With the recent announcement that Q is expecting a baby this fall (no, not that Q, another Q) I decided to knit the wee innocent-to-be a sweater.  One would think this an innocuous decision, especially when the pattern in question calls for 11 stitches over 4 inches. Sadly such was not meant to be as I chose to knit the Most Difficult Baby Sweater In The History Of Knitting (TM).

Innocently named the "Baby Venus Cardigan", the MDBSITHOK (pronounced mm-dub-SITH-ook) features many cool and awesome features that would make the unsuspecting knitter jitter for joy.  MDBSITHOK is knit in one piece with no seams. There are few ends to weave in. The pattern calls for 400yd of heavy fingering weight yarn or roughly 1 skein of sock yarn. And best of all the gauge is huge, so it knits up quick.  On top of all that the pattern is well written, detailed and designed by someone who knows how to make a fun, interesting knit. What's not to love?


( Attempt 1 )


( Attempt 2 )


( Attempt 3 )


( Attempt 4 )


( Attempt 5 )

To be continued...

Ms. Becky Hogg wrote the blackwork guide in the Royal School of Needlework's series Essential Stitches Guide. Like other guides, this one starts with a short history of the school and another of the technique.  Ms. Hogg covers the basics from materials and equipment to stitches and techniques. Being an Essential Stitches Guide, there are no projects. It would have been easy for Ms. Hogg to write a monochrome version of the Crewelwork manual but she did not. Rather Ms Hogg wrote a great little guide that not only introduces the reader to blackwork but differentiates it from other techniques.

The first way in which this manual is unique is that it introduces a new way to transfer designs to fabric. Blackwork involves many filling patterns without distinct edges.  Thus you cannot draw a design directly onto the fabric as lines will often remain uncovered when the embroidery is done. Ms. Hogg describes a tracing paper and sew method that allows one to transfer a design without leaving a permanent mark on the fabric. Very nice!

The next thing I like is how the filling stitches are displayed in the book.  Ms. Hogg offers 37 filler patterns which take up almost half of the book.  Each pattern is shown stitched and in a graph with a brief description which recommends where to use the pattern. To break up the monotony of so much information, Ms. Hogg interjects several finished embroideries to demonstrate how her patterns can be used. 

What I most like about this book though is Ms. Hogg's discussion on shading. She offers two ways of shading blackwork patterns and discusses how to combine the techniques. At first I questioned her combination. But six hours of stitching later, I discovered she was very right.



This book is not without its flaws.  First, Ms. Hogg does not describe how to cast off at the end of a thread.  Blackwork embroidery requires a specific way to cast off, especially if it is double sided. While this flaw seems to exist in all of the Essential Stitches Guides, it is most notable in a style where running threads highly-piggily across the back of the fabric is an especially bad idea.

The other issue I have with this book is that Ms. Hogg advocates using backstitch as your primary stitch and double running stitch for reversible embroidery. While both have a similar appearance:



backstitch has three distinct problems. First backstitch uses approximately 50% more thread than double running stitch.



This extra thread leads to the second problem of a shadow appearing behind your stitches. This shadow is caused by the extra bulk of black thread behind white fabric. The third problem concerns the geometry of backstitch which causes each stitch to pull the warp or weft threads that the stitch encircles together. When done in a filler pattern or with too much tension, the additive pull of the stitches deforms the fabric into a canvas where you can easily see all of the needle holes. This is evident throughout the book.

In backstitch's defense, it does have the advantage causing your stitches to naturally lay in a straighter line then double running stitch. To create an even line in double running stitch, you have to pierce the thread from the first running stitch when embroidering the second running stitch. Otherwise, the stitches "rub shoulders" and create an uneven line. With backstitch, the stitches pull out of each others way to create a straight line.

Overall, I like this book.  It won't add much to your knowledge if you are an old hand at blackwork as much of the book's information is already available on the web except for the shading; that is unique. However the new blackwork embroiderer will find this a useful little volume well worth the owning.

P.S. If you are looking for a wide range of free blackwork embroidery patterns, look up the Ensamplario Atlatio.

Lilyhammer is a Norwegian-American production by Netflix. Airing in Norway and available though Netflix streaming, Lilyhammer is a fish-out-of-water comedy that takes a decidedly Scandinavian twist to the mafia archetype. Back story: Mafia boss Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano (played by Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band) turns state's evidence and relocates to Lilyhammer, Norway as part of a witness protection program. The New York mobster has an understandably difficult (and humorous!) time fitting into Norway's subtle, law-abiding society.  Frank's default behavior of bribery confuses many of the local citizens as does his willingness to use violence in problem solving. Fortunately this antisocial proclivity is restrained - at least by NY standards. Over the first half of the first season, Frank buys a bar, finds a girlfriend and integrates into the local underworld. His Mediterranean features cause the Norges to mistake him for an Arab which sets off an important plot.

