White Threads

my congenital disposition

My husband brought the local newspaper in from the letterbox on Thursday morning. As I ate my breakfast, I paged through it. A little way in, (definitely further than page 3…) I was shocked to turn the page and find myself smiling back at me!

A long-lost article about me and my left-handed stitch dictionary was finally printed. It wasn’t all that long or lost, however as it was organised about a month ago actually as promotion for the craft show, but it never went in at the time, I just assumed it had been shelved. That’s why I was so shocked to finally see it there.

It is reasonably accurate in what it says, though it does make out that I had trouble being a left-handed stitcher, which was never the case. Being left-handed has never bothered me when interpreting right-handed instructions. I realise that I am very fortunate in that, as not all lefties are able to do that.

But the most amusing aspect of the article is that it refers to my left-handedness as a congenital disposition. And I quote:

Who would have thought something as simple as a congenital disposition would be so frustrating?

A WHAT?! Well, I suppose it is a congenital disposition, as I was born that way, but equally, right-handers have a congenital disposition to being right-handed, and they seem to manage… You could also say that I have a congenital disposition towards being able to see, or eat, or walk… What a ridiculous thing to say, but it has provided a good laugh!

struggling with silk

Yesterday my brain was having some down time – I was tired, ok! – so I decided to do something pretty brainless.

The day before I had used some of the gorgeous single ply silk from Stitches and Spice on my exhibition embroidery. It was LOVELY to work with, but I was a bit scared about it. You see, after cutting a piece off the mess that is otherwise known as a skein, I didn’t really know what to do with the “skein”. How should I control it?!

I knew that if I didn’t get it under control, I’d never be using a piece of the thread again because it would be permanently living in knot-land. So I grabbed the cardboard tube which I had scavenged when we finished a roll of cellophane a few weeks ago, and cut 4 cm off the end.

I sanded the rough ends with a sanding block, to make them completely smooth as we are working with silk here! I then started to wind the silk onto the roll. Well, about an hour or so later, I finally had this:
It looks lovely and neat, doesn’t it? Let me tell you, it didn’t always look like that!

In theory, I should have been able to undo the skein from its tag, open it out, put it around my knees and wind it off onto the skein. Well, that’s what would happen in the ideal world! But because I’d already cut a bit off, and then tied it back on the tag in my own way, it was never going to happen with this skein. So it meant laying it out, and carefully untangling it and winding it on.

As you would expect, it got hugely knotted, but because the silk is so lovely and smooth and slippery, none of the knots were not undoable. With perseverance (and a lot of it!), I got it all unknotted.

So then I started winding some of the others that I hadn’t already used. I had about a 50% success rate with this. All the ones I attempted, I did get neatly wound onto rolls, but about half of them went through the knot process to get there. Each time I got it neatly and easily unfolded and looped around my knees, I felt quite triumphant, because that meant it would be a 5 minute process, rather than up to an hour.

I will keep persisting, because they just look so much neater, and eminently more useable wound onto the rolls.

the bits of cardboard in the centre of the rolls is the Stitches and Spice tag, so that I still have all that information about colour and dyelot.

Speaking of brainless, though, I made a bit of a boo-boo this morning. Some of you may have been treated to a little bit of a preview of a stitch along post. I’ve partly pre-written a few posts, and one of them had an incorrect date, and decided to post itself, unfinished, this morning. I have now removed the offending post, but it may have been slightly “seen”. Oops! Sorry about that!

SAL: getting inspiration

Sorry, this post has been removed. It wasn’t supposed to be here yet! Just be patient and it will be back in about a week. 🙂

Going in a exhibition

I’ve decided to enter an embroidery in an exhibition. The Embroiderers’ Guild of NSW, of which I am a member, is having an exhibition called “Stitch + Stitch = Magic” in September. Its focus is contemporary, innovative embroidery and design.

The entry forms have to be in by tomorrow, Friday, so I posted mine off yesterday. I guess that I’m supposed to have already started the embroidery, as the form asks for the finished, framed size of the work… Well, your guess is as good as mine, seeing as I haven’t done anything for it yet other than think. The finished works need to be in part-way through August, so I have a little time left to do it in.

I’m going to go with a similar idea as the two covers for the left and right-handed stitch dictionaries: hand-dyed Colourstreams felt using the colour gradations as contour lines along which to embroider.

If I had more time, I’d also do a circular one, with concentric circles of different stitches exploding outwards. But I think one is ambitious enough right now!

