A little more than a week ago, I planned out how I was going to stitch this canvas. I planned to do the letters, rope, and antennae in whipped backstitch. The lobster was going to be in Offset Mosaic. The signal flags would be in various stitches. The background would be in T Stitch and I left the water till later.
I planned on using mostly cotton threads, with the lobster in Grandeur and the letters in metallic.
Then I shopped my stash to pull threads. Instead of Grandeur I found this amazing “boiled lobster” color of Pebbly Perle. But I did keep the Offset Mosaic.
I couldn’t find four Pebbly Perles to match the signal flags, so I went and looked at Impressions, thinking I’d mix the fibers. But I did have all the colors in Impressions, by using a dark gray instead of black, so I went with them. But I could still keep the stitches I had planned.
Next I went to pick out the metallic. I found this great blue-gray. But in the same drawer I found a lovely “almost white” pale blue metallic and decided it would be perfect to add sparkle to the background. So instead of light coverage, I have much more complete coverage in my chosen stitch, T Stitch.
At the same time I decided that I wanted the antennae and eyes to be different from the rope, so I picked a metallic for them.
While I stitched the lobster I thought about the antennae and decided I just didn’t want the fuss of whipped backstitch, so I did them in tent and reverse tent.
Thinking about the letters, I decided whipped backstitch wasn’t thick enough and whipped chain would be too thick. So I’m stitching them in a mixture of tent and reverse tent.
The rope will be whipped chain though, in Impressions. And the water will be an overdyed Gloriana silk.
This illustrates something important to remember whenever you plan something out or buy a stitch guide — it isn’t Holy Writ. Change it when it suits you.
Change it if you don’t like a thread.
Change it if you hate doing a stitch.
Change it if you feel like it or want to do something different.
Nothing is harmed and you’ll like your stitching better if it’s what you want when you stitch it, not what you planned — no matter how good the plan was.
A quick note, shortly after the mini-sock is finished, it will be available as a free stitch guide. I’ll announce it here.
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