STORMING THE CASTLE
UPDATE: THE UNICORN PATTERN BELOW IS NOW AVAILABLE AS AN EASY DOWNLOAD PDF AT THE EMBROIDERY PATTERNS LINK, ABOVE.
Holiday over, we slowly revert to standard routine here at String Central. However, that doesn’t mean we have nothing to show off.
First, Smaller Daughter – her class built models of castles, manor farms, and cathedrals as part of their Middle Ages history unit. You can’t see the details she lavished on hers – the working drawbridge, the flower garden, the well (with working bucket), the stables, or the forces manning the towers, but now you know they’re there:
Slytherin? Well, we are Salazars, after all… And there’s the inevitable Castle Uprising Aftermath:
Too bad the teachers don’t grade them on general post-project carnage.
Not less for being presented second, Elder Daughter has been taken with double sided double knitting. She has been adding double knit squares bearing mythical creatures to her Barbara Walker Learn to Knit sampler afghan. Here’s a graph for her next square, an original unicorn, based loosely on a Siebmacher yale (heraldic goat):
Apple. Tree. Lack of distance between the two is noted. With considerable pride, I might add.
And finally in spite of the welcome and happy chaos of a house crammed full of family, turkey, and way too many pies – I did manage to move a bit forward on the great blackwork sampler:
The dark band with the frilly edging will be in TNCM2. The one just below it was in my first 1974 booklet. I recently rediscovered that I had graphed it from my all time favorite source. It’s the pattern I used for my double sided double running stitch logic lesson back in August, 2010. You can find the lesson (and the pattern) here.
YOU GUESSED IT – MORE PROGRESS!
A boring progress post today. I’m still filling in the upper right hand area, next to the dragon:
Three bands, about 60% of the height of the area filled. These patterns are all in TNCM2.
And speaking of upcoming books – I’ve been busy lending a hand to Long Time Needlework Pal Kathryn, helping her over some minor layout hassles as she readies her greatly spiffed up and recomposed Flowers of the Needle re-issue. I can’t break official silence to say when and where, but I can assure you that it’s going to be well worth the wait; and that I’ll be sure to post links to Kathryn’s site when it goes live.
In the mean time, off to bake pies and sterilize the house in preparation for the holiday.
FILLING IN
True to my word (although somewhat tardy) I post this week’s progress:
I’m filling in the left edge area next to the dragon with narrower bands:
It’s Question/Answer time again. These are from posts left here on String and from my various inboxes:
Rachel asks, “…the very bold patterns on the side, what type of stitch did you use to do those?”
Like the narrow border I just added to the piece, the dark bits in these patterns all use long-armed cross stitch:
I tend to follow this logic. Here’s a close-up of the texture it produces:
When worked back and forth across an area it produces a plaited texture. There appear to be quite a few variants of long-armed cross stitch family, and a similarly wide family of names for it. I’ve seen very similar stitches called:
- Tent stitch – nothing to do with the common needlepoint technique of the same name. On the front this looks like standard LACS. I’m assuming that the reverse shows verticals. (Looks in vain for the one corroborating photo of this, to no avail.) On historical pieces this stitch tends to march back and forth to fill a voided background, with the stitching direction parallel to the strip’s long dimension. But not always…
- Punto a spina pesce – obviously Italian in provenance. Hard to tell from the photos (and not being able to see the back), but the angle of the long-leap over may be greater than in tent stitch, but this may be an artifact of differences in warp/woof thread count of the ground. Or it may be possible that the reverse shows horizontals instead of LACS’s verticals. It’s interesting to note that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston distinguishes between tent and punto a spina pesce. The photos do show however that stitching direction for this one seems to vary on the whim of the stitcher, combining horizontal, vertical, AND diagonals.
- Closed herringbone – also seems to closely resemble LACS on the front, but produces horizontals on the back. LACS forms a species cline (a related continuum) with the herringbone family.
- Portuguese Stitch, twist stitch, Slav stitch, twist stitch, long-legged cross stitch, plait stitch Greek stitch – all reported names for LACS. Some can be found here.
