Wibbeldly, Wobbly

 I started to title this blog entry "Rage and Angst" but thought that might be a little scary, even though that's how I felt yesterday.

I was working on my new project:

I spent a good chunk of time stitching yesterday. Western Reserve Sampler Guild had an all-day stitch-in, and I was there for about four hours, then I worked on this for about another four hours last night.

And this is all I got done.

I will be the first to admit that my electric needle has rusted, but this is ridiculous, even for a slow stitcher.

I was fighting the linen. The whole time.

I'm not a big fan of overdyed linen in general. I'm not crazy about mottled coloring on the background; I think it can detract from the design. On top of that, some of the linens that have a big contrast in color look like dirty rags. Like you've spent the day with your hands in the innards of a car engine, wiped them off on a clean white handkerchief, then dropped the hankie on the floor and ran over it a couple of times. Or you've used the linen to clean mud off the dog's paws. Or the kid used a towel to dry off after swimming, then left the damp towel in his duffel until the smell of mildew attracted you to his room.

But what really annoys me--and annoyance is a mild term for the way I was feeling last night--is how limp so many of the overdyed linens become. I like linen with some body. I like linen that holds its shape. I like linen that's helpful rather than adversarial.

This particular piece of linen is so limp that the threads are literally moving as I try to stitch. The weave has even loosened. The sawtooth pattern is worked in satin stitch, and in one spot, you stitch over one thread. The linen is so loosey-goosey that the floss slides between the linen threads and disappears, so I have to go over that spot twice for a stitch to show up at all.

I did try spray starch on the corner and stitched a few stitches to see if that would help. The spray starch merely fixed the linen in its wobbly state.

I am going to try lacing the sides to the scroll frame. If that doesn't make it better, I'm going to dig out a slate frame.

One way or another, I'm going to get this done.