October 2014 Smalls SAL: A belated Halloween treat

November 13, 2014November 21, 2014 Kate1 Comment

"Rotted but not Forgotted" by Plum Street Samplers — “Rotted but not Forgotted” by Plum Street Samplers, my (belated) October submission for the 2014 Smalls SAL

I had originally intended my October Smalls SAL submission to be completed before Halloween in order to celebrate the spirit of the season, but the best-laid schemes o’ stitchers and knitters gang aft agley, as the Scottish bard once said. I actually finished stitching quite a few days ago, but I’ve been so busy with … life? … that I just haven’t gotten around to posting until today.*

I fell in love with this design the second I spotted it on the cover of the 2012 Just Cross Stitch Halloween Issue (bottom row, center, in front of the little pumpkin):

In fact, I bought the issue specifically for that pattern, only to discover, to my surprise, that the pattern isn’t included in the issue. On page 62, the finished design is pictured in a group with some others from designers like La-D-Da, The Stitcherhood and JBW Designs. However, the actual pattern, which should have been on pages 63-69 (or thereabouts) is missing; I looked several times and kept turning the pages over and over again before I ultimately consulted the web page and saw an errata announcement. Fortunately, I printed out the pattern a couple years ago because it has subsequently disappeared from the Just Cross Stitch site without any explanation.

I stitched my version with Gentle Arts Sampler Threads in “Carriage Black” (the pattern calls for DMC 310, pure black), “Adobe” (light variegated salmon color), “Cornhusk” (light green) and “Banker’s Gray” (the pattern calls for “Tradewind” but I didn’t own it and didn’t feel like making a special trip to my unreliable LNS). The fabric is 32-count Vintage Country Mocha linen. I love the mottled look of this fabric and the muted color combinations which just scream of decay and aging.

Speaking of decay and aging… this stitched piece is riddled with minor errors where the stitches are off by one linen thread. This is perhaps most obvious at the very top of the design between the decorative trapezoid (yeah, let’s go with that…) with the skull and wings and the dark gray outline; where there should be a full stitch between them, there’s only half-a-stitch. I really need to do something about my glasses prescription. I find it impossible to navigate between my stitching and watching TV, which I do almost always while I stitch, and I need much better light when I work on linen especially. The only cross stitch projects that are proceeding well are the Shepherd’s Bush stockings with their user-friendly 9 stitches to an inch.

Alexander McQueen Skull Aran Jumper — This season, it’s all about skulls!

In keeping with the belated Halloween theme, from Alexander McQueen comes this Aran Skull Knit Jumper. If the $1085 tag gives you second thoughts, this stylish blogger, CreativeHandmadeCONCEPTs, has already recreated the sweater design for free. Here‘s the link on Ravelry so you can knit your own for less. While I can actually imagine a hand-knit sweater being worth that much (after you take into account the price of yarn and pay yourself a decent hourly rate to knit and finish it, it’s not that outrageous a price — and that doesn’t include the added love), I have a harder time imagining paying that much for one. But this kind of designer label pricing really drives me nuts.

*Unrelated note on Google searches: When you start to put “Burns To a Mouse” into Google search, it wants to autofill the response as “Burns to pee.” Make of that what you will.

Smalls SAL June 2014 (Better Late than Never?)

July 9, 2014June 10, 2015 KateLeave a comment

Pardon the wrinkles please! I’m on a deadline.

Continuing in my fine tradition of sneaking in just under the deadline of the grace period (or at least what I think is the grace period), I bring you this month’s (by which I mean June’s) entry for the Smalls Stitchalong (SAL) challenge. This is my version of Bent Creek’s “EduCATed,” a sweet little chart I bought eons ago and have been meaning to do ever since. It combines two of my all-time favorite things: cats and books. Together at last. And a punny title! Who could ask for anything else?

This pattern has two personal connections for me as well. First, the cat in the pattern reminds me a lot of my adorable, big beastie of a boy cat, Barnaby. Here he is in all his glory:

The Amazing Barnaby — Could I be more handsome?

