Year of Starts #12

Hello all! It's been a while, but I've been feeling the holiday crunch. For those who celebrate, I hope you're enjoying the holiday festivities. I think my favorite part of the Christmas season is seeing all the pretty lights that decorate people's houses. :)

So, let me catch you up on some stitching. Last week I worked on Jinn, another HAED. I worked on page 2, and didn't quite manage a page finish:

I think two more days might do it, but I'll just leave it for next year. :) Still, I love how that giant green swirl is looking.

On the 18th, I started my last project for the Year of Starts. I finally decided to start the Little Sheep Virtues by Little House Needleworks. I've been holding this back for about two years, so I'm glad to finally have some stitches into this project. I'm doing all 12 on one piece of 32ct Lugana in Taupe and I started with Hope:

I really didn't manage very much this week. Unfortunately, my sciatica has flared up again, so it was hard to sit and stitch for a couple days. But I'll get there. My back is slowly getting better. I haven't decided if I want to attach the buttons or not. They're really cute, but it does make framing trickier.

And then... Yeah, I couldn't help myself. This is the problem with making plans. I want to implement them now! I mean, why wait, right?

Far in the future, I'm thinking of starting a certain Golden Kite pattern that is pretty huge. I want to tent stitch that pattern on a small count because it's cheaper and faster. I also want to use diagonal stitching because it's totally addictive and fun. The problem is, I don't know if tent stitch would work with diagonal stitching, because it might pull the fabric into discernible rows. Solution: test it!

Next thing you know, I'm searching through my full coverage charts looking for something "small" and I hit upon QS Summer by Sarah Butcher from HAED. This chart is on my "definitely start this" list, but I hadn't gotten to it yet. It's "only" 150 x 211 stitches. I had fabric and enough threads in my stash to make a start. So I did! Here she is so far:

Since this is tent stitch, 2 strands over 1 on 25ct Lugana, I decided to start in the top right corner rather than the top left. That's because I like to do continental tent stitches from bottom left to top right. Starting each row on the right lets me do just that.

From this little bit I've stitched so far, I can say that yes, doing tent stitch diagonally does pull the fabric, but only a little. I can't really tell by looking at it, but I can feel it with my fingers. I also think the pulling is worse where there is less confetti. The fourth diagonal had about 300 stitches of mainly one color, with one or two others mixed in occasionaly, and that row has developed a slight hump; but again, I can't really tell just by looking at it.

I'm going to wait until I complete the page to make any decisions about how to stitch the Golden Kite piece. Like I said, that's far in the future. But Summer is stitching up nice and quick: this is about 5.3 hours so far.

Well, that's all for now. At some point, I'll post a review and plans for next year. I can't believe it's almost next year! I am super excited. I think I've been planning for next year for most of this year. (I like making plans.) Hope you all find time for stitching amid the holiday rush. Merry Christmas! Until next time!