PROGRESS ON A WEALTH OF FRONTS
It’s been half a month since the last post, and all sorts of things have happened.
First, I’ve finished the wildly intricate interlace panel on my current sampler.
Second, as I was doing so I found an error in my chart for it as it appeared in the original edition of The New Carolingian Modelbook. The error was a minor one, a copyists/flip and mirror problem with two side by side crossings. It’s my guess that no one has attempted this particular design before, otherwise they would have either contacted me about it, or trumpeted my incompetence on social media. So of course I had to correct the problem. For a legible copy of the correction, including the original TNCM source attribution, and two chart versions – one for the border as shown, and one for a wider border or all-over design, please click here download a PDF file.
I have also been able to draft out a couple of tribute specific bands for this sampler, referencing the in-process novel Forlorn Toys in specific. They will be coming up after I finish the latest leafy strip. So stay tuned!
In other news, at long last, the Victoria and Albert Museum has updated all of the pages for the individual contributors under the Unstitched Coif Project. Again thanks to Fearless Leader Toni Buckby! My page can be found here, and has both the essay I did to accompany my work, plus ultra high resolution ZOOMABLE photographs of the back and front of the piece. For some reason the museum chose to lead with the photo of the backs of all of the pieces.
And for those of you who have asked about my personal health odyssey – I am improving. I’m in the middle of graduating from walker to cane. I can get around well with the cane, but I am still shaky with it over uneven terrain, so I mostly stick to it indoors, and continue to rack up practice distance. I have also been able to sit longer, as my stitching and blogging progress demonstrate.
There are still some hurdles to go, including a stint of proactive/preventive radiation to minimize any chance of chordoma recurrence, but I will take that in stride like all the rest. In the mean time, I’m feeling further along to being my old self than I have in months. No doubt due to the incessant care, coaching, and excellent cooking of my Resident Male.
OFF AND RUNNING!
On the ground, it’s more like walking slowly getting used to the transition from walker to cane, but in stitching, we’re galloping. Here is progress since the last post.
Several strips so far, a combo of reach-backs to my older books, and to the more recent Ensamplario Atlantio Volume III. I am still drafting up the custom bands that are specific references to the content of Forlorn Toys, the book that The Resident Male is writing right now. When you see them you will realize what’s taking so long (other than limits on how long I can stand at the computer in a day).
I do have to report an oops. One that dates back to the publication of The New Carolingian Modelbook in 1995. I hadn’t stitched the current strip before, mostly for reasons of size. It’s quite tall. But this being a very long piece of cloth, I thought it would work well on this piece. Lo and behold. There is a small crossings error in the original. It’s small enough to be an easy fix, but I will put redoing that page in queue and eventually publish it in here, and on the errata section on the “My Books” tab elsewhere on this site.
In the mean time I’m at the point in this complex interlace that I can go off-book. I’m just copying what I’ve stitched to date now, flipping/mirroring/inverting the crosses as required. Yes, it’s an eye-bender, but each subsection is logical, and if I keep the precision up so that all of the subsections meet up nicely, no where near as difficult as it looks.
ASSIST FINISH AND TOYS KICK-OFF
At long last, ASSIST is complete. It still needs to be ironed and framed or otherwise prepared for display, but the stitching is done.
The tumbled columns on the top are there because my life was pretty much tossed around the time I started that strip. I had just gotten the chordoma diagnosis, and was racing to get as much done as possible. At the same time I was working on an early release for Ensamplario Atlantio III, and the Epic Fandom Stitch-Along compilation. I ended up not completing ASSIST, opting to leave it unfinished, that I would get back to it as a sign of hope. Well, slowly over the past two weeks, I’ve made steady progress. I trained myself to recline at an angle. That freed 1.5 hands for embroidery employment, and with practice my speed increased.
But now on to the next one. The Resident Male is working on another book (his 7th counting both published and as yet unpublished works), and I having marked the presence of most of the others, I need to welcome Forlorn Toys, too.
Again I pull out a battle-weary rescued bit of linen, yet another thrift store find. Yes, it has some flaws and stains. I don’t care (the title after all is Forlorn Toys). Most of that will be overstitched and very difficult to see. It happens that this piece is the longest yet, with the entire cloth (stitchable area plus margins) being 12 X 35 inches. And it sports nifty hand-done bits of Italian hemming done all the way around it. I’m leaving those intact. (Excuse the sickbed photo, I’m doing the best I can).
My penny method gives me a thread count of 37×39 threads per inch. Although this hemstitched cloth was done with a less than 100% adherence to accuracy have set my margins averaging out discrepancies, leaving a stitching area of 9.25 inches. That means that that after the margins are removed, the stitching area will accommodate roughly 171 stitches across ([smaller thread count x width/2]).