I took it as a sign from the cross stitch gods that the name of the floss for the cat’s body was Gentle Arts Sampler Threads “Barn Grey.” “Barn Grey” for my grey Barnaby. Serendipity.

Sadly, lately, I spend more time watching that television in the background than I do reading. But I do enjoy old-fashioned hardcover books like the ones in “EduCATed.” My current obsession is collecting all of the Coralie Bickford-Smith Penguin editions. They’re repros, not vintage (obviously), but she uses contemporary colors and styles to capture that nineteenth-century Art Nouveau look beautifully. Here’s a pic of her first series, some of which you can also see in the background from one of my previous blog entries:

Coralie Bickford-Smith books, first set — So beautiful… and they will all be mine one day…

So that’s it for today — short and sweet, with some beautiful hardcover books at the end. Seriously, check out the whole collection — it’s amazing.

Update July 27, 2014: In case anyone’s interested (and, I suppose, in case anyone’s not, too), I made some floss substitutions for “EduCATed.” The green book (second from the bottom) and the green in the green-and-gold book (third from the bottom) are two different (very different) dye lots of Gentle Arts Sampler Threads “Dried Thyme.” It’s hard to believe they’ve been sold under the same color name. For the collar and the lines on the book second from the bottom, I substituted “Chesapeake” and for the cat’s eyes I substituted “Olive,” both by Weeks Dye Works. I chose “Olive” because it was a better match for Barnaby’s eyes. For the pages in the books, I substituted color #120 overdyed floss by Needles Necessities.

GIVEAWAY: If you would like my gently used chart for “EduCATed,” post a message below or send me an email and I will send it to you. Thank you for checking out my blog!

Union Jack and Bobbi Bear

April 17, 2014November 20, 2014 Kate3 Comments

I’m happy to report one completed project, “Baby Bobbi Bear” by Blue Sky Alpacas, and one nearly completed project, my “Union Jack” cross stitch design. Baby Bobbi Bear started out as a gift for my niece Ella’s first birthday — she is now four (or, as she would insist, four-and-a-half). Ahem. Then BBB (as I will refer to him from now on) was intended to be a gift for her sister Lauren’s second birthday, which was in late February. Double ahem! There’s nothing like sticking to your goals!

Anyway, next it was intended to be a gift for Lauren for Easter, but I also wanted to make a couple sweaters for BBB (just in case he gets cold) so I’ll be putting off giving him to Lauren for Easter. But I’ll get it to her soon. I promise. Blue Sky Alpacas has a free pattern that looks quick and easy. I’ll also probably knit up a hat or scarf. I’ll post a picture of the finished BBB soon.

The “Union Jack” freebie sample stitching is coming along nicely, especially considering I spent what felt like an eternity fiddling with what is, after all, a very simple charted design. I added a row on the sides, took off a row on the top and bottom, added those top and bottom rows back on, added the side rows back on plus another row on either side, removed the top and bottom rows again… and so on. You get the idea. I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible with the proportions, which is not easy considering that the slanting red stripes don’t line up “properly” in the original (that’s just my humble American opinion). What were those Brits thinking?

I love Union Jack designs and I chose here the same kind of weathered, variegated (“tweedy”) colors that I chose for the Debbie Bliss Union Jack pillow cushion I knitted in Fall 2012 as my Ravellenics project. In this case, I am stitching over one on 25-count oatmeal Jobelan with one strand of Gentle Arts Sampler Threads in Midnight (blue), Weathered Barn (red) and Oatmeal (off-white). When I print out the chart for Wordsmith Designs, I will offer some alternative color suggestions for people who want to use DMC/Anchor, Crescent Colors or Weeks Dye Works, or for people who want be more accurate to the colors in the actual flag. I should be finished soon. Rule Brittania!

If anyone would like a copy of the charted design, send me a message. Thanks!

Update: The Union Jack pattern is now available on my “Free Patterns” page. Just follow the menu link at the top of the screen. I’d love to see some photos of finished stitched pieces! Hint, hint.