Unfortunately I won’t be able to show you the work beforehand, as the rules state that it must not have been previously published in any media. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take photos as I progress and keep them in store for later. 🙂

The exhibition is by selection, so my work may not be chosen for showing anyway. We shall see…

Mountmellick thread

In preparation for our Mountmellick embroidery stitch along, starting in about a week, I thought I might direct you back to an old post on Mountmellick thread. Mountmellick thread IS different to work with compared to other thread, and the post explains a bit about it.

school holidays

Its winter school holidays (that’s “vacation” to some of you!) here at the moment. I’ve finished re-knitting my jumper, gave it a wash, and its now drying (hopefully the air in here is warm enough!). Amazingly, there was a whole sleeve of Grandma’s original knitting left over, (the previous jumper was very bulky, and the new one is quite slimline) which pleases me no end, as I get to keep some of Grandma’s bit.

I’ve been working on the beginners Hardanger booklet, filling orders, doing promotional stuff for The Right-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion, and doing some house painting – there are always more architraves to paint!

I’m also working on my fourth Hardanger bookmark, all with the same design as the first one, though different colourings. So far I’ve made the one you’ve all seen here, a red and cream on natural linen coloured one, a green and white one, and now a pink and white one for my Grandma. She’s recently done something very lovely for me, so this is another thank you bookmark.

I am supposed to be starting to write the next book, but so far I haven’t got there yet, and with the Mountmellick embroidery stitch along about to be upon us very soon, I can’t see it happening in the next little while! But that’s the beauty of working for yourself and self-publishing – you get to set your own schedule. 🙂

Teach yourself Hardanger embroidery

Thank you to all those who have commented on my idea for a beginners Hardanger booklet. It has been interesting reading why you think it would be helpful to you – such as that you’d like to use a booklet like that while travelling. This makes me think that you’d like it in a smallish size, so that it can be easily popped into a travel bag. And the fact that many of you *can’t* get to classes due to work commitments or geographical location is also a good reason for a booklet like the one I am planning.

Well, I will get on with it, and continue adding more info to make it as complete and thorough as I possibly can.
Elegant Hardanger Embroidery
If you’d still like to add your comments and ideas, I’d be very interested to hear them. As you know, I love feedback like this, and usually incorporate all that I can into the relevant project. When working on The Left-Handed Embroiderer’s Companion I was thrilled to have so many wonderful suggestions from all around the world, and where possible, I included what I could, definitely making it a better book.

Of course, for those who can’t wait, you can also purchase my book Elegant Hardanger Embroidery, which has already taught thousands of people how to do Hardanger embroidery.

Mountmellick stitch along starting soon

Just a reminder that we will be starting the Mountmellick embroidery stitch along in about 10 days time, on 20th July. If you haven’t already got your supplies or your pattern to join us, you’ll need to do it as soon as possible. If you don’t get yours in time to start with us on the 20th, that will be ok, because you’ll always be able to go along at your own pace.

For all the details, head to our special Mountmellick embroidery stitch along page.

I’m really looking forward to this project as its the first stitch along I’ve run here on the blog. From the sounds of things, there are a lot of people out there in blogland who are excited about it too.

I look forward to sharing it with you!

Beginners hardanger booklet?

With my recent Hardanger class for beginners, I wrote extensive step-by-step notes as a handout for the students, so they could take reference home with them, to refer to. One of the students in the class said to me a couple of times “No, don’t show me. I’ll see if I can do it from your notes first, and if I have any problems, I’ll ask.” And she did very well. The things I needed to show her were things that I decided to add more detail about in the notes, if revising them.

And that made me wonder about writing them up as fully as possible, and publishing it as a beginners Hardanger booklet: a project that takes learners step-by-step through the process of creating Hardanger, teaching them as they go.

Its just an idea that I am kicking around at the moment. It wouldn’t really be a fully fledged book, but it would be more than just plain old class notes. I did have people asking at the craft show about beginners hardanger projects, and it also made me wonder about the merit of creating such a booklet. It would be the type of thing that you could purchase and use to teach yourself, or a group could get together, purchase enough copies for everyone in the group, and work their way through it together.

Is this of interest to anyone?

Merezhka class in August

I will be teaching Merezhka for The Crewel Gobelin in August this year. It is a class suitable for beginners, though some experience with counted embroidery, such as cross stitch, would be an advantage.

Merezhka is drawn thread work from Ukraine. Merezhka Poltavska is the name of this specific type of merezhka, which means that it comes from Poltava, in Ukraine. Traditionally, this type of embroidery was worked on the top of the sleeves of women’s blouses, and down the front of men’s shirts. It was also worked across the width of the ritual towels, commonly used in religious observances in Ukraine.

We will be working this small panel of merezhka embroidery, in two three hour lessons, over two weeks (Tuesdays, August 17 and 24 10am – 1pm). To book into the class, please contact The Crewel Gobelin. 9 Marian Street, Killara. Ph 02 9498 6831.

If you’re wanting to learn more before you book in or before you take the class, we have further information on merezhka on the Vetty Creations website. You can also purchase my book Ukrainian Drawn Thread Embroidery: Merezhka Poltavska.

I’d love to see you there!