What goes around, comes around

I was listening to Yarns at YinHoo, one of my favorite podcasts, a few weeks back

and Sarah, the host, mentioned that she was enjoying a book about embroidery.

It is called Rebecca Ringquist's Embroidery Workshops.

I was intrigued.

Sarah was also taking one of Ringquist's classes on Creativebug.

I researched all of this and promptly purchased the book.

Then I signed up for a couple of Ringquist's classes on Creativebug.

I have been embroidering off and on all of my life.

My earliest recollections is at about age five,

so that is a good sixty years ago.

I also used to be a card-carrying member of the Embroiderer's Guild of America.

 I had never heard of several of the advanced stitches Ringquist teaches.

Can I tell you I'm in love????

Yes, I am!

Move over knitting, I'm picking embroidery back up again!

The nice thing is, I am incorporating all of these stitches into

silk backgrounds that I have dyed,

stitching primarily with threads that I have also dyed.

Several years ago my friend Joan was cleaning out her closets,

and I became the lucky recipient of several boxes of

DMC floss, perle coton, and Au Ver A Soie silk.

Now I'm thankful that I'm a packrat!

So, if I need a specific color in a hurry,

I have my and Joan's thread stash to fall back on and can stitch almost immediately.

Pictured above is my trial piece - just a piece of hand-dyed crepe de chine

upon which I am trying out new stitches.

Below is a piece that I'm calling Yellow Bird.

She is coming right along,

and I am enjoying adding new stitches and new threads

each day.

I am using a new-to-me product called Sulky Sticky Fabri- Solvy.

You can draw on it, print on it with your printer, peel off the backing and apply it to fabric,

embroider over your lines, and then swish it around in some water,

and pooof(!) the Solvy disappears.

Magic!

Here is a close-up of Yellow Bird when the Solvy was still on my silk:

I love how her wing came out:

I had purchased the 'bigger' threads from an indy dyer in England

(not my buddy Maggi Birchenough, but someone whose name 

I cannot recall), and they were just screaming out to be used

on Yellow Bird.  I couched them down using some of my own

hand-dyed variegated floss (you can see bits of yellow and blue

couching threads).

Now I'm adding some raised needle weaving:

I apologize for the blurred photo.

It's really a fun and relaxing process.

But, I am still knitting, 

don't let me kid you.

Such an idle threat from a big talker!

I finished this adorable little Baby Tea Leaves cardigan

for our soon-to-be born grandchild.

I am waiting until it is born and we know its gender

 to add the buttons.

The pattern is very easy and really quite sweet.

You can find it here.

One of the things I like best about this pattern is

that it is written in various sizes, so I can make one for myself

and also one for Mags.

Since I finished that sweater yesterday,

I have allowed myself to cast on a top for myself.

I had purchased the yarn in the early Spring when I first saw it

at my local yarn shop and knew that it would be snapped up soon,

so I had to have it!

Here is the knitting book.

This is the top I am knitting:

It shouldn't take me long,

and as warm as our Autumns are here,

I expect to be wearing it up into October.

Here is my yarn:

It is basically black with bits of cinnamon or copper running through it.

The yarn is very interesting.

It is a blend of 15% silk, 15% cashmere, 30% viscose, and 40% polyamide.

It is tubular, so there is no worry of it splitting,

and it is bulky weight, so it knits up fast.

I've finished the ribbing on the back and am now working my way up.

Sorry I am so long between posts.

Life is flying by, and I'm hanging on and enjoying the ride.

I get out in my kayak at least one morning a week.

Here are a few of the friends I've met recently:

Thanks so much for stopping by.

See you soon, I hope!