Escape into Enchantment

The baby afghan fringe is still giving me fits. So much so I am even beginning to avoid thinking about crochet as it is becoming tainted with this frustration. Then while wielding the needle in an attempt to use couching stitches to tack down the fringe pieces muscle memory reminded me of the joy I once had in embroidery, needlepoint and counted cross stitch. But instead of hankering after one of those unfinished projects I began to yearn to start a new one. Maybe a petit point (18 to 22 stitches per inch needlepoint) which I have always meant to do and must do soon before my eyes can't do it anymore even with 2.5 to 3.0 magnification.

Well I can say I have an excuse to do so in that I would need to start something brand new for my Secret Santa Giftee this year. Of course that could be something crocheted which would be a much simpler and quicker project. But well, I need a good excuse to start something new. :D

I've been looking at the kits online for needlepoint and counted cross stitch. I even found some very likely ones but it will be a couple months before I can afford the $30 to $40 cost of one of the good kits. I prefer the ones of the caliber of Dimensions Gold which tend to have the extra embellishments like gradual shading, blending filament, metallic thread, beads, outlining and other embroidery stitches on top of the needlepoint or cross stitches all of which creates a more intricately detailed work that looks less cartoonish than some of the plainer kits.

I got to thinking though that I had all the thread I needed to get started on a project of my own making. I even have a 10 inch square piece of petit pint canvass tho a yard of aida cloth would not be too expensive. I have some beads though by the time that step came around I could afford to add whatever is missing from the collection. I have nearly a full pallet of thread as once I collected two each of every color in the trays when there was a sale. I'm sure I'd be likely to run out of this or that color once a project got under way but I can easily replace the thread.

So all I need is a picture to turn into a pattern.

I spent six hours online this evening doing image searches on the theme of enchantment, fairies and fantasy collecting possibilities. I was completely surprised when Ed came in to bed. I hadn't done my post yet and didn't want to change the subject in my mind so I continued working planing to post a handful of the pictures. Then I remembered the slide show gizmo.

But I had not be careful to keep track of the artists during the search before I planned to post images. I'd just be getting screenshots of them for my needlework folder. So in order to post the images with a clear conscience I had to go back and find each one again to establish title of work and artist name.

I discovered the artist Sanderson via the Dimensions Gold kit that was made of her Woodland Enchantress. That is the kit I was hoping to get but I can't afford it for two or three more months and that may be too late to get started in order to finish by mid December.

Even after the intense search that image is in my top five favorites. I'm just not sure I should choose it if I can't get the kit that already exists. Whatever project I start I would want to blog about it and if I feel like I'm violating some ethical code I would shy away from posting images of my work in progress or even just admitting to what I'm doing.

But before I can start a new major project I HAVE to get that afghan finished. But that's a story for another post.