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Time for a progress report on the Historical Headache. I have finished the first 9 bands and am working on band #10. Since there are 20 bands in Loara, I'm about half way through by the numbers. The bands are of varying sizes, so if you go by the measurements, I'm about 1/3 of the way through.
I am very glad I put her into a slate frame. It was a bit of work to get it right, but has been more than worth the effort. Working stitches in a framed up piece, I can turn them upsidedown, mirror image them or work them in any direction without constantly changing my grip and the orientation of the ground. I think there is less wear on the fabric this way. I don't have to worry about which way the needle is pointing and struggle with stitching in awkward directions. The Lazy Wench has decided to work in what I call a 'comfortably reversible' manner. I'm not being picky about hiding thread ends and traveling, but I'm using the reversible stitches such as the marking stitch and cross stitch with bar.
I'm also very glad that I colorized the graphs for band 8 the 'Daisy Band.' Working from a black and white chart would have sent me right 'round the bend. I used an application called PC Stitch, version 5. I've since upgraded to version 6 with my computer upgrades, but Wenches using Windows 95 or 98 will be fine with version 5. Taking the time to duplicate the chart, stitch by stitch also helped me learn where the variations in the pattern are. I had less trouble stitching with my needle because I'd already stitched with my mouse. I'm working on colorizing two more bands, 14 and 19.
I've now included all three of the color changes that I made for Loara as well, and I have some idea of how it will work out. Other Wenches have said they like it, and I like it as well. I am using Sampler Threads from The Gentle Art in place of three colors supplied by Mistress Harvey. I could not believe that a 16 year old girl would complete an entire sampler with many floral bands and not use any pink, so instead of Medium Tan, I'm using Cameo Pink or Pumpkin Patch, because there wasn't enough of one dye lot of Cameo Pink. Instead of Chestnut, I'm using Copper and instead of Blue, I'm using Deep Sea. Sampler Threads do have a dyelot, so if Wenches look at these in a local shop, they might not look exactly like the threads I have in my workbasket. To estimate how much to get, I just bundled together the skeins of Sampler Threads till the bundle looked the same size as the thread bundle supplied by Mistress Harvey.
Jules, the Island Wench and Sharon, the Local Wench are also making good progress. Local Wench has put Loara into a scroll frame and is hard at work finishing up the Palm Tree Band. She's also is working on the first of the blackwork bands. Local Wench went to a scroll frame because managing a magnifier and a q-snap wasn't any fun and caused her neck to hurt. She continues with her double checking and careful work. I think it looks wonderful. Island Wench is chipping away at the Daisy Band, using a colorized version of the black and white chart from Mistress Harvey. She's had to set Loara aside for a bit so she can work on projects that have a deadline. Island Wench is also toying with the idea of removing Loara from the scroll frame she's currently in and putting Loara into a lighter slate frame. Island Wench decided that stitching Loara reversibly is for the birds and is using cross stitches, instead of marking stitches. Frankly, Island Wench is such a good stitcher that this makes zip difference iin the beauty of her finished work. It does remove a large portion of 'headache' from the project for her. The Lazy Wench isn't sure what Local Wench is doing, but suspects a version of 'comfortably reversible.'
Looking at the Daisy Band, I was concerned that I'd have trouble with it and convinced myself not to start it until Loara was in the slate frame. After colorizing the chart and some brain gymnastics on how to turn the diagrams into stitching, I stitched along with very few problems. I had to frog some counting errors because I was talking and stitching at the same time, but had no major construction holdups.
I still have not picked out an alternative to the verse that Loara stitched. I'm not going to put an alphabet in there, but I haven't found a replacement verse yet. I might look through Shakespeare to see if there is a quote shorter than my beloved 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...' Iambic pentameter just tugs at my heart.
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