Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Nit Progress
9:41am


The goddess Nit (aka "Neith")

You might not have had a progress photo just yet, but somebody only bought TWO skeins of navy thread, why only TWO???? Progress is halted until later today, when we visit Michaels.

Cross stitch is interesting. The thin thread tangles so bad, and because the strands are so thin, it's hard to remove the knots. But there's blending possibilities, mixing two strands of navy with dark turquoise for the hair. Also collar red is two strands sash red and two strands lip red.

(By the way, I finished the needlepoint of Ma'at, except that I'm waiting on two brass feathers of Ma'at to arrive so I can add them to the corners.)

Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Nit Progress II
10:06am


The goddess Nit (aka "Neith")...

To explain her dress color: I wanted a green flecked with blue. I didn't want the random speckled results of simply mixing two and two strands, like the hair. So the underneath "cris" stitches are half the blue. But when I covered over with the "cross" stitches, it covers the turquoise too much. So I'm going around a third "cross" stitch, but with only one strand of turquoise. The effects are subtle, but rich.

(The apple green is color number 703, which featured much in Ma'at's dress (It's cool the pearl yarns have the same numbers as the embroidery threads.) The turquoise is the lightest in the turquoise family starting with number 3844 for the dark turquoise in the hair, 3845 for collar turquoise and 3846 turquoise for dress accents.

Thursday, December 12, 2019
Nit is Done
8: 47am


I learned alot on my first cross stitch...

After I finished, I learned hoops aren't necessary for cross stitch, only for needlepoint. (There are two 'hoop ghosts'.) And that magic pen bled when I steamed it. Should I wash it? But thread might bleed, too...

Also, the crown is warped slightly, as that's where I started, and I didn't know how to stitch. A modified basketweave is best. The first 'cris' stitch is just like the diagonal row in needlepoint, then cross that row with back stitch line. I know now not to finish each stitch singly, as that messed up and puckered a bit.

I also tried a two way basketweave, but that was too difficult to 'read'. I managed it in the collar stitches, though.

The border design is meant to echo the zig zag 'N' and shield/shuttle glyphs.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Nit is Really Done!
5:55pm

After looking at those blue splotches with considerable unhappiness, I finally got up the courage to wash this piece. So I made a sample out of a small scrap of canvas, and learned the red didn't bleed. The reds stayed true on the full piece, too. However, my efforts resulted in a parallelogram. So on the block it went for some stretching.


The hoop ghosts are fainter and the blue blotches are gone!

It seems less wrinkly, too. So although I am not 100% happy, I am reasonably satisfied.


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