A Bluestocking Knits

I took this photo the other day to write a progress post, and I turned around and the thing was done!  It is, of course, the "Pink Sparrow Sampler" by Brenda Gervais of With Thy Needle & Thread. 

I substituted "Gingersnap" for "Burnt Orange" before I'd even started, as it looked awfully vivid even in my shopping cart.  It wasn't until I started stitching with "Pumpkin Patch" that it, too, did not impress me overmuch — it looked exactly like orange sherbet.  I've nothing against orange sherbet per se, you know, but it just didn't seem to go with the rest of the colors — and so I overdyed it with some black tea.  I think I could have left it in the tea a bit longer, but at least it isn't quite as sherbet-y as it was.  I left the "X Y" I'd done pre-tea, and a good portion of the zig-zag just above it, but everything else is over-overdyed (as it were) — the "E F" in the above photo is the tea-dyed batch.  "Gingersnap" is actually a rather lovely auburn — it's the flower at bottom right —

There is no signature on this sampler, although it is said to be an antique, and I don't always sign my reproduction pieces, but I decided to sneak my initials in there this time, and did the capital J and S in four-sided stitch.  They don't show up particularly loudly, but that's alright with me.

It wasn't until I had finished the lower-case alphabet and was working my way around the lower field that I realized there is no y or z!  I suppose the original stitcher felt there wasn't enough room.  It is a bit well-populated, I guess, but it seemed a bit harsh to leave off y and z simply because they're at the end and "there wasn't room," and so I tucked them in, one on each side, in one of the quieter colors ("Raspberry Frost") — before (above) and after (below).

The eponymous pink sparrow, although to be honest it isn't very pink.  I'm pretty sure it isn't a sparrow, either, but there it is — I'm still quietly pleased with the effect.