fuzzier on the fabric. It's definitely a linen in consistency but not sure color, count or type. I am trying to get better at writing down fabrics.

 What's in the works: I'm slowly working on Ink Circles' "Pot Luck" but I'm have some frog infestations, so I need to sort that out. I really want to tackle the Mary Wigham sampler. I have the fabric for it but haven't found a good sunny afternoon to look at color options. I'm thinking of using assorted HDF colors from my stash rather than strictly what's expected. It might be a nice color challenge for me. I'm also pondering turning back towards blackwork, but I have to find the right project. I'd like to read more about historical needlework as well.

Celtic Swirls

Hello everyone. I realize I haven't posted much in awhile. Truthfully I've hit a bit of a dry patch on needlework, but hopefully that's changing. I didn't go to Stitch N Pitch this year, but I understand we lost to the Orioles again.

A couple of weeks ago, Tracy Horner sent out this "Celtic Spiral" Ink Spot freebie for those that subscribed to her mailing list. So I went through my stash for a suitable small piece of linen and some Hand Dyed Fibers silk floss to go with it.

Unfortunately I can't give you color names, because they'll all HDF d-bag/mystery spool colors, so they're usually not labeled. They off-colors -- ones where the dye wasn't quite right or where she was trying out a color combination. Her grab bags are great for small projects like this one.

The red and purple spools are both variegated. The red was mixed with a brownish shade, while the other combines different shades of purple, along with blue or black.

I finished it last night, despite the onset of frogs last week. The one thing you have to be careful of with samplers or motif oriented needlework is spacing. If you're off by just a hair, it throws everything else off. And sometimes it's a pain figuring out where you went wrong. This is unfortunately where cross stitch earns its reputations for being all about counting and swearing.

I have one or two other projects in mind to return to needlework. Not forgetting the great Book of Ink Circles. It will get done... eventually.

The unfortunate heron

So the flamingo was lonely in her menagerie and asked if maybe I could stitch a bird-like companion. Since I needed a project for the Stitch N Pitch game, I readily agreed to stitch Aury's heron, if I could find fabric and floss. I had a whole batch of Vikki's pretty D-bag skeins to choose from. Y'know I was tired of stitching the same colors, so I stayed away from my usual crimson/red/scarlet variations. I instead picked out a lovely shade of orange. I only finished about half of the project at the game. The biggest irony was looking at my color choice -- I'm a Washington Nationals fan and we were playing the Baltimore Orioles, so there I was at Nats Park in my red W cap stitching an orange bird at our home game. And yes, the Orioles wound up winning 2-1. Irony thy name is...

"The flamingo is ridiculous looking bird."

So it's been awhile since I've posted here. Time just has a way of getting away from you, doesn't it?

Quite a lot has changed since that last update. My old haunt, Needlewoman East, has shifted almost entirely towards needlepoint. They still carry a good selection of specialty threads, but from a cross stitch charts and fabric perspective, I'll have to look elsewhere. Scarlet Thread moved from Vienna to Great Falls and sadly will be closing next month. There a few stores left in the Northern Virginia area, but not a lot of them are public transportation friendly.

The latest scan is a Quaker-inspired flamingo created by Aury. She publishes some lovely freebies of different animals and they're very easy to stitch up. The blog is bilingual in Spanish and English. For threads, I used a Vikki Clayton mystery spool. When I saw the color initially, I couldn't imagine what I'd use it for. I tend towards more muted colors. But this color seemed perfect for this particular bird of paradise. West Wing fan that I am, she's nicknamed "Claudia Jane".

Hope to post some of the older updates, including my Olympic stitching, my first needlework class, Stitch N Pitch and continuing trials of the Book of Ink Circles. I'm back-dating those posts and marking them "flashback" in the tags, so readers can find them easily. I tried doing them as new posts, but that was going to get confusing fast.

We make our own fun

So I finished the latest two parts of Book of Ink Circles. When you're doing a long term project, I've discovered you learn to make your own fun. I doubt it's entirely a coincidence. All of the "Dutch Beast" motifs had hidden in-jokes/meanings, so why should this Mystery be any different?

For this corner section, I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Anya has reason to be afraid... very very afraid.



Maybe they're to chase the frogs away? Or keep the cats company? Or look furry and menacing? Cause they're not just cute like everyone supposes.

For the next section, maybe it was because of July 4th, but I kept quoting certain lines from the musical "1776". See if you agree:



FRANKLIN: The turkey!
ADAMS: The eagle!