- Montenegrin Stitch – A related stitch, but with an additional vertical component. The stitch is used more for foreground stitching, rather than background fill, and the direction of stitching closely follows the design’s lines – merging horizontal to diagonal, to vertical as dictated by the pattern being stitched. (It’s hard to tell but the fifth band down on this sampler, with the strong blue up and down may be Montenegrin, or may be LACS).
There’s a nice piece on historical use of cross stitches, including some members of the LACS family on Northern Needle.
Rachel also asks, “Are all the designs on your sampler going to be in your next modelbook?”
Most of them. Exceptions are the three direct quotations from Lipperheide, and the three small all-over patterns that can be found in Ensamplario Atlantio . Also some of the patterns appearing on my last two large samplers – Clarke’s Law and Do Right – will also be in there. The exceptions being patterns that have already appeared in The New Carolingian Modelbook.
Lisa asks, “I’ve got Ensamplario. But where can I find outlines to fill in that book’s designs? I really don’t want to do a checkerboard.”
The answer is “all over!”
To start, there are sources for outline patterns from blackwork’s heyday. Around the same time as I got this question, Elmsley Rose reminded me that the on line edition of Trevalyn’s Commonplace Book is still available at the Folger. It’s a bit late for inhabited blackwork, but is not out of the question. It contains drawings in it that would be super for it (and even better for spot filled/stippled blackwork). This is the same resource that Kathy over at Unbroken Thread is using for her cap project. Of special note are the plates starting around the 7th page of the display (when 50 per page are shown). These peasecods would be killer; as would these plumes. Thanks from us all, Elmsley!
If you’re not stuck on historical sources, all sorts of motifs and repeats are out there. I’ve done quite well using patterns intended for stained glass, and stencils as inspiration. I don’t have pix (these being from the pre-Internet era), but I did a couple of pieces from a Dover book of Japanese stencils that combined simple florals with the geometric fillings, to excellent effect. Patchwork patterns are also very useful as framing devices for contrasting fills. Also I’d nominate coloring books as outline sources. Yes, coloring books. Maybe not a SpongeBob book or Disney special, but there are quite a few that show flowers, butterflies, seashells, or geometrics.
Late breaking update! I forgot to mention one source for historical and heraldic motifs, simply drawn. It’s the traceable art collection maintained by a consortium of SCA heralds. They use it to simplify the process of drawing up heraldry. But there are all sorts of images in there that would make excellent small blackwork projects. Please contact the artists listed on the images before re-use.
So there are lots of places to look into – you needn’t be forced to do a plain square grid.
Jane asks, “How many threads do you stitch over?”
To date most of my pieces have been on 36-50 count linen, worked mostly over 2×2 threads. But that’s not the way historical pieces were worked. Their ground cloth weaves were in the 50-count and finer range, and they tended to stitch over anywhere from 3-5 threads. Three or four seems to be most common, and I can’t rule out up to 6×6 either. Also, as I graph up more and more from artifacts, I do note that not all historical ground cloths were spot on even weave. Most are off just a hair in one dimension or another, usually compressed along the vertical compared to the horizontal (selvedge to selvedge). Also – and again I work from photographs, so I can’t swear to the pinpoint count that up close and personal with actual pieces would bring – some of them do look as if they were stitched on skew counts. Taking one more thread on the vertical to make the output a bit more square in appearance.
I hope these answers help. Please feel free to ask questions. It makes figuring out what to write about MUCH easier. <grin>
DRIFTING LEAVES
Or in our case today, drifted leaves. Covered by snow during our unseasonable pre-Halloween snowstorm. Very odd to have to shovel a path for trick-or-treaters.
In any case, here are some leaves as yet untouched by the weather:
Progress on this current strip is slow. Like all voided background designs, it takes a lot of stitching to do the area cover. Still, I’m moving along. Here’s the thing in full sampler context:
I’m still considering what to put left and right of the dragon, but have decided that whatever designs I end up using, both sides will be collections of narrow bands with short repeats, worked horizontally. But given the pace of the current strip, I probably won’t be getting to them until January. Not only due to current production speed, but also because of holiday interruptions and some end-of-year knitting obligations.
