In the Beginning.....

Way back mid2007, there was a weaver who couldn't. To satisfy her yearnings she roamed the web looking at any reference to textiles.  The ancronym, "TAST" kept appearing on blogs with very little extra information.  Nonetheless, Google turned up Sharon Boggon's blog In a Minute Ago  ( a treat in itself) and, I think , her first Take A Stitch Tuesday series.   That seahorse on the same page  looked gorgeous -and ever the optimist, that weaver thought maybe, despite her lack of skill and experience, she could learn how to do something like that.   Sharon was to give a class, Sumptuous Surfaces.   ( The weaver is now a weaver who doesn't!  (but one day might!))

Of course I enrolled - but in the meantime there was  TAST.  I can not remember what the stitch that week was but it was definitely way out of my scope.  So back to the list to find something possible - Running Stitch.

The effort this piece took!  Oh dear, how was I ever going to manage to cope with Sumptuous Surfaces? Not many running stitches in that seahorse - but I was committed. The rest is history -   Sharon was very patient and a whole new world opened to me. This is where it all started   - my contribution to this week's TAST

  PS That seahorse is still on the to-do list!

Sprig muslim....?

 When TAST 2012 began I thought this might be an opportunity  to combine each month's allocated stitches in a carefully designed piece.  Easier said than done!  In fact I am still trying to decide what I want to stitch with the first 5 stitches for the year..

However February's stitches seemed easier to use- a biscornu seemed a logical shape for the chevron and chain stitches.  I already had stitched buttonhole and back stitch edging on both sides. The dark blue-green=yellow variegated Anchor #8 was darker than I wanted but the edge was already done and I decided that maybe it added to the design challenge

 .  After much deliberation I thought I could get something delicate looking with a pale pink contrast.  However it was like looking for Jane Austen and finding Emily Bronte on the bookshelf - the former, delicate like sprig muslim and the other, a tad dark, heavier and gloomy!

Nonetheless I persevered and used chevron and lazy daisy on one side.

  Then more chevron with zigzag petal stitch on the reverse.  This side used crossed chain with the whipping stitch couching a thicker apple green thread for a border..

 As well as couching this thread along two chain rows I used three detached chain to couch the thicker thread in each corner ( not as obvious in the photo as I would wish).  This is my only couching for the week's TAST stitching.

I am satisfied to a limited extent - I did manage to produce a finished piece using the month's stitches and, while I am not completely happy with my colour choices, I feel they are reasonably acceptable.

Now to get back to the design board and the 5 January stitches!

Early Again!

Well, on Tuesday I stitched my TAST for the week. I really love chain stitch - not sure why  i feel differntly about detached chain. Anyway chain stitch is the stitch of the week and here are some examples of my hain exploration.

This is something I did for my PLOS stitch exploration. I was very happy with it in 2007 and still am.

This time around I have decided to find some variations from Edith John's Creative Stitches

Yellow Finca #8; Variegated Anchor #8

From the top (enlarge fo a better view)
Tied Chain - three rows of chain - the top two tied with yellow, the bottom, with variegated.

Threaded Chain - a row of variegated #8 , threaded with #5 DMC yellow and tied with #12 DMC Black

Crossed Chain - two rows of chain (variegated) the first section is crossed in only one direction while the second is also crossed back

The next three rows are interesting - I was trying , fairly unsuccessfully, to follow the instructions in the book for Linked Chain  - I left the erroneous ones deliberately.  The bottom row in yellow is I think correct.  Interestingly Linked Chain is really linked detached chain.

This is followed by a row of variegated Barred Chain.

Alternating Barred Chain , in yellow.

The last row is what Edith calls Triple Chain - again  I tried something different towards the left - not very obvious in te photo but the little detached chains are at a slight angle to the vertical. Next time I would probably slant them further.


There are not many of these stitches I would use in my embroidery. A pity I am not a crazy quilter! The only purpose I can think of is in, possibly, a biscornu on Aida. I like ordinary, everyday plain chain as an outline stitch and, sometimes, as a filler. However I had lots of fun trying these variations (also it is an excuse to use the psychedelic thread).

Detached Chain

Although I am posting two days earlier than usual, sadly I can't get very excited about week 7 in TAST  - it is detached chain, daisy, lazy daisy or whatever.  There are not too many new ways I can use it without adding other stitches.  Finally I decided to add it to my Fly Stitch spiral - an excuse to use a different Anchor variegated cotton.  This pale one is much easier to manipulate than last week's strident colours.

After chasing through my stitch books up came Edith Johns' Zigzag Petal stitch - a two way stem stitch with the addition of a detached chain in the middle of each stitch. 

Not a particularly well executed example - I definitely need to practise to get the stitches more even. However this gives the general idea of the stitch.  I usually work stem stitch without a hoop or frame and feel my control is good - however some tautness of the fabric might be a good idea for the chain stitch - something for me to remember in the future.

A Snail on Temazapam!

More belated TAST - Herringbone, or to be more precise, double back, has occupied my last two days stitching.  When all is revealed it is obvious I am a slow stitcher - but this slow?

All my stitching time yesterday - maybe three hours, at least, were spent on these two puny efforts.

The previous day was slightly more productive - there were square and circle double back.  These are definitely keepers for the future but I just can't see me taking time to stitch  and restitch  the square on the diagonal which occupied more than the lion's share of yesterday's time.

*** I forgot to mention that there is a square doily in Danish Pulled Thread Embroidery that has 81*! of these squares in the centre - what is my trouble?****

These are worked diagonally and are fairly intuitive - the instructions in Fangel are very explicit and easy to follow, in any case.


I really love this double back pulled work and will keep playing despite yesterday's problems. There are some ideas percolating on the back burner for future use.

Magnifiers for all occasions!

I now own a magnifier that you wear on your head rather like a miner's lamp - a birthday present to help increase the space between the holes in the linen.  My dermatologist uses  similar eyewear to remove extraneous bits from my legs so the idea is good.

This is the latest addition to my collection - there is a lens with a lamp downstairs as well as a separate lens that I use with a daylight lamp upstairs.  This new device will be perfect to carry  for meetings as it is fairly light and portable.

So a case is wanted and the right piece of weaving is maturing in the cupboard - some Turned Taquete that I had produced in 2005 (was it really that long ago?). Also some pale green lawn that I had made in a marbling class way back in the 90's - almost vintage! - good lining.  Well this quick job took me quite a few hours but I am really happy with the result

Sunday Post

It would appear  that it takes me until Sunday to write a blog post -I  had even worked my psychedelic chevron by Tuesday evening and the other piece of chevron was finished by Thursday morning but life got in the way - a habit it seems to have.


Anyway, here it is - the Anchor #8 that I couldn't resist buying seemed perfect for the exercise.

 

I love this stitch as well as Half Chevron. I made a number of samples when I did Sharon's PLOS class in 2007 and also used it for a biscornu .  This exercise was a refresher - while I love chevron my use for it has been limited so now how I could include it in my work. Maybe add a diagonal version

Could anyone resist this 'stained glass' ball of thread? Its only drawback for me is that the sections of colour are very small and difficult to deal with.  Maybe chevron is the answer - but single or double ?

This had all been nice and uncomplicated - even my eyes were happy with the Aida spacing - what would be the effect on linen as a background .  My only use for Aida seems to be biscornu.

Don't you love the contrast between the two? I did think of using a dark thread but that was not the effect I was chasing.

This perle is #12 while the Anchor variegated was #8 and the fabric is 32 count linen.

I am not sure whether I might find a use for this or not.  However this week's TAST was fun.