The Journey cross stitch

My neighbour, who is currently struggling with her own health, while caring for her husband whose mobility has been severely hampered by a stroke,  produced this cross stitch kit, called The Journey and  asked me to embroider it for her. She had bought it some time ago to make as a gift for her daughter, who likes both bicycles and flowers.

The daughter is currently travelling 40km a couple of times a week to take my neighbour shopping, and she wanted to give her the framed embroidery to thank her. 

While she said it didn't matter how long it took, I was anxious to get it done. I don't mind cross stitch, but I'm not a fan of the intricacy required for this one - a lot of individual stitches and clusters of colour, as well as a great deal of structural detail, including gears. It required concentration on both the chart and the fabric - and was hard on my eyes. It's a large postcard size - about A5.

I worked the lower left quadrant first, mainly because it looked the most intricate. I started with the wheel, but then outlined some of the bars to keep myself on track. I would normally have worked these as outlines at the end, but it helped to have some guidelines.

I didn't photograph the progress in detail - I just wanted it done! The second wheel and lower right quadrant came next, with the handlebars and basket frame added to give me perspective. 

The sunflowers were easier than their leaves - a welcome relief from the painstaking fill-in of the blossoms behind the wheels and in the basket.

I pushed on to finish late one night so I could add the text in the morning.

It was a joy to see it done

to remove it from the hoop, take out the tacking, and iron it.

It's now with my neighbour, who is happy and knows how she wants it framed.

I have my fingers crossed her daughter likes it.

Beekeeper Cushion no.1.

 

My mission to finish the various projects sitting in bags in my spare room led me to get my head around this curiosity. It turned out to be the result of a Beekeeper's Quilt pattern I bought seven years ago, presumably to use up left-over bits of wool. I don't think I ever had the intention of making a quilt, and I certainly don't intend it now.

It is, however, a good way of using up left-over yarn. You knit a series of little pods, using three dpns. The first three rows getting set up are awkward

but it gets easier after that.

After 20 rows you stuff the pocket with wadding and join the two rows together.

After adding a few more pods, I wondered if any of my family were in need of a teacosy. It seemed to me that would be a good use to put this to.

No-one wanted a teacosy (nor did I, I have several!) but there was a very positive response to cushions to cover four particular church chairs, so, with measurements, I got to work.

I needed eight pods to cover the length stipulated, so as I finished each pod I added it to a central line to mark the length. I already had the width  of five pods

It gave me something to aim for and meant I could choose and spread the colours I had, rather than ending up with blocks of the same. 

I was a bit concerned that a cushion of such random colours might look out of place in a church. I checked out the Saint for which the church is named, St Margaret of Scotland, to see if she had any colour association. To my joy I discovered that one of her famous acts was to introduce colour into the Scottish Court! She encouraged ordinary people, as well as the nobility, to wear coloured clothing, and introduced colour into wall hangings and church furnishings! She also set up workshops in the palace to produce embroidered textiles - and was herself an embroiderer!  Wow!

Eight rows by five is obviously 40 pods needed. The rows, however, interlock, meaning that some half-pods are needed to give a straight edge on two ends.The other two sides meet in points, not conducive to squaring off in knitting.

So the last two pods were four halves - the trickiest to knit, since, to get a smooth edge, I cast on from the centre and decreased rather than the other way around. 

It is now a more-or-less rectangular cushion that fits in a particular space. I’m wondering how I could have made it a couple of cm wider to reach exactly to the front edge of the chair. 

Half pods wouldn’t work. Slightly larger pods on the front row might work, but the best answer might be to to join the pods in vertical, rather than horizontal rows, with half pods along the long, rather than the short edges. I shall wait for a report on how it works in practice. It may, in fact, not be an issue.

I can, however,  begin work on the next one!

Quaker Gardener Pouch

 

After the bicycle panel I moved straight on to the Gardener, which comes from panel D11 of the Quaker Tapestry, entitled Industrial Welfare.There it is associated with the Cadbury Company.

