Van Dyke, Slanted Gobelin, Cashmere

After learning how to strip strands and use a laying tool, I was ready to tackle some more stitches. There are so many to choose from in "The Needlepoint Book" it was pretty difficult -- but I settled on the "Van Dyke."

My first attempt was done with 6 strands of stripped floss. I also had the column of stitches abut up to the previous work I had done with the Straight Gobelin and the Hungarian. I encountered two problems.

The first problem was that by abutting it next to my 9-strand monstrosity stitches, it was very difficult to see the canvas clearly on the left side. I am not sure every stitch made it into the right hole -- even though I used the laying tool to push strands aside to see better. Although this may be an unavoidable problem for "real" projects that I will have to practice to overcome, I think for the sampler it is a good idea to try new stitches away from others or at least against fairly thin or flat stitch groupings.

The other problem was that 6 strands was way too thick. Instead of being an attractive pseudo-braid marching down the canvas, I have a rather lumpy and decidedly off-kilter caterpillar... thing. Frustrated with this, I ended the stitch pattern prematurely and did a little randomly-placed Slanted Gobelin instead, which is much easier and was therefore more satisfactory.

Not to be undone, I tackled the Van Dyke a second time. This time, I used a much lighter-hued floss so as to better see the stitch and reduced the strand count to 4. I also started in a blank space to the right of my previous work so I would have a clear view of the canvas. Success! The stitch came out MUCH clearer and less lumpy -- the caterpillar became a butterfly. The second column's backing did not turn out as well, I stopped looking at the book and unconsciously changed the stitch order. Although the right-side of the canvas looks correct, the backside does not have as good a backing because of my changes. I definitely need to refer to the stitch instructions more frequently until the order is burnt into my brain.

In order to fill the space between the Van Dyke and the rest of the sampler, I did some 4-stranded Cashmere stitches, along with some more Slanted Gobelin. I really like the appearance of the Cashmere stitch, and it had good coverage of the canvas. I think it would be worth giving the Mosaic a retry with only 4 strands.