EDGE OF THE KNOWN WORLD
I’ve reached the top edge of my giant blackwork sampler:
The current panel will span the entire width of the piece:
It’s adapted from a Lipperheide pattern. The original is shown with a pulled thread mesh background, rather than the squared fill I’m using. That background made the book’s illustration very difficult to work from, so I had to redraft the pattern before I could begin. The squared voided fill takes a long time to stitch, so I am guessing that it will be a couple of weeks before I can address the areas to the left and right of my dragon. Not sure yet what will go there – possibly gangs of narrow borders, either horizontal or vertical. We’ll see…
In other news, I am very proud of the whole String family. Smaller daughter has spent the last two weeks farming a sourdough starter “It’s not fair! Other kids get kittens or puppies. Why do I get Francis The Yeast Culture for a pet?”
Yesterday we decided it was time to try it out. The Resident Male took charge of mixing up the dough, the various rises, loaf forming, and baking. Here is the result, crunchy-fresh and hot from the Dutch oven in which he baked it:
I wish this was Smell-o-‘Net because the house is heavenly right now. Marian would have been proud of him, too!
DRAGON DONE
The dragon panel is finished!
I wish the shading on the tail end of the beast better balanced that on the head end, but what I have here is true to the original. If I ever stitch him up again, I may modify the pattern somewhat and either lighten the branch on the right, or darken something on the left. Still I’ve been fond of this guy since I first saw him in the ’70s, and am delighted to have finally successfully charted and stitched him. He’ll be the last two charts in TNCM2 (he’s too big for one page).
What’s next? A panel that will run the width of the piece at the top edge. This one will be another crib from Lipperheide, but unlike the last bits I borrowed from that source, it was too difficult to stitch it directly from the engraving. The background of that illustration is shown in the drawn squared filling (some museums label th stitch “punto milano”, possibly Italian 4-sided stitch, drawn very tight). It sort of looks like a drawn thread ground, but it would have been VERY difficult to achieve all that thread removal given the scale and convolutions of the un-voided motif areas. In any case, I had to regraph it from the Lipperheide panel prior to work. Even though I drafted it up I do not think I will include this one in TNCM2 because it’s available in another contemporary source.
THE DRAGON, VANQUISHED
What have I been up to while posting the informational notes last week?
Fighting a long-standing battle – and at long last – conquering my nemesis.
I’m not sure if this is a dragon, or a lion, or some other beastie, but whatever it is, I’ve made failed attempts to graph it from its original source. I’ve gotten close a couple of times, but never close enough to do the panel justice. I think I’ve hit it this time – fifth time’s the charm!
I’ve paired it with a border from the same source, but not shown in association with the dragon on the original sampler. Like most of the other strip patterns I’ve stitched over the past 18 months both of these will be in my Second Carolingian Modelbook (TNCM2).
How did the bottom panel turn out?
and how is the piece as a whole coming along?
LIKE WATCHING PAINT DRY
Incremental progress here must be excruciatingly boring to read about. But undaunted, I continue to post:
You can see that I continue to work the current Y strip across the bottom of the piece.
Now one of the few remaining readers here has asked about the narrow slice left bare – indicated above by the yellow arrow. It’s not a mistake. It is an artifact of squaring out the repeats, but I intend to put it to good use. That will be the last little bit I stitch on the piece, and will be the spot where I sign or initial the work, along with a date of completion.
Still working on the graph for the next slice…
Y MARCH
More progress!
The new band is marching across the bottom nicely, bringing a dark footing to the thing. Here you can see that I outline first, then fill in the voided long-armed cross stitch (LACS) background:
Trust me, it’s MUCH easier to work LACS inside an outline. I did it “feral,” (without outlines) on the large dark panel in the center of the left edge. Plain old cross stitch is easier to count than LACS with its braided surface texture. That one panel probably took twice as long to do in LACS as a result. This band is moving along much faster. Another two weeks tops, and I should have the entire bottom edge finished. An aside – there’s a mistake in the current strip. Pat yourself on the back if you can spot it!