It is a more complex design than the earlier two so the tracing and reverse stitching took a bit more time.

I worked the roof first, then the gardener. His clothing reminded me of my grandfather, who was a nurseryman.

I don't recall him tying his trouser legs with string, but he well might have. His waistcoat and jumper certainly looked like this.

It took me a while to be satisfied with the tree. It probably still isn't the best, but I'm satisfied. In the original tapestry panel the blossom on the tree is white, but I stayed with the kit.

I originally intended to back this with similar cloth and make a tote bag, however the cloth proved elusive. I thought I had bought a pack along with the kit, but I must be mistaken about that. I tried the Hand Spinners and Weavers Guild to no avail, so opted to make a pouch.

I fortunately had a strip I had trimmed from the fabric supplied with the bicycle kit which matched this fabric and was the same length.

With that addition the fabric could be folded so that the embroidery fitted nicely on one side, with a zip insertion on the back. Most of the zips I had were too short, but one proved to be about right.

My go-to green ikat once again proved useful as lining. It was slightly tricky to line, but I managed most of it on the machine. I did have the iron going though the construction which certainly helped.

I enjoyed seeing the Quaker Tapestry, both in Adelaide and in Kendal. I also enjoyed visiting the Museum and Shop, both now closed.  

Finishing the three associated kits gives me great satisfaction and pleasure.

Quaker More Freedom Bicycle Bag

 

The second of my Quaker embroideries is entitled More Freedom  and features a woman riding a bicycle. It comes from the Quaker Tapestry panel A8, depicting the 1895 Manchester Conference. 

After finishing it, I realised there is some guidance in the published Quaker Gallery Stitch Guide, which I'm pretty sure I own! Somewhere. Having now looked at the Guide online, I notice Bridget Guest, the author, suggests adding a street scene to personalise it. I'm rather glad I didn't see that beforehand! 

As you can tell, my cyclist would be in trouble before she started with those wheels!  Perhaps, instead of tracing using the included iron-on transfer pencil, I should have used a compass.

The iron-on transfer gives, of course, a reverse image. Since, by this method, you are creating a pattern on the back of the fabric, it is what you want.

When you mount it right-side up in your hoop, voila! The wheels, however, are wonky.

It is an exercise in the basics - transferring the pattern, Quaker stitch and Bayeux stitch.

I managed those OK, but not perfect circles!

This time the fabric was enough to fold into a simple bag.

I added a zip, since I had one the right size- or almost. It dips slightly at one end.

I lined it in an appropriately coloured batik

and made a twisted cord. The zip means the cord can't be fully retracted for storage in the bag, so I added a bead and loop, so the length can be adjusted.

It can, if so desired, be stored inside except for a short loop serving as a handle. That should  cover most contingencies.

Again, I have no specific recipient in mind - and I certainly have more useful little bags than I will ever use, but hopefully someone  will take a fancy to it! It's too small to act as a bicycle bag, but it would do to carry a phone and purse safely while riding a bike if you didn't have safe pockets, giving you, yes, more freedom!

Quaker Kingfisher Bag.

I bought this kit when the Quaker Museum in Kendel, Cumbria, closed in December last year. I already had two other untouched kits I had bought there while visiting in 2019 or 2018. When I finished the Balvraid Hap I decided it was time I tackled all three. I began with the Kingfisher.

All three kits feature a figure from one of the embroidered panels of Quaker History on display at the Museum. These can still be viewed once a week.

The fabric provided in the kit is the woollen cloth specially woven for the Quaker Tapestry project. It comes with a cotton backing fabric, and the method of transferring the pattern is the same in all three kits: you use an iron-on transfer pencil to trace the design on to the cotton backing, place the wool behind the cotton and stem stitch around the outline through both layers, using the Appleton's wool provided and keeping to the colours on the illustration.

It's a relatively cumbersome  technique, in a world where we are accustomed to designs printed on to fabric, but the wool would certainly not take print, and this works.

