More Cashmere, Shading, Waste Knots

I have continued quite successfully with the Van Dyke and Cashmere stitches. Once the Van Dyke columns are lined up side-by-side, the disproportion I was seeing between the right and left sides disappears, which is good to know. As I create larger sections of stitches, I'm appreciating the effect of laying the threads -- even from a distance, the reflection of light enhances the pattern so that the stitch definition can still be discerned -- and these are tiny stitches!

Combining Cashmere with Mosaic was helpful in creating continuity in an unusually shaped space. Since they look very similar but differ in dimension (rectangle v. square) they can be paired together at those odd issues.

I had some fun using two colors of threads in my Cashmere stitch. I was thinking about ways to transition colors and didn't bother to look in "The Needlepoint Book" first. My mistake, I made it much harder than it is. What I tried to do was stitch Cashmere stitches partially with one color (there are four diagonal stitches in a Cashmere, I would stitch between 1 - 3, leaving blank space for the other color) in areas where I eventually wanted to transition. Then I when I was ready to move on to the next color, I would stitch in the blank spaces.

Here's two things I learned about this:

• It's really important that the shades by very close to each other in order to make the transition subtle. I can imagine situations where you would want a striking transition from one color to another, but if you are looking for subtlety, shade differences should be minimal.
• "The Needlepoint Book" has a great section on shading. The revolutionary idea I couldn't come up with on my own: use strand combinations of different colors to transition WITHIN stitches. Angels flew down from heaven to sing and strum harps while I reveled in this discovery.
• This is a third point but has nothing to do with shading. "The Needlepoint Book" has an entire section about the necessity of stripping threads and using a laying tool. Its a bit later in the book about projects and design, so I glossed over it in my eagerness to get started.
  

I've also gotten pretty good with the waste knot. This is much easier than holding the thread end under the canvas until it gets buried, although it does require that you have a "plan" when you get started stitching. Also, I suspect it would not work as well with line stitches. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I think.