A Bluestocking Knits

I had a sinking feeling as I began to work this over with the new colors, that I'd miscounted the first time.  Of course when I picked it up again the other day, I started with the next dividing band under the little filip on the end of the ribbonwork, and carried on blithely (wanting to start with positive new colors instead of negative picking-out).  I kept trying to tell myself that it was okay, it just looked a bit longer than it should because there was nothing beside it for scale (!), but no — I had counted not just slightly wrong, but very wrong, when I started the ribbonwork of the floral band last summer.  Not just "threads" wrong, but "inches"! so that new signature line will have to come out.

Well — (sigh) — I am certainly enjoying the new colors, that's something!  And I must say, I do like a nice bit of satin stitch …

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.

 

The "Philadelphia Vine, 1755" sampler from The Scarlett House.  I fell head over heels for this the moment I saw it.  The colors! the silks with each other, and the silks on the grey-brown linen! the neatly-turned corners!  Oh my.  Being more than a little late to the reproduction-samplers party, I was surprised to see that this is a nearly-brand-new chart, since so many of the ones I've fancied have been long out-of-print and required combing through second-hand sales to find!

Surprisingly, I had no trouble getting the same fabric as recommended, though that was after I discovered that Weeks Dye Works' "Confederate Grey" is now called simply "Grey".  The harder part was getting the silks.  Since the colors were what caught me in the first place, I wanted to not substitute for any of them — but fate was against me.  The three Dinky Dye silks were quite easy, but Gloriana "Summer Gold" was in short supply, and I could not find "Evergreen" for love or money, and I even came to the point of figuring out DMC substitutions, but then I decided that "Evergreen Dark" seems actually pretty close.  Gloriana's "Old Red Barn" was another problem, as it looked quite, well, barn-ish in the pictures I saw, and so when I found a shop in Michigan that had the "Evergreen Dark" and the two other Gloriana reds I figured were most beautiful, I nearly jumped with joy.  The colors above are Dinky Dye's "Cottesloe" (the creamy-white), "Saltbush" (light green), and "Seagrass" (dark green), and Gloriana's "Summer Gold," "Evergreen Dark" (dark blue-green), and the two deep reds, "Rosewood" and "Cranberry."

These last are very similar, and probably could easily be substituted for one another without much problem.  This skein of "Rosewood" seemed a little deeper to me, and didn't have quite as much variation as the "Cranberry," wh. I now have a full skein of for another project (!).

And after that, this was a pleasure to stitch.  I almost wish that I'd had longer to enjoy the process!

The chart is clear and easy-to-read, and aside from those little gold "plusses" in the lower floral border being red on the model and gold on the chart there were no inconsistencies.

The over-one section looks much more cramped on mine than on the model in Scarlett House's photo — I remember seeing somewhere the recommended fabric being 30- or 35-count, not the 40 that is on the chart now, so perhaps the model was worked at a slightly larger scale? 

Curiously, considering the trouble that I had in getting hold of it, there was quite a lot of the silk floss left over — maybe even enough to do the whole thing again.  (I did not, by the way, have any issue with the silk being wound on a paper bobbin this way — no creases, dents, etc.  I suppose that the end closest to the center will have some creases on it when I get there, but I've never found that to be an issue with my cotton floss, as once it's worked on the fabric, it smooths itself out.  I do usually wet-block my pieces in cotton floss, though I suppose I won't risk it with the silk here.)

"Margaret Ann Klinedienst" sampler by Queenstown Designs.  This was certainly a challenging piece.  Some of the inconsistencies are mine, such as the slightly-yellowed flower in the top border, when I must have picked up the wrong bobbin and didn't notice until quite some time afterwards, but most of them are Margaret's — the occasional pale leaf in the border, the wobbly corners, the not-quite-centered basket patterns.  The border motif looks like it repeats, but in fact many are just slightly different from the previous one, which I suspect means that Margaret was not working from a chart or sample, but by looking at what she'd done previously — or not looking carefully (!).  And of course the delightfully wacky flowers hardly ever go where you'd expect them to.  These require constant reference to the chart, of course — always time-consuming.  My re-color of the chart I've already talked about; the revised colors can be found in the Needlework album on the sidebar.  I did also find the chart difficult to read because it doesn't have an overlap — and trimming and taping together the twelve pages as the designer suggested is an unappealingly cumbersome alternative.

