Just One More Stitch

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I am a lazy stitcher. I count as little as possible and plan my stitching so I rarely have to rip out stitches. There are three tricks of the trade I use to facilitate my laziness: counting from existing stitches, parking, and basting.

Here, I’m using a sampler worked on linen with floss as my example but the techniques can be applied to any fabric, including Aida, and stitching with any fiber.

In this example, I was ready to stitch the Victorian castle (Craigdarroch) in the sampler. So the first stitch I took was the single stitch at the top of the tallest chimney.

The next stitch I want to take is at the top of the chimney.

At this point, I have completed the backstitch lettering to make “The” so the next stitch I want to take is at the top of the chimney. I started here because it was easy to correlate that stitch to the word “The.” From the unworked space next to the “T” I can simply count down three spaces.  It involved the least amount of counting from a place I already knew was correct.

I made this one stitch and immediately “parked” that color and stitched the rest of the chimney, outlined here in red.

Planning ahead reduces the time wasted in ripping out stitches.

I did not skip this column of stitches to do the roof (area A, above) even though it’s a very short distance. After completing those six stitches, I picked up that first color and stitched the beginning of the roof on the left side of the chimney (area A). This may seem like extra work but stitching around existing stitches is much easier for me than counting across unworked linen threads (or unworked squares if this was done on Aida). It’s easy to lose your place and we all know that being off just one stitch in any direction is what leads to much ripping out. Once finished with that little area, I parked my floss again rather than counting across the unworked fabric to get to area B. It can wait until I get there.

“Parking” is the common term for leaving a working fiber attached so it can be used in the future. I’ll use floss in this example. I park my floss when I know I have more stitches in this color but want to complete another color before going on. I bring the floss to the front of the fabric and take a few long running stitches in an unworked area just to keep it out of my way.

I take long running stitches to keep the parked floss out of my way.

DON’T just leave the floss dangling!

In these photos, you see evidence of my basting. For this project, I basically stitched a grid to exactly match the darker every-tenth-lines of the chart. Now it serves as another way to check the accuracy of my counting. I do not create a grid to cover my entire fabric. I only baste when I feel that I need to. Usually it’s just where the chart is dense with symbols. I remove the basting threads as I come to them. And by the way, I just use the longer single strands from my ort pile for my basting. I really don’t get why people buy special thread for basting. So now you know I am lazy and cheap!

Keeping my counting to a minimum, parking, and basting are the three ways I avoid errors. My process may seem like it takes extra time and effort but I have found over the years that I spend very little time ripping out and re-stitching.

Like I said, I am basically always looking for the easy way out!

Hey, when you’re not stitching, go to Facebook and “like” Jean Farish Needleworks! That’s the best place to leave comments about this blog.

My Etsy widget is still not working. In a few weeks, I’ll be able to get some help from my son-in-law who is a wizard with techie stuff. In the mean time, if you want to see some of my designs, this is where you can shop!

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Last weekend, I spent a few days with about 175 stitchers near Hershey, Pennsylvania. They came from near and far, across the continent, and even across the ocean. Some came alone. Some came with a friend or two, or a cousin, mother, daughter, or sister. Some even brought their husband. Though the group was primarily women, there were a few men. So I’ll ask their forgiveness first as I write as if it was women only.

Why? Why did these women gather together? They came to stitch, chat, stitch, eat, stitch, sleep, and stitch. Which they could have done at home, right? Well, not exactly.

So, what exactly IS a retreat? Let’s look at the dictionary definitions:

retreat
ri-treet
n. a peaceful and private place you can go in order to rest

Hmmm … from the Facebook posts I read after the retreat, most folks (me included) needed to rest when we got home.

How about
n. the act of withdrawing, as into safety or privacy; retirement; seclusion

Privacy? Not so much. If you have ever shared a hotel room with three others, you know there’s not much your roommates don’t know about you when the weekend is over.

n. a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, or instruction under a director

Getting closer. This particular weekend had some mini-classes in framing, finishing, and stitch techniques and lots of informal instruction going on among the participants. One of the attendees had come along for the ride, so to speak, and was not a stitcher. Well, that status lasted about as long as it took for others to learn of it. “A newbie!” was about all it took for her to be brought under the wing of an out-going, learner-friendly, experienced teacher.

How about this one?
n. an asylum, as for the insane

Are you laughing? And yet, consider this: how many times do we joke about our “addiction”?? How often do we say, “My family thinks I’m crazy”?? Here’s the nugget of truth in this definition … we come to a retreat to feel normal. To be among others who are as nuts about our passion as we are. Where crazy is the new normal.

Here’s my take-away: the vast majority of attendees came to get away from routine, to be in the company of women who enjoy stitching, to have some precious “me” time. Even in this enlightened age of ours, let’s face it. Women tend to others far more than they tend to themselves. And yet, the experts tell us that we need … let’s use a stronger word here … we require restorative activities so we will have the energy to fill all our roles day after day after day.

So, look for a gathering where you can feel safe, be at peace, know that others are as crazy as you are, have a break in your routine, learn a little or a lot, teach others, and most of all, do something for yourself.

But don’t expect to rest!

PS: There’s Facebook group called Stitchers’ Escapes where you can get the low-down on needlework retreats, classes, exhibits, camps, cruises, and more! I’ll see you there.

And while you’re browsing around Facebook, be sure to “like” Jean Farish Needleworks, too!

My Etsy widget has gone confluey on me and I don’t know how to fix it. So, if you want to see some of my designs, this is where you can shop!