Blackwork Pattern

I just worked on a blackwork project, that I will share later. I wanted to talk about one of the patterns. I got the patterns I used from "The New Anchor Book of Blackwork." I was a little surprised, because the book suggested using back stitch instead of double running stitch. A Group Correspondence Course (GCC) for EGA (Embroiderer's Guild of America) that I had signed up for several years ago was strongly suggesting that your stitches should be reversible; this method is not reversible; in fact, it is almost the opposite.

This is the pattern after 2 (and a bit) of the 4 steps. It looked very disjointed to me, and I was not sure how it was going to turn out. I was feeling very insecure.

And here is the completed pattern. The pattern fit into the shape I was filling very well, and I like the finished result. But!

This is the back:

The pattern on the back is completely different! The front shows circles, the back shows crosses. (No one is going to see it, but still!) I still cannot get over how that happened.

I really love that stitching can still surprise me so much.

Busy, but still no pictures

I have been stitching a little, in between the computer games, the Gabaldon series, and the knitting.

My lacy shawl is at least 20 inches long! I finished the first skein today. I had 3 skeins, but started getting nervous about the shawl being long enough last week, and I am very happy that I picked up a 4th skein. I finished my knitting allotment in 45 minutes this morning, including adding my "safety line." I wonder if my speed will continue to increase? If it does, I would like to make my daily allotment 8 rows instead of 4... but still just spend 1 hour or so.

I have 3 1/2 Christmas presents made; I should say I have the crocheting done on them, but still need to put on the buttons. I cannot wait to show you pictures for those, they are turning out so cute! Of course, that will not be until December.

I also am working on a temari, that I cannot show you until next Monday. When I am done with that I have to work on another project for next Monday, so there will still be no pictures. When that is done I should be able to get back to posting pictures. I have a pattern picked out for another temari.

If you are interested, here is a slide show for a temari competition in Japan. (You can mute the music if you want to, and pause on any slide, by hovering your mouse over the slide, and clicking on the appropriate button.) The final picture in the program amazes me... the temari must be 3 to 4 feet in diameter!