Long and Short Stitch

It has been a week since I last posted anything to this blog -- since then I finished some samples for last week's Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge. For this stitch, I went back to the grid of a piece of 18 count mono canvas and tried different orientations and combinations of long and short stitches using Appleton wool. The small medalion has long and short stitches rotated in different directions with double cross stitches in the center and long stitch accents.

This finished piece contains some other grid based applications of long and short stitch in different fibers -- I used a shiny rayon for the pot and cotton floss for the child's face. The hair is also a variation of long and short stitch in Medici wool. This canvas was painted by Sundance Designs. I normally have it hanging in my sewing room. I think that I completed it 18 years ago when I was living in Arizona. It is interesting that although I learned to embroider through crewel work and have quite a few books about crewel stitches and surface embroidery -- the completed pieces that I have are primarily needlepoint and cross stitch designs that are based on stitching over a grid. Maybe my mathematical background makes me more comfortable with order.

I have been making other needlework plans for the summer and recently purchased some Koigu sock yarn and yarn called Sea Silk dyed by Handmaiden to make a shawl. I tried to use a toe up sock pattern for the Koigu yarn but even after searching the internet, I could not figure out how to cast on and get started so I am going to go back to socks from the top down. Being left handed makes it even harder to follow a diagram when the written instructions don't quite make sense. The shawl will be based on a scarf pattern in the summer issue of Interweave Knits.