Lilyhammer is good.  It pokes fun at all of the classic mafia conventions from sleeping with the fishes to the horse's head in the bed. Watching the culture clash is hysterical although you get the feeling like a snake has moved into paradise. OK there were already several snakes present but they are Norwegian snakes who understood how to work the culture. Frank's brash style is as contradictory to his adopted country as his appearance is to his neighbors'.

This is a very Norwegian comedy and one that Americans can readily enjoy.  Check it out.

English and Norwegian with subtitles in English.

Have you ever read a craft book and thought "Wow that describes the sole of the craft?" That's kind of my reaction to Jacqui McDonald's book Crewelwork. Commissioned by the Royal School of Needlework to write their treatise on crewel embroidery for the series Essential Stitches Guide, Ms McDonald created a little volume that stands as an example of what good craft instruction should be. In this small 96-page volume, Jacqui McDonald managed to concisely describe each essential element of embroidery while staying useful. From framing to colors, stitches to work order, this book offers new and experienced embroiderers useful information.

The foreparts of the book cover the history of the Royal School of Needlework and crewelwork. The chapters quickly move to materials, tools, color theory, framing and even how to thread your needle. (Remember new and experienced alike.) Most of this book is given to describing individual stitches, so in many ways this book is a stitch dictionary.  Stitches are categorized into essential, filling, outline and surface stitches. The essential stitches cover how to start a thread and split stitch. Filling stitches describe the multiple ways you can embroider a large area. Outline stitches describe stitches that create lines, while surface stitches describe accents that are often added last. The order of these categories subtly enforces a general order in which stitches should be embroidered. The volume ends with an informative discussion on the order of work for an embroidery piece.

This book is in full color with many examples of modern and historic of crewel embroidery. Pictures of the RSN practice pieces are a treat as they demonstrate what RSN apprentices learn in their classes. The examples are mostly traditional crewelwork though, so don't expect to see many modern styles of design.

One of the things I love about this book is the inset pictures that show intermediate parts of a step. Like little sign posts that indicate you're on the right track, these inset pictures let you know you're doing something right as a step in a stitch is being done. It's kinda like someone pulled the most essential frames of a video out for show.

If there is a flaw in this book, it's that Crewelwork concentrates too much on its style of embroidery.  All of the stitches in this book and most of the rest of the information can be applied to embroidery in general. While not every stitch described is appropriate to every embroidery style, this book covers so much information that it serves as an excellent introduction to the general topic of embroidery.

So if you are looking for an embroidery book to give a budding embroiderer or even just a good reference book to give an old hand, pick up Crewelwork by Jacqui McDonald. You'll make someone's day.

I have no affiliation with Ms. McDonald or the Royal School of Needlework. They just make cool stuff.

Stumpwork is an esoteric style of embroidery dating back to Elizabethan England.  It's a three dimensional needle craft that pushes the boundary of embroidery by its very existence.  Much more freeform then cross stitch, crewel or blackwork; stumpwork includes many types of stitches into its repertoire. It also incorporates wires, beads, passamentarie and found objects. Stumpwork doesn't require one to think outside the box so much as it makes the box stand up and dance. In short, watch that third dimension; it's a dozy.

Thus it was with anticipation and high hopes that I opened Kate Sinton's Stumpwork, a volume in the Royal School of Needlework  series Essential Stitches Guide.* She did not disappoint.

Ms. Sinton describes many techniques in this book.  From padding to surface stitches, wire wrapping to slips, she touches on all of the major stumpwork techniques.  The book is elaborately illustrated and well organized. Ms. Sinton takes you from the simplest techniques to the hardest, ending with a chapter on human figures. In short, this small volume covers more then its diminutive size lets on.

Because stumpwork covers so many techiques, there are many unexpected gemse within this book, gems that apply beyond stumpwork. For instance, Ms. Stinton provides the best description I've seen for how to apply an embroidered slip to a piece of fabric.  (Hey Elizabethan embroidery wonks, I really mean that!) She describes how to apply the glue, cut out the slip and sew the slip down.

Another delight in this book is the space given to padding embroidery.  Padded emboidery goes further back than Jacobian stumpwork but somehow it just doesn't get much attenetion. Here it does.  Ms. Sinton describes 5 different ways to pad each with their own illistration. You can clearly read how to apply each type and see the effect it creates.

Since this is an Essential Stitch Guide, there are no projects in the book.  All finished examples are shown without explanation. That's ok though as the RSN clearly wants to teach the reader to fish. Ms. Sinton compensates for the lack of projects by illistrating her techniques using only two main designs. If you are willing to trace through the techniques and add a bit of thought, you'll find it easy to recreate Ms. Sinton's designs.