Armed with that info I can begin thumbing through my favorite reference site looking for a typeface in which the longest part of this one’s motto will fit. Minor complication here – GIMP, my workhorse solution for dash and dot pattern drafting is not working well with my templates since yesterday’s update. I will eventually get that sorted, but it will take a bit of effort. If you or someone you know is a GIMP Wizard with a little time to spare, please let me know.
In the mean time I am well into the first band (an edge accompaniment from T2CM Plate 25), although the final style for the Toys sampler has not yet been set. All I can say is that it will be worked in green DMC #890 cotton, and mostly in linear stitching. Nice view of the hem stitching here, too.
Onward and upward. As my Resident Male has written before, Stone by Stone.
AND FROM THE FLIP SIDE
Here I am. A bit less than I was, in terms of body parts, weight, and height, but overall what remains is whole and mostly functional.
I am not going to go into the all the details, but I will say that I am incredibly lucky. So many things can go wrong during and after a 12-hour surgical procedure that involves many tricky bits near major nerve centers. But I am happy to say that my chordoma tumor was removed successfully, along with my coccyx and more than half of my sacrum. I will have to have a deep survey next month for surety, then be on lifelong watch to make sure it doesn’t recur, but for now at least I am cancer-free.
The surgical team was able to avoid some nerve damage, and to install a rather elaborate truss system to support my spine and hold my pelvis together. Those two things let me walk again, and even climb stairs – things I had hoped to be able to do, but realistically was accepting that I might not. I’m wobbly with a walker, and need a spotter on the stairs, but each day brings new strength as I exercise and practice. I am hoping that by the holiday season I will be off the walker and on a cane, headed to unassisted ambling.
The one area that is lagging behind is sitting. As you would expect, with that much alteration to my fundament, sitting would pose challenges. So far I am able to sit on a special cushion for about 4-5 minutes. I continue to train for improvement.
Weight is an expected loss during cancer treatment, and that did happen. But height? In my case because my lower spine was amended, a certain degree of shrinkage has occurred. I used to be 5’8″. I’m now 5’7″. So it goes.
And as you can tell by the presence of this update, I have computer access again. I’m using it as an inducement to get out of bed and stand, above and beyond the various exercise routines recommended by my physical therapist. Time however is limited. I can do a couple of short sessions a day, but no more. That means posts here will continue to be few and far between, and that no substantive work will be happening on The Third Carolingian Modelbook, or on corrections to Ensamplario Atlantio III (or for that matter EnsAtl IV).
I can however stitch again. I can do it laying in bed, sort of. Like the computer work, sessions are limited by endurance, so progress is slow. But there has been progress.
Compared to the last post, the dragon square is finished, and I’ve begun the voiding on the top strip. Nice and mindless, simple work.
So there it is. I’m still here, slowly recuperating. I do thank my spawn, siblings, mom, inlaws, and everyone else who sent encouraging notes, showed off their work from my designs, phoned, sent gifts, memes and silly bits to cheer me up, or visited. Your sharing buoyed me through a very challenging two months.
I also want to thank my surgical team, attending specialists, nursing staff, therapy staff, cleanliness/safety staff, and everyone else I interacted with at Rhode Island/Brown University Hospital, and in Newport Hospital’s Vanderbilt Rehab wing. That I write this at all is testament to the quality of their handiwork and care.
And it goes without saying that he who is precious to me – my Resident Male – deserves major thanks for his constant presence and support, gentle nursing, firm coaching, and patience. He drove hundreds of miles back and forth to Rhode Island between 17 March and 29 April, and has catered to my every petulant wish since returning home.
Stay tuned. I intend to keep these posts coming, and pivot away from tedious health updates back to the needle arts.
SEE YOU ON THE FLIP SIDE
That time has come. Tomorrow is the beginning of The Great Eviction, in which my invader and I will be separated. I am ready, packed, prepped, and armed with great ferocity and the single minded determination to overcome, outlast, and outwit my adversary and come back as unchanged as possible (except for the obligate scars, of course).
I’ve marked my level of optimism on my latest sampler. I haven’t mentioned progress in a while, but it quickly became my Emotional Support Embroidery after receiving my diagnosis last month. Not ironed, but as a WIP, it’s too early to think about doing that.
Yes, it’s still unfinished. I’ll do some more on it later today of course, but I won’t be done. That’s on purpose. I have every intention of future completion. And note the victory wreaths on the top as-yet-to-be-background-stitched strip. That strip is also deliberately placed skew to the centering of the rest of the sampler. My life has been tilted akilter, so this bit is, too.