But there it is.  What drew me to it in the first place — the quirkiness, the extravagance, the pale-yellow sawtooth border around the inscription — is all still there.

I did make a few changes from Margaret's original.  That chopped-off leaf in the border bothered me no end, so I added a row of five stitches near the outside point to make it a bit less so, and the bottom-left corner of the border was so awkward, once I came to it, that I ended up re-charting it, tweaking it just enough to retain the air of the original yet keep me from looking at it for the rest of my life and thinking, "uff, that bit bugs me!"

I can't deny that I got a bit tired of it now and then — there is a lot of border, and I mentally kicked myself more than once for leaving most of it to the end!  But that is all behind me, and I am very pleased with the finished piece!

I am still knitting, though there is little sign of it here, as there isn't much progress visible, I'm afraid — the "Camptown Races" cowl is still making a grandmother's-footsteps advance towards the finish line, five rows forward, one back, seven forward, two back — the ski balaclava for David was far too big, ripped back to the beginning, slightly too big, ripped back to the neck, and is heading upwards yet again — the "Rae" slipover for Julia got abandoned in summer heat and my utter dread of purling with two colors, but I have now decided to throw my period-knitting technique (partial technique, to be honest, as said dread already made me work the bottom half in the round …), and after double-checking by blocking it still on the needles and making sure that it fits, I've decided to steek the armholes and neck opening.

And I have a post nearly ready to put up about my second 1:12 shop but am puzzled and confused by the sudden enormity of the images in my last post — TypePad or me, I don't know.  Certainly I am still struggling with the new-to-me photo-editing program — but I thought I had made them all the same size as previously.

(I did, by the way, realize that I mis-read the "Margaret Ann Klinedienst" chart, and I was supposed to interlace the satin stitches on the large diamonds along the basket, not butt them up against each other down the middle of each diamond as I'd tried to do earlier.  They are all actually the same thread, but those two that look dark are worked horizontally, while the others are vertical, and the light catches them very differently here!)

But, yes, I am still deep into my fascination with historical samplers and reproductions thereof, and I admit freely that they are absorbing much of my time, though I am also making an effort to read more, and am about halfway through my third re-read this year of the "Swallows and Amazons" series — just closed the cover at the end of Coot Club this morning, with a great deal of satisfaction at how everything turns out!  (How did I never know of these?!)

More anon —

I was dismayed for more than one reason recently to find that my local needlework shop — who had a wonderful assortment of threads — closed its doors with a thwack of finality and no notice whatsoever.  I had been hoping to go and compare in person the threads I’d bought for the “Floral Sampler” with some alternatives — but, obviously, no joy.  I extended my sphere by quite a few miles, but nobody seems to carry Gentle Arts or Weeks Dye Works, and so I ended up choosing a selection from online photos in order to have them in my hands.  Since choosing colors online can be something of a gamble, and because I really appreciate those Etsy sellers who photograph not just a specific color but a selection of shades together, so that we can at least tell, for example, which red is darker or lighter than another, I decided to photograph everything I have and post it here in case it’s helpful to others trying to make a similar decision.  Some of these are the original ones for the “Floral” (so are partially used skeins!), some are the selection I bought as potential replacements, and some are from my stash that are similar shades, though not actually in contention for this particular piece.

With any of these threads, of course — Gentle Arts, Weeks Dye Works, Crescent Colors, and Classic Colorworks — any given color may vary considerably from dye lot to dye lot.  And they can all look noticeably different when stitched than they do in the skein.

In the photo at the top is Gentle Art’s “Victorian Pink” (the original for the “Floral”), Weeks Dye Works’ “Charlotte’s Pink”, and Gentle Art’s Simply Shaker “Tea Rose.”  The “Victorian” is by far the most vivid and clear of the three.