That said there are a few drawbacks to this book. Foremost is that the pictures sometimes show just the final step in the process when a more gradual sequence of images would be helpful.  For instance when illistraiting a wired fabric slip, how to cast off is described but not shown.Additioanl pictures would get Ms. Sinton's point across much better then one image of the complete slip.

My other major complaint is an aesthetic one. Most of the examples of finished stumpwork in this book represent one of more techniques described in the book. Occationally something undescribed sneaks in but that is of minor import. The more noticeable problem is that many (not all but many) of the examples are ugly. They have beautiful elements within them but those are overwhelmed with strange color choices (a rust and puce owl) or weird elements (a smoking factory in a scene's background). While this shouldn't be a problem for a book that teaches techniques, I find these projects inhibit my ability to see the techniques' potential.

Overall. Ms. Sinton's book is worth getting.  It covers many techniques and offers tidbits that are useful beyond stumpwork.In someways it is just as much a sampler of advanced techniques then a treatise on stumpwork. Like other Essential Stitch Guides, it discusses tools, history and materials.  You'll find it an informative little volume

*The Essential Stitch Guides are produced by the Royal School of Needlework in Britian.  I have no affiliation with that institution, although one would be welcome if they would like to offer a scholarship or something.

This book sat on my shelf for years patiently waiting to be read.  I'll admit to initially dismissing it as a celebration of modern embroidery.  The youngster in me was so interested in historical techniques that I failed to notice the rich and in-depth descriptions of historic embroidery at the from of the book.  In fact there are multiple chapters filled with such. Sigh, the impatience of youth.

Anyway, Blackwork is an excellent overview of blackwork embroidery.  It covers the history of the subject in three chapters with one specifically devoted to Renaissance English embroidery. The stitches are described in detail with a fair amount of text devoted to design and inspiration. I especially liked the discussion on  density and balance.

Ms. Gostelow provides some small blackwork patterns. These however are not the main thrust of the book. Her goal is to introduce the embroidery student to blackwork and hand them the tools to create their own blackwork designs. She offers multiple techniques and suggested illustrated by use.

Of flaws, there are few.  The stitch diagrams could use more detail, especially the braid stitch diagram. The extent objects described rarely have dates attached to them, so you' must guess when the pieces were made. If however you are the type of person to enjoy this book, then you are certainly capable of overcoming these small hurdles.

There was wisdom in my youthful impatience of putting this book off as this is not a book for a beginning embroiderer.  It is written with the experienced embroiderer in mind and, I think, can only be cherished by such. Every art has mysteries that cannot be understood without years of experience.  Blackwork contains such mysteries; they are well worth the wait.

Stitching is progressing slowly which is OK since there's no hard deadline, just a nice-to-have.  See how the speckling is coming along?



Speckling is an interesting style of embroidery. It became popular in late Elizabethan and Jacobean times. It appeared on women's clothes and embroidered panels; almost always monochrome.  Black seems to be the most popular choice, although a linen jacket embroidered in red silk survives as does a panel in blue. Historically speckled motifs were flowers, animals and insects. Some human figures appear in the later Jacobean period. Although speckling can be applied to any motif that requires shading.

Speckling is best viewed at a distance.  Up close you see the individual stitches which aren't particularly impressive. From afar though, the stitches blur into a unified shading - an effect akin to monochrome pointillism.

As a technique, speckling is very easy. Just sew a line of tiny and widely-spaced running stitches. Combine multiple rows of speckling with outline stitch to form a shaded image. If you vary the stitch length and distance of the speckles, you lighten and darken the shadows - simple yet effective.

For a historic style of speckling, run a line of speckling inside and following the main outline of your motif.  To create an effect of shading from dark to light, use three lines. The first should be quite close to the outline, the second should a little further away from the first, and the third should be even further away from the second.  A "cross section" of the lines would appear like this: O_x__x___x.

Your stitches should not be so small as to be single dots. However too much length is a bad thing.  I aim for about 1/16" or 1-2 mm. If the stitches are too long, they have an unpleasant directionality. Imagine standing in you kitchen and looking down on a cup of rice that you've just spilled on the floor.  That is the maximum length you want to go for.

That said length and its accompanying directionality can be used to your advantage.  Stitch orientation that is parallel to a motif's outline emphasizes the outline. Independent speckling stitches sewn in a row create secondary features or designs in the motif.  Note the chevrons on the columbine above.

For better or worse, the speckling fad did not outlast the 17th century in England. However it is still a powerful tool for modern monochrome embroidery.