Volunteers Needed

Ok, who wants to volunteer to knit socks like these for me? I'm even willing to take two with different patterns! 

http://www.needlenookoflajolla.com/events/kclarksocks/index.html

Seriously, these are the Kelly Clark mini-socks which Needle Nook of La Jolla are offering as a Sophisticated Sock canvas series.  I think they are very interesting looking.  I'll be curious as to how they are stitched.  Any chance of a preview, Vicky?

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

October

This morning there was a bit of winter nip in the air in Chilly Hollow. It's October 1 and Halloween is around the corner!

For most needlepointers, October is the month when you have to have that big Christmas project to the finisher's place for him or her to work their magic.

It's the month when you need to kick into high gear and finish stitching the pieces you are not sending out to the finisher that you plan to give as gifts this holiday season. It's a stressful time!

I think that is one reason Halloween parties and dress-up costumes and candy is so much fun for adults. We really do need a little fun with the holiday chores breathing down our necks.

The pumpkin above is one of Leigh's Pun'kins, the witch. You can enjoy the others here. They are quite clever in how a strategically placed leaf and vine become the pumpkin cat's ears, etc.

http://www.leighdesigns.com/Grp511x.html

How about looking at some fun pieces from Ruth Schmuff's shop? Some are finished, some aren't, but they are all inspiring.

http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2008/09/trick-or-treat.html

http://www.tistheseason.org/blog/2008/09/more-finishing-options.html


And of course I can't resist adding an old favorite--the Victorian Halloween pieces from Melissa Shirley that Chaparral has done in their own over-the-top manner with finishing to match.

http://www.ndlpt.com/html/series/svictorianh.html

Happy October!




Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Blocked!

Yesterday I stuck the snowman ornament under running cold water in the sink and got him damp all over (not sopping wet).  Then I stapled him to 5x4 inch stretcher bars which is the outside dimension of the scrap of 18 count canvas I stitched him on.  If I'd put him on stretcher bars to stitch, I might not have needed to block him.  No guarantees on that, though.  Interlocking Goblein pulled him quite a bit out of true.  Oddly, this stitch which I normally use in the thinner and more forgiving Impressions, pulled more using Caron's Snow than my more usual thread.  The type and size of thread you use makes a difference in whether you need to block just like the stitch you used does.

I took a chance wet blocking this piece. You never know whether a thread is colorfast.  In fact, cross stitchers who normally wash their background fabric both before and after stitching and who also wash their threads before stitching with them, deal with running colors all the time.    I used a lot of synthetics which in my experience don't run.  The red smile nylon thread was my biggest concern but it only ran a smidge and it isn't noticable in person although you can see it in the photograph.

This sat overnight and dried.  I will reblock today as the lower right corner could be a little less prominent.  But he's going to be much easier to finish as a square than a parallelogram!

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

OT: Retirement

I'm not retiring, but my cousin is, since he's nearly 40.  He rose from life as a professor's son to head off to college financed by the kindness of someone named George Steinbrenner.  I've heard there was a bit of family drama when his grandmother, my acid-tongued aunt, wanted to invite Mr. Steinbrenner to Thanksgiving dinner as a thank-you, but we dodged that bullet and Brad actually had a baseball career of sorts.

Since he has the family gift of gab and is smarter than most of us (and we are all clever in my family), I hope to see him as a successful manager of a baseball club one day despite the obstacles so carefully skirted by his teammates in Houston in this farewell video.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080930&content_id=3575060&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

Maybe he could make a living as a sportscaster in the meantime.  Or teach surfing.

Good luck, cuz!

Main blog and more sarcasm at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow

Fringe

 

Last night I adding some straight stitches in three of the four scarf colors to mimic fringe. I didn't use the blue Impressions since it would visually disappear against the overpowering blue sparkly background. After that, I did stem stitch using my light rose silk/wool Impressions on top of the ends of the scarf since knitted items are bound off on the ends. That made it look more real.
As you can see, the piece is finished but distorted. The next step will be to block the piece. I'll work on that tonight and explain how I did it tomorrow.

Main blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/chillyhollow