Orange Rug Yarn Musings

Slides from my all but ad-hoc presentation on geeky needlework at Beaver Bar Camp, where I talked about Mary Rhodes who was a math genius or as they called them during World War II then "computer" or "human computer" involved in decrpytion at Bletchley Park before she became a needlework designer and writer and taught the Rhodes stitch. Then due to user interest we went on to Hilton Stitches. It's essentially just stitch diagrams and 2 examples of geeky needlepoint that I found online. I also brought one of Mary Rhodes' books and Teach Yourself Needlepoint by Jo Ippolito Christensen which has a picture and chart of a circuit in needlepoint (from a postage stamp.)

I'm taking a class called "Doodling Designs" with Susan Sorrell through Joggles. It's a lot of fun and I'm stretching myself quite a bit.

Some photos of some of my work from class:

Week 1:

Week 2:

This is still a work in progress

Week 3:

This is actually a stamp I made a few years ago for a postal letterbox.

Week 4 (this week):

This is still in progress as well. If you like it, it is destined for the auction at the Dog Scout Mini-camp in Texas the first week of December and I'm sure they'd be happy to take advance bids.

Earlier this year, my ANG chapter Cyberpointers did Marilyn Owen's Folding Ort Box out of the Chapter Project Book. I wasn't able to work on it at that time, but started it about a month ago. In the last few weeks, it has become a minor obsession for some reason. Part of it might be that I'm completely enamored of the colors I picked - which are nothing like my usual colors. I know part of it is that I'm looking forward to having the finished project to use as well.

Continuous Wrapping is a stitch used in Casalguidi, a traditional Italian embroidery done on a counted ground that is very dimensional. I learned this stitch as part of the EGA Correspondence Course "Casalguidi and Lavender" by Barbara M. Kershaw. My photos are from my piece from that course, however, I think this stitch could have some very interesting uses on a needlepoint canvas where you want a strong, dimensional line, and I'm looking forward to trying that.

You start with 3 threads, 2 core threads and the working thread. The 2 core threads should be the same length, twice the desired length of the finished wrap plus 8". The working thread should be about 4" shy of double the length of the core threads (four times the desired length of the finished wrap plus about 4".) Thread your 2 core threads onto a needle. Stitch down on one side of a canvas thread and back up next to it. Remove the needle and even out the threads so that there are 4 even length tails coming out the front.

Thread up your working thread and start it right next to the core. At this point you will want to clamp your hooped or framed canvas to your table or frame. If you don't have a wide clamp, you'll probably need 2.

Here's how I hold the two core threads most of the time:

Wrap the wrapping thread clockwise around the core until you get the desired length. (You probably would want to wrap counter-clockwise if you were using Z-twist Brazilian embroidery floss, but I haven't tried it yet.) Finish off the wrap with a buttonhole stitch (ie putting your thread behind the previous wrap.) If you want to put your work aside before you are to the end of the wrap, you can use a loose buttonhole stitch to temporarily hold your work.

Take all 5 threads to the back in one hole where you want the end of your wrap to be tethered. Then work the ends in in singles or pairs.

Finally, using a 4th thread couch the wrap down where you want it to go.

The finished Continuous Wrap on my sample piece:

Starting at 6am tomorrow, July 25th, I will be participating in Blogathon to support the Embroiders' Guild of America. I've set up a blog just for this at Selfless Stitching where I will be posting a blog post every half hour. Please come visit and if I inspire you to donate to the EGA, I'd appreciate your sponsorship!