I’d also like to everyone for the unexpected outpouring of support. I am overwhelmed by the vast number and generous sentiment of the comments here, on various social media platforms, and sent to me personally by direct message and email. I had no idea I had reached so many people around the globe. I am not a spiritual person, but I can say that if Providence can be petitioned, perhaps the wide ecumenical spread and volume of promised prayers in every major worldwide religion (and many of the less well known ones) will tilt the odds even more in my favor.
See you soon!
-Kim
SERIOUSLY, FOLKS…
This is post that’s not easy to write.
Some of you have wondered about my rush to release both Ensamplario Atlantio III, and the single-download edition of my Epic Fandom Stitch-Along. And there may be more coming out in the next few days. There is a reason.
In gamer’s parlance, sadly I’ve rolled a 5. Not a 1, thank heavens, but nothing good.
I join the legion of folks who have been handed a surprise cancer diagnosis. In my case it’s another over-engineered and uncommon Salazar project – not breast, lung, or any of the usual suspects. I’ve got a chordoma – an exceedingly rare form of bone cancer that’s eating my tailbone (coccyx) and the area immediately above.
The bad news is that I’ve been subject to this invader for a while, with the symptoms it generated being masked by the all too normal day to day annoyances many post-menopausal women have, most notably lingering lower back pain. (Side hint – if you have pain that the oft resorted to palliative modalities like physical therapy and medication don’t address, insist LOUDLY that your doctor engage diagnostic mode. I it would have been better off had I done that earlier.)
The good news is that while my growth is large, it’s contained, has not spread, and is operable. I will be headed to the hospital later in March to have at it. Best outcome is that I although I will be physically diminished, I will regain basic mobility. With healing I should be able to sit, stand, walk, and climb stairs. Some bodily functions and systems will also be compromised, but nothing that modern medical technology cannot address.
I choose to fight, and fight hard. I will not let this thing daunt me. I will pass through, and emerge much as I am now, although I will be moving more slowly, and with more care.
What can you do to help? There’s not much, but I know I will appreciate your companionship, dark humor, and distraction as I move through post-op and rehab. I will especially enjoy seeing what you’ve been up to playing with my knitting and stitching “pattern children.”
I know folk feel awkward at times like this, but please don’t be shy about contacting me. I might not answer right away (especially in the weeks just before, during and immediately after the procedure), but your notes, memes, embroidery/knitting/crochet/other hobby pix, and assorted shenanigans will brighten my day. One thing though, please don’t send flowers. The sentiment is deeply appreciated, but they make me sneeze.
Oh, and look out for Fernando (aka, The Resident Male). He’s going to be especially grumpy.
I leave you with a thought from the science fiction TV show Babylon 5, from the character Ranger Marcus Cole:
“I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be much worse if life *were* fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?’ So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.”
EPIC FANDOM STITCH-ALONG NEWS
Just a quick post to let folk know that the Epic Fandom Stitch-Along from several years ago is still free, and available for download here at String-or-Nothing. AND I’ve made it much easier to do so.
I have consolidated all of the individual week by week releases along with the general info provided before the project began into a single 50-page PDF document. No more hunting for the single page you need in a forest of other pages! It’s now on the My Books tab, and I’ve added a link to the top of the SAL tab, as well.
Or you can click here to hop directly to the PDF.
As ever, enjoy! I do hope some folk are brave enough to try this one. And like always, nothing brings me more joy than seeing the pattern children out at play. Do the whole SAL, cherry pick the panel you want to do.
Same restrictions as my other offerings – personal use only, and please respect my copyright. Other than that, have fun. 🙂
ENSAMPLARIO ATLANTIO VOLUME III!
I am delighted to announce that the third volume in my free-to-download series of blackwork pattern booklets is now up and available here on String-or-Nothing.
Like the previous two volumes, Ensamplario Atlantio Volume III contains original (and a very few redacted) filling designs of the type used in inhabited blackwork. That’s the style that fills outlined shapes with fields of diapered fillings, as seen in my Unstitched Coif project submission, and in my current sampler. The new fills I created or redacted for the Coif are all in here (I had to do more – I actually ran out of suitable ones!)
It also contains most of the strips found on the several tribute and protest samplers I’ve done over the past several months – the various mythical beasts, interlaces, swords, and other fantasies in thread. (The ones not found in here are from Ensamplario Atlantio II, The New Carolingian Modelbook, or The Second Carolingian Modelbook.)
