A very short experiment with single line drawing on knit

I recently bought Stitch with One Line and got lots of ideas from it. I like its treatment of leaves, and I think the single line drawing of faces has potential for commemorative bags, amongst other things.  Tomorrow the World Embroidery Study Group is looking at Embroidery on Knitting. I have a couple of books on this, but have lent them to the talk giver. 

Today I spent less than an hour, embroidering a tulip motif from the One Line  book on a well-worn merino jumper, just to get the feel.

I didn’t knit the jumper. It’s one I bought from Bendigo Woollen Mill, so it has been machine knitted. It has well defined horizontal ribs, which I thought (correctly) would make stem stitch easy. As you can see, the jumper is a bit pilled, not in the best condition, so if I messed up it wouldn't be  a disaster.

I tried to sketch the shape using various chalk markers. None worked at all on the surface so I stitched freehand with the diagram in front of me, using some left-over British Breeds wool. 

I was right about the ribs. They made for a convenient, measured surface for stem stitch. I could work quickly taking my direction from the diagram. I had to hold the fabric firmly in my left hand and turn it to keep stitching in the same direction. Attempts to change the direction of my needle needed to be undone. You can also see clearly where I missed stitching a rib. 

It has potential for initials ( do I see a J in there?).

I hope to wear the jumper tomorrow just to show the potential. It’s not much, but I’m pleased to have tried it.  

A non-knitted fabric will give a smoother finish to a single line embroidery, but this shows it is possible, even on knits, if you work with the texture.