You guys. I am SO CLOSE to being done with my first cross-stitch project…ever! At least I think it’s “ever.” I’ve definitely worked on cross stitch projects before but I don’t think I’ve ever finished one. Starteritis—not just for knitters.
It’s tricky when I generally only have time to work on it while my breakfast cooks in the morning, but it’s also nice to be able to see a good amount of progress made in only 20 or so minutes.
I’m hoping to finish this this weekend while my mom is in town—she’s actually finished and framed pieces before and it seems that the instructions for finishing vary. For example, if you click through to Instagram, you’ll see that Lilith suggested simply ironing… but if I’m remembering correctly, the instructions that came with this piece called for washing and blocking similar to a knit project. I suspect if I did simply iron this one, it’d be fine—the materials are all plant fiber—but for projects that work with wool, like the couple of crewel work pieces I want to make, would I need to wash them to even out the yarn?
And don’t even get me started on the contradictory instructions about knotting thread. Oi.
I guess this just reinforces that it’s great to have a wide range of skills in your crafter’s toolbox. You may not think that blocking, or figuring out how to start a length of embroidery thread, are all that important, but having a repertoire of available options is awesome. It lets you choose the best cast-ons for projects, or fabric onto which to stitch things… basically, what I’m saying in my roundabout and kind of ridiculous way, is never stop learning to perfect your craft.
Or life, really.
::mic drop::