And to top that off, there are lots more designs in there I haven’t stitched yet, including tunic yokes and pieces with corners that could be used for framing necklines, or table linen. For SCA folk there are a few items of special interest – the populace badges of the East and Atlantia, and a belt motif that can be infilled with the colors that signify patronage relationships (squires, protegees, apprentices).
In truth, I’ve rushed this one to release. I apologize if there are errors or inconsistencies. I plead time pressure. If major errors turn up and I get a chance, I’ll go back and fix them. However, the very few source attributions in it have been thoroughly confirmed and are genuine. Except for those redactions, all of the other material in there is my original output.
Why free? Why not? My goal is to promulgate the spread of stitching, and to make it easy to do so. Yes, I could have bundled these books up and sold them on Amazon, like the Carolingian Modelbook series. But in truth, the yield is a pittance because I am under pressure to price the books low enough to discourage massive piracy. Higher pricing restricts access and defeats my goal of spreading the joy.
For the record, The Carolingian Modelbooks are the product of a lot of research, exacting redaction, writing, and indexing. The Ensamplario series is a lark. Largely just my doodle notebooks, produced with minimal effort. I felt justified in asking for recompense for them on the basis of labor alone. But EnsAtl books are candy to be shared just for the fun of it. You can pay me back by sharing photos of works you’ve done using these designs, teaching someone else to stitch, flaunting blackwork-embroidered garments or accessories in public to increase appreciation and awareness, or just by doing a good deed for someone in need (I release my pattern broadsides as Good Deed Ware, too.)
HOWEVER I retain copyright of my drawings, and release these designs for PERSONAL USE ONLY. For any other uses including including duplication, inclusion of the patterns on patterns or finished items for sale or charitable distribution, I request you contact me privately. I’m not an ogre, but neither do I want to see my goodwill answered with appropriation. My terms (if any) will be mild, and reasonable. Oh, and feeding them into AI for training is total anathema, and is expressly forbidden.
You can download Ensamplario Atlantio Volume III by clicking the link below, or by hopping to the MY BOOKS tab at the top of every page here on String. The earlier EnsAtl volumes are on MY BOOKS, too.
>>> CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF FILE OF ENSAMPLARIO ATLANTIO III <<<
Comments? Questions? Random remarks? Go right ahead.
DEJA VU, BUT WORSE
A serious digression from stitching, knitting, crochet, and general blather.
Back in 1981 I was an eager young space cadet, a staff technical writer in the employ of The New York Institute of Technology. I was working on grant proposals and on research contracts the school had, mostly with US Federal agencies.
Among the proposals and grants were ones that funded the NYIT computer graphics lab – the staff of which eventually moved up and on to become Pixar; and a fantastic early intervention math and sciences augmentation program aimed at assisting minority kids, but especially girls and young women from middle school, then up and into college for tech/science/math. It included full NYIT scholarships for those who prospered in the program. Sally Ride was the speaker at the initial kick off banquet for that one. I’ve always wondered what became of those kids…
On the general editing/compilation side beyond LOTS of grad school grant requests and assorted small publications, this one really stood out.
The effort was led by Dr. King Cheek, a dean of NYIT and brother of the then president of Howard University. Dr. Shannon was a noted researcher in labor economics and education. I was the foot soldier going where they sent me, collecting data on index cards, alphabetizing, condensing abstracts for inclusion, and typing the volumes for printing on a Selectric (this was before NYIT got early DEC word processors). For this they both graciously suggested my name appear first because their reputations were already established – another publication wouldn’t mean much; but for me as a 25 year old, it would be quite valuable.
It was 1981, still in the pre-Internet, pre-automated/accessible collections era. Annotated bibliographies on specialty topics were quite common, as were resource lists. The two volume set was intended to be updated annually, and was funded by the US Department of Labor, Office of Youth Programs.
All well and good. The bibliography clocked in at 363 pages, with about 1560 entries. The resource list, 159. Both volumes were indexed. The set from kickoff to print took about 18 months to achieve. Other than a temp typist to help in the last three weeks to make deadline, and copious guidance/improvement suggestions from my leaders as they read through each day’s additional content, it was all me. We printed something like 750 sets, with the Office’s intent to distribute to DOL locations, academic libraries, and other stakeholder/interested parties.
While the books were being duplicated and bound, then President Reagan abolished the Office of Youth Programs.
While we had gotten paid for the contract, there was no one to whom to submit the books. We were directed to box them all up and ship them to a Federal Archives location. And so with the exception of my two copies (one my mom has for bragging rights); the copy retained by each of my co-authors, and (possibly) one at Howard University, these books were never distributed, in fact – never seen again.
So for me at least, current events bring a wave of deja vu. But not the pleasant, nostalgic kind. The kind that sizzles against antagonistic blundering about, and produces intense anger.