In other news, The Resident Male has a project to showcase this week. In the spring we finally replaced our Carter-era washer and dryer with ones that work. Because we had to fit them into an existing alcove, and I wanted efficient front loaders, that took a bit of shopping around. Most front loaders on display in this area are giant capacity/top of the line units or are mini capacity apartment size stackers. Big ones wouldn’t fit in the space we had available, and with kids, we wanted more capacity than the smaller, stackable models. We finally tracked down some mid-size GE units, well reviewed with good repair records, and ordered them.
Now one problem with these front loaders is that the openings are knee height, and users have to stoop to put the laundry in. This is why the makers offer height-raising pedestals as options. Unfortunately, pedestals for our smaller size units are not offered in the US. So the Resident Male, freshly inspired by countless evenings of home improvement TV, tackled the project himself:
We now have two drawers for storage of once-a-year type kitchen impedimenta – like the big turkey roasting pan. And no more reaching in for that last sock on hands and knees! I declare this project a success. Now how does the new washer perform? It cleans much more thoroughly than my late 1970s/early 1980s vintage Kenmore did, even removing stains I thought were lost causes. The washer/dryer pair sip water, detergent, and energy, noticeably decreasing our consumption of each. And they’re quiet. We can now sit in the kitchen (behind the photographer) and have a conversation while the machines are running. But there are also a couple of minor drawbacks. Cycles take twice as long to complete; the mid-capacity model holds less than the old top loader, so there is one more wash per week; and for some reasons, sheets twist themselves into Gordian knots in the dryer, and do not dry well, unless I take the time to re-assort them several times mid cycle. Drawbacks aside, the new set-up is far superior to the old one, and the raised platform is the icing on the cake.
BOUGHS, HOOPS AND STRIPS
More progress on the big sampler:
I’ve finished out the excerpt from the big Lipperheide repeat and started another. This pattern appears on the same plate as the one I just finished. Like it, this one was originally worked voided. It turns out to have the exact north-south stitch count I need to eke out the horizontal row, getting ready for a darker, wider strip at the project’s bottom edge. It’s also an extremely quick one to stitch up. The bit above only took about an hour or so.
Anna asked me what kind of hoop I’m using, and whether or not I’ve padded it. I reply:
It’s a 7-inch Hardwicke Manor hoop I bought from Hedgehog Handworks, about 10 years ago, but didn’t use until recently. In part because I’d been on an extended vacation from stitching, and in part because I didn’t like the way it tensioned the fabric. At 5/8″ wide it grabbed nicely, but never maintained the tightness I prefer for double running stitch. So finally tiring of my ancient dime store bamboo hoop last month, I got some standard fabric store issue half-inch white twill tape and carefully wrapped the bottom of my Hardwicke frame. It’s hard to see, but the tape is angled at 45-degrees, and overlaps by roughly half a width on each wrapping. The end is tucked underneath and stitched to the bottom hoop’s inside (left on the image, where the lump is), to keep the outside perimeter bump-free. The hoop’s screw closure is long enough to handle the extra diameter of the wrapping. About six turns of the screw’s threading are visible, and I had just popped the thing off the work for the photo.
I now love this hoop. The twill tape cushions the work and minimizes crush and holds the ground cloth drum tight. However wrapping the bottom hoop does reduce the effective stitching area by decreasing the inside diameter. Even with cushioning I would not recommend using a hoop for anything other than flat surface stitching using cottons. When I stitch with silk, metallics, or use any sort of raised or heavily textured stitch I pull out a flat frame.
Where is the crowdsourced pattern of the week? I’ve got a very nifty motif queued ready to go, but it’s only one panel. I’m hoping for at least one more before I post the next update.(Hint, hint…)
Aside: Hoping all on the East coast were spared overly much grief with Irene. Only minor damage here in the leafy close-in suburbs outside of Boston:
Half a tree down, blocking our street, and another big limb in our back yard. Thankfully both fell with surgical precision, missing every structure, vehicle, power line and comms wire. I bow to the courtesy of my neighborhood vegetable friends. Also to the amazingly diligent Arlington, MA DPW crew, that had this cut up and hauled away within 45 minutes of the tree’s fall!
Finally, for folk who landed here looking for Ensamplario Atlantio. (Word is still spreading about it.) It’s here.
String-Or-Nothing 