GA Simply Shaker’s “Ruby Slipper,” Gentle Art’s  “Red Grape,” Simply Shaker’s “Briar Rose,” “Claret” (the original), and below, Weeks Dye Works’ “Lancaster Red” and “Williamsburg Red.”  “Williamsburg” has more purple in it than “Lancaster”.  “Claret” seems more of a blood-red than “Ruby Slipper”.

Gentle Art’s “Midnight” (the original dark blue for the “Floral”) and “Blueberry,” Simply Shaker’s “Brethren Blue,” Weeks Dye Works’ “Williamsburg Blue,” Gentle Art’s “Blue Jay” (the original medium-blue), Classic Colorworks’ “Milady’s Teal,” Weeks Dye Works’ “Blue Jeans” and “Shepard’s Blue,” and Crescent Colors’ “Deep Blue Sea.”   “Shepard’s Blue” is quite on the grey side of blue; “Milady’s Teal” has very little green in it to be called teal.  “Blueberry,” perhaps unsurprisingly, has a touch of purple in it.  “Midnight” is not a blackish-blue, but a very deep but clear blue.

Gentle Art’s “Gold Leaf” (the original darker golden-brown), Weeks Dye Works’ “Schneckley,” Gentle Art’s “Brandy” (the original lighter gold/golden-brown), and GA Simply Shaker’s “Wheat Fields.”  I wondered to myself as I made out my list if I might use “Gold Leaf” for “Brandy,” and use a darker gold for “Gold Leaf” ….

Gentle Art’s “Sable” (the original lighter golden-brown), Weeks’ Dye Works’ “Schneckley” again (in contention for one or the other of O’Steen’s browns), Gentle Art’s “Walnut,” and at the bottom, Weeks’ “Mocha”.

Gentle Art’s “Dried Thyme” (the original medium-green), Weeks Dye Works’ “Collards,” GA Simply Shaker’s “Chives”, Classic Colorworks’ “Jolly Holly,” and Gentle Art’s “Evergreen” (the original light green).  “Collards” is pretty much exactly the color of boiled spinach, but don’t let that put you off as it is a gorgeous dark green with just a touch of black.

Classic Colorworks’ “Used Brick” and Gentle Art’s “Old Brick.”  “Old Brick” seems to me more of a salmon color than a brick one, but that I suppose is taking exception more to the name of the color than the color itself!

Above, these are O’Steen’s original colors for the sampler, all from The Gentle Art: “Brandy,” “Midnight,” “Blue Jay,” ” Dried Thyme,” “Victorian Pink,” “Sable,” “Gold Leaf,” “Claret,” “Old Brick,” and “Evergreen.”  And below is my tentative selection, in the same order: “Schneckley,” “Williamsburg Blue,” either “Blue Jeans” or “Shepard’s Blue,” “Collards,” “Charlotte’s Pink,” “Mocha,” “Wheat Fields,” “Ruby Slipper” or “Briar Rose,” “Used Brick,” and “Dried Thyme”.

I'm happy with my revision of the colors for "Margaret", wh. are a bit darker but look much more like the photo than what I had in my hands before.  Now I'm a bit bemused by the satin-stitch blocks on the basket, as the line across the middle of the first diamond, where the two areas of satin stitch meet, looks rather peculiarly like teeth!  I'm not sure if that's my technique — though I'm usually (surprisingly) not a tight stitcher — or just the nature of the beast, as it were.  I might re-work one doing an "encroaching" satin, and see if that is an improvement.  The photo of the finished sampler is too blurry to get much of an idea of how it's supposed to look, unfortunately — but, again, I'm liking the colors better now!

(I picked out almost everything I'd done, yes, except for the dark-green diagonals on the base of the basket, which color is the same as in the original conversion.  Needs must.  After that, it seemed safer, orientation-wise, to start there and work upwards, rather than in the actual center!  There is a beading needle near the crease in the fabric, marking where page 5 stops and the adjacent page 8 begins — I like the beading needle over a basting thread as I can shift up as I go, and don't have to worry about contrasting fibers from the basting thread sticking around.)