We’ve been here before. It wasn’t as blatant then, but it isn’t new.
Something has to change, and change can’t happen soon enough.
MORE GOODIES FOR THE CHATELAINE
The second half of my 2025 Toy Allowance has arrived! I bought more pieces for the stitcher’s chatelaine Younger Spawn gave me for the holiday in 2023.
Here’s a roundup of all of the components.
First, rose pin and majority of chains. Not sure where the Offspring picked that up. I noted several vendors selling near identical unpopulated chatelaines last year, but this year the rose design isn’t popping up.
First on left – the laying tool. This is a standard steel laying tool, not a fancy one made for display wearing. The Resident Male gave it to me about 5 years ago, along with the super-precise sharp scissors that are also on this chain.
Next, up by the rose is a needle threader. It’s a fine wire style threader encased in fancy findings. This is a new purchase from Beaddoodads, an Etsy shop based in Australia. It’s lovely and works quite well. A much welcome addition. I have a note in to the seller to find out if the threader can be replaced when it eventually and inevitably breaks (those skinny wire ones are only good for a year or so). In the mean time I’m literally keeping it on a short leash and will look to see if there is some sort of protective sheath I can devise for the working end.
On the long dangle next to the threader is my spool cage. This is also new, and as you can see, is home-made. I twisted it from the protective cage or bail that holds champagne corks in place before the bottle is opened. I may go back and do another. This one is from our New Years Eve bottle. Our anniversary bottle was silver tone instead of brass color. It’s just big enough to hold a full spool of the Corticelli silk I’m using now, and snug enough to keep it from unsupervised unreeling.
Back up we find a needle case, also new, and also from Beaddoodads. It has three small rubber or silicon gaskets that keep the slip on top securely in place, even while hanging.
Next over the the little purse accessory that Offspring included with the original gift. I softened some beeswax generously shared with me by a hyper-local beekeeper (Hi, Kevin, who lives around the corner!), and then molded it into one side of the snap enclosure holder.
Up again towards the rose is the last of the three new bits from Beaddoodads – the bobbin reel. It’s the long pin-like object holding the bobbin of plum color thread. In theory it is long enough to hold three metal bobbins. I only had one empty one to hand. I’ll probably replace it with three inexpensive generic metal bobbins. This one is for my ancient Elna SU sewing machine. Klaatu is very finicky about bobbins, and Elna ones of the correct vintage are hard to come by. It’s also worth noting that the bobbin reel is long enough to use with one of the little wooden Corticelli spools. Once one of those is empty, I’ll probably be using it instead of metal bobbins.
And last on the right is the pair of embroidery scissors that I got from the Resident Male along with my laying tool. Notice how it is chained. If I attach the lanyard clasp to just one of the scissor’s finger holes, gravity and movement eventually open the scissors. Those blades are stabby, plus I don’t want to damage them. By threading the chain through both loops, the scissors stay closed after use. And doing so is no impediment to ease of use.
Finally we have the ribbon to which this weighty seven-armed octopus is pinned. Together with all of its parts, my chatelaine is quite heavy. The needle case is surprisingly weighty, and the little purse is no feather, either. I find pinning the thing to a waistband to be uncomfortable, and don’t want to tear holes in my tshirts, blouses, flannel workshirts or sweaters (I’m usually in one of those). So I took a length of evenweave fabric ribbon I bought at Sajou during our Paris trip, designed a custom pattern and stitched up an alternate solution.
I doubt I will add other bits. I have a very elegant silver framed mini-magnifying glass. But it’s way too good and way to fragile to add to the rest. Plus I I don’t reach for it every time I sit down to work. I’d like to add the electronics tweezers I use when picking out, but there’s no easy way to modify them with a metal chain loop or bail for hanging. And I feel that the weight of the thing as is now is pretty much maxed out.
As to the utility of this portable toolset – I really like it. No more setting bits down on the table or chair arm beside me, then sweeping it off as I get up. I will still use my pirate lunchbox to carry the larger kit (more backup needles, my lint-trapping wad of silly putty, the magnifying glass, tweezers, more thread beyond the current skein-at-use, and the like), but for wandering around the house, sitting out on the porch or on the beach at the Cape, the chatelaine is all I need.
I even used it while we attended panels and readings at the Arisia science fiction convention in Cambridge, MA last weekend. And I don’t mind jingling like a belled cat as I wander around, although at Arisia I did wear a two-pocket workshirt, and stuffed the pin and its dangles into one of the pockets when we were in motion, mostly to keep the noise down, and to prevent anything from snagging on passers-by.
String-Or-Nothing 