So I figure the bird can be either done in browns/oranges for Thanksgiving or in patriotic fervor for the 4th. Your pick.

4/22/08 Celtic Masks

A quicker update this time. I finished most of the top section. Now I just have to lie in wait for the green and gold skeins to arrive in the mail. The scanner boxed the ears of one of the cats. Sorry about that.

My friend Lisa had an observation about the pattern today. When I asked if the colors were too Mardi Gras-ish, she pointed out the cats could be masks. I hadn't thought of that particular interpretation. Most people thought of them as gargoyles or ornamental beasts. I rather like it.

I'll be interested to see if any of the other squares work with that idea. But that's part of the mystery, right?

Celtic Mystery SAL Progress

I found a piece of 28 ct Platinum Jobelan at Scarlet Thread in Vienna that worked well with my chosen Celtic Mystery SAL colors. I steadily got started two weeks ago. I've been mostly working on the black borders with a couple of detours with two of green knots. Everything was going so well.

And then I hit another snag along the way. Last Saturday night I discovered I was off somewhere. I couldn't figure out for the life of me where. Finally I made a plea on the SAL mailing list. The designer is very nice and posted a larger version of the first part. I found my two errors. The major error was on the big square underneath the top green knot. It was missing one stitch which threw everything else off, of course. That involved the heartbreaking frogging of the whole green knot. Thankfully needlework can be redone.

After a morning with the frogs, I was able to close up some sections and complete my first corner motif. I still have to work on the left side some more before the next release. The design goes pretty quickly when things are clicking, even the black border. Then I hit another major snag. I was in tears and ready to throw in the towel, but I persevered. I finally found light at the end of the froggy tunnel and I finished off the interior framework. All that black...

I've included a closeup of Barfy the Cat-Owl. That requires some explanation. On the mailing list, there's been some discussion on what animal is in that corner motif. Was it a cat? An owl? Some strange mutation thereof? Then came the observation that the cat was puking a rainbow and Barfy (Or maybe Ralph?) was born. (Someone also joked it was the original Lolcat.) My variegated orange thread has made Barfy into a very mottled calico cat, rather than a tabby, kind of orange and brown, although the glowing eyes are rather owlish too. Hence the Cat-Owl, a rare species lost in Celtic times. Or something. The rest of the color scheme with the green and purple is very Mardi Gras-esque, especially once I add the gold interior border. Pretty though.



This is the fishtail section that comprises the second part. I'd like to thank my yellow highlighter for its part in my success, because keeping track of those color changes is no small feat.



And this is my full progress as of 4/21/08. I've since added more green in the border and completed the other cat on the corner. Thank god I've ordered more green and gold for the borders. Otherwise I'd be at a total standstill.

SBQ: Overdyes

Do you or have you stitched with over-dyed threads? (Weeks Dye Works, The Gentle Art Sampler Threads, Six Strand Sweets, etc.) If so, what is your opinion concerning them? If not, why not?

I am on the fence on over-dyed threads. I've bought a number of them over the years, but I've only dabbled in actually using them. I've used Caron's Waterlilies and Watercolors and Gentle Art's Sampler Threads predominantly. I've also bought Silk N Colors and a few others.

I love the muted colors. I'm an old-fashioned girl and I like the antiquey feel to most over-dyes. And I love the imagination and creativity that goes into the naming of some thread lines. Silk N Colors had a series based on the London Tube stops. Gentle Art has their Simply Shaker, not to be outdone by Olde Willow's Quaker Colors. Amy Mitten's Fibers to Dye For are delightfully ghoulish and mysterious.

On the other hand, I don't love the upkeep. The price you pay for hand dyed anything is that they are usually unable to be washed. I consider myself fairly clumsy, especially involving drink or chocolate or tomato sauce. White sweaters have given their lives in my name. Some would tell you unspeakable tales... So telling me something can't be washed or might bleed makes me skittish.

Reading the responses so far, I've noticed a number of people aren't wowed or convinced. They want more variegation for their buck. And they are expensive threads so I understand completely. For small pieces, it's a nice effect, but I'm not sure I'd want a full wall hanging in it. I don't necessarily like the wide variations in color, but that's me.

I include this small piece of work using Caron Threads:


This appeared in New Stitches #122 "Ackworth School Samplers", stitched on Aida using Caron's "Alpine Moss" Waterlilies thread. The motifs appear to be the same as the one shown in the center of the "Elizabeth Shephard" 1820 sampler. I just needed a small project to work on one weekend, hoping that it might encourage me to pick up the bigger projects I've let languish.