FREEFORM CALENDAR

I'd like to call attention to the 2007 Freeform Crochet & Knitting Calendar now available. It was compiled by Claudia Dunitz who patiently guided the digital photography challenged to show off their best scrumbles. I haven't seen the calendar yet, but I'm told it is beautifully and professionally rendered. Profits go to a worthy cause. And yes, (blush) I am one of the contributors.

TAST-Y TUESDAYS!

My first challenge of the New Year is partipation in Sharon B's Take A Stitch Tuesdays (aka TAST), which begins today with an exploration of the herringbone stitch. I enjoyed Sharon's Develop a Personal Library of Stitches course so much, this challenge seems like the perfect complement. I expect it to push my creative limits and think about stitching in an entirely new way. I look forward to sharing my own discoveries and gleaning inspiration from other participants. Anyone can participate by signing up at Sharon's website!

DOODLES

For Week 5 I ended up just doodling. Shouldn't say just doodling, for every doodle is a learning experience; some are just more aesthetic than others.
I began with a piece I started earlier when we were practicing the guilloche stitch. I wanted to play with different post combinations. I never went back to it because I hated the linen and the
stitches turned out bigger than I wanted to pursue. I returned to this sampler to study shapes
and tried filling the negative space with different things. I have a difficult working on this fine a count, and if I want to do a nice job I have to use magnification. I've tried different magnifiers, but all are awkward, so I'm going to convince my opthamologist to create a pair of stitching glasses for me.
The second doodle is on a 25 ct lugana. I was pleased with the look of the close spaced cretan stitch. I found that if I wanted to keep the knotted line even, it was best to work with a drawn line first. I like this stitch even when it is a bit rugged, wherein the center line and the length of the stitches aren't quite even.
Last doodle is on a piece of wool that I fulled in the washing machine. It looks dirty because I must have thrown it in with darker fabrics that added their lint to it. I'll have to remember to try treating it with one of those masking tape rollers or shaving it when I get around to buying a cheap electric razor just for that purpose. I played with fronds until the rayon thread became to unruly for my patience level. I wanted to see how the close spaced cretan would do as a tree trunk (didn't care for it). Then I wanted to try the up and down cretan for grass. I used 3 layers of stitching with different colors, but I think it needs more experimentation to work. I also tried a small area with 2 strands of different color.
Week 5 gave me lots new to use and even more ideas to try. I'm only sorry for not having prettier homework to show.