The design requires thread painting, and I found myself with quite a few hanging threads in order to achieve the effect. As long as I left the threads on the right side of the work this presented no problem and it progressed quite quickly.

The final touch is scattering drops of water around the bird as it rises from the water with its catch.

I thought I had bought a pack of the fabric, but can't find it. I had hoped to use it as backing to turn this into a bag. I visited the Hand Spinners and Weavers' Guild Shop to see if they had anything similar, but was out of luck. 

While the design did not allow me to simply fold the edges in to make a small bag, I was able to cut a strip from the bottom and insert it to achieve the same. I could then fold over the top edge and line it with green watery batik.

After discussion with Veronica, I decided to add a cord so it can be worn as a cross-body bag. After testing the cords I had, I made a twisted cord from lengths of 6 of the colours in the embroidery.

Also in consultation with Veronica, I made a loop and added a button. The cord can be stored inside the bag if not required.

I'm somewhat surprised how well this has turned out. I'm not sure who will use it, but it does, I think, justice to the Quaker designers. It isn't large, but will accommodate a phone and purse, or a small project.

A really satisfying finish.

Balvraid Hap in Samite

Last year I bought some Blacker Yarns Samite, a 4ply blend of wool and recycled silk, along with their pattern for the Balvraid Hap. I bought two shades of pink, enough of each to make the larger of the 2 sizes in the pattern.

In the middle of this year I decided it was time to take the plunge. I wound the darker of the two shades into balls and got knitting.

The hap is worked around a central garter stitch triangle.  The unusual element, to me at least, is the set of loops knitted into the edges, to assist in picking up for the border.It makes for a very neat join.   

The first layer of the lace edging is a twelve row repeat of a twelve-stitch fan shape worked around two edges of the triangle. Stitch markers kept me on-pattern. The corner turn, was, of course, the tricky bit.  

                 

When I bought the yarn I had the idea of mixing the colours in the lace border, but after discussing with my family experts, decided against it.Consistency seemed the better option.  

It hasn't proved to be my favourite shawl pattern. The garter stitch centre was a bit tedious to knit and although the repetition of the border aids memory, it too is a bit monotonous. Although I used stitch markers to mark off each repeat, and checked each one, it was really easy to drop a stitch with the number of stitches knit together, especially the ssk. Even with care and checking, I found 4 dropped stitches I had to tie off when blocking. 

The really tricky bit, however, came with the edging. Varying between 16 and 20 stitches wide, with a 20 row repeat, this is knitted vertical to the lace edge, picking up one stitch from the shawl edge every second row. That's a lot of short rows! Towards the end I got a rhythm and reasonable speed, but I had to keep following the written pattern. It didn’t stay in my head.

If I were to use the pattern again I think I’d work the centre in stocking stitch. Admittedly, the garter stitch opens up nicely on blocking.

 Turning the corner of the triangle took further concentration but was achieved relatively easily.

 

The outer edge border pattern was not easy to see as I was knitting but became clear as spread out.

I finished it around 10pm one night and set about blocking it straight away. Quite a lot of dye came out in the washing process. I used tepid water for washing and cold water to rinse, continuing until the water ran almost clear before squeezing out the water and rolling in a towel.

I’d hoped to mail it the next day, but it was still damp 20 hours later. I adjusted the pins and fixed the dropped stitches, accepting the need for patience.

I’m not entirely satisfied with the shape. I think the top edge would be better sloping the other way, so it fits more easily around a neck.

Nevertheless it’s a flexible, warm and elegant shawl. 

I rather like the knotted version but the scarf pin version shows off the lace a bit better.

It has a solid look when close against the body and a lacy look when it catches the light.

This is now on its way to the friend who rescued my website last monthI hope she gets pleasure and warmth from it.

While the pattern and kit indicated 3 skeins for this larger version, I did not completely use two of them. That leaves me with the possibility of getting three shawls from the six skeins I bought if I work one in two colours.

I'm still considering options. It might pay to set it aside for a bit. There are plenty of other knitting projects to take up in the meantime!