Take a Stitch Tuesday

Sharon at Pintangle has had a long-running SAL called Take a Stitch Tuesday, and I've joined it this year. Every week I embroider an inchie with that week's stitch; sometimes two, if I decide to also use the Beyond TAST suggestion for more experienced stitchers.

Weeks 1-7 (FYI, I am continually unhappy with the macro photos from my iPhone):

Chain, fly, and knotted fly

 

Buttonhole and reversed buttonhole bar

Stem and Portuguese stem

Feather, and feather and chain

Detached chain and barred chain

Herringbone and raised close herringbone

The inchies make this an ideal project -- just a little bit every week, which is about all I can manage.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

January's pick for the Inspired by Reading book club was The Starless Sea, a novel which I had fortuitously bought for myself as a birthday present the previous month. It's a story about stories and the truths they tell or hide. Grad student Zachary finds a mysterious book on the shelves of the library that contains several tales about a giant library below the world where all stories are kept, including the tale of how a young Zachary found a door to that library and almost went through it but didn't -- an event he never told anyone about.

I loved this book so much. It's a lovely paean to storytelling, filled with rich and vivid imagery -- bees and keys and swords abound, and honey lemon cookies and cats and dollhouses and trees and doors appearing everywhere. There's a millenia-old love story, and another sweet, more recent one. There are endings and beginnings and second chances and lost opportunities, and through it all the thrill of a well-told tale.

There were also some narrative problems. A sinister secret society becomes quite dangerous early on before fizzling out completely; another secret society ends up not having much of a role at all. One of Zachary's friends takes over part of the narration at the end of the book and she's wildly entertaining but she feels like she belongs in another novel entirely. And I would have liked some variation in the voice of all the non-Zachary tales, to reflect the fact that the underworld library is supposed to hold all kinds of stories told in all kinds of manners. But on the whole I could not get enough of the world Morgenstern created. Maybe a sequel centered on Kat?

I went with the obvious when it came to making the jewelry:

I attached a bee, sword, and key to a black filigree base, and attached that to a matching chain. A second strand of amber chips to evoke the honey of the Starless Sea adds a little textural interest.

But I didn't stop there!

Using a deep indigo strip of silk I picked up at Allegory Gallery a few years ago, I attached a big brass ring with a slip knot and added an assortment of charms, beads, and another hunk of honey-colored amber. this is my favorite of the two, and I will keep it for myself. The other I will list in my etsy store.

New Year, New Projects

I'm generally not one who marks the New Year, but for some reason I'm feeling all energized and organized and excited about my crafty projects for the year.

My long-neglected Tree of Stitches:

Keeping it in the cart by my chair should inspire me to pick it up more often than I have; and once I do, it really doesn't take long to do a section of specialty stitches.

Pintangle's annual TAST:

I wasn't kidding when I said I loved making inchies. I'm stitching roughly an inch square for each week. Once done, I'll back them with interface and cut them out, and make some sort of collage.

Monet's flowers:

The pattern calls for four flowers at the ends of a lariat but lariats aren't my thing. Do I make (very large, possibly heavy) earrings, or a shorter necklace (haven't figured out the clasp)?

A cellini rick rack star:

I don't have the called-for experience with rick rack beadweaving patterns, but I think I'll do ok.

Beadboy3's quilt:

This will be a sampler of his interests -- trains, Legos, Spider-man, cats, crayons, and Minecraft.

Flowers of the Month design from Just Cross Stitch:

I know I said I'd cut down on cross stitch for the year, but I adore the colors. I don't have enough fabric to make each design separately, so I will stitch it as one large grid, 4 by 3.

This should keep me busy for a while ...