Three days of knots

It doesn't look much but this is three days stitching time - quite a lot of time, actually, as it includes a weekend. During the week I spend some of my sewing time at the sewing machine making bags etc for the school fair at the end of May - weekends are all mine! When one is retired there has to be something that distinguishes the weekend from the rest of the week.

I have to stitch these knots in 'broad' daylight - that means as strong a daylight as one can get. My eyes need a rest after about 20 inches of thread. The outside is stitched in two rows of single wrap knot using a single strand of floss (another good thing about this sort of stitching : a skein of floss goes a long way!) The French knots are not all great (and that is putting it kindly) and their placement is not particularly good but then, as I keep reminding myself while I stitch, this is Maggie's parterre. I can assure you that it is impossible for me to plant anything in a straight line or at equal distances. My husband can do this with incredible accuracy - his vegetables were always equally separated while mine grew higgledy piggledy. So it is a fairly accurate portrayal of how the edging plants might look if I had really planted them. (How is that for rationalisation of a fairly mediocre piece of stitching?) I have found it not easy to see at times but stitching French knots is definitely addictive and surely practice makes perfect.

The colours have not shown up very well in the scan . I used some of that lovely Anchor multicoloured floss. I bought it thinking I might have a need for it one day. Lovely shades! These knots use two strands so I have pulled out the 2 strands and turned one of them upside down to get a mix. It works quite well. Another fun exercise while I stitch - trying to decide just what flowers am I planting? So far I have decided that I have got nigella and lupins. Maybe I need some nasturtiums? Heliotrope?