With Christmas over, it's time to get back to work on the Enchanted Castle of Marvels Shawl...I decided to work the buds in Trellis on the diagonal, which allowed me to gradate the colors the way I wanted to. I have chosen to use Soie Perlee for the main motifs. Colors used for the bud are:
325 dk green
199 lt green
499 red
Unfortunately, the brown linen doesn't photograph very well. It's actually a beautiful dark-chocolate brown, darker than it appears here. There's a bit of rayon in the linen and in addition to that causing me problems with stretching on the frame, I think it adds a sheen to the photo so the true color doesn't come through.
Tendrils are worked in stem stitch, color 199 soie perlee.
The main stems are Heavy Broad stitch in color 325 perlee.
I am not pleased with the honeysuckle I've worked in Long & Short stitch. One of the main reasons I hesitated to use L&S is that I don't like Soie d'alger threads. They're too fuzzy and it detracts from the sharpness of the motif. On the surface, it looks ok. I'm no Trish Burr, but after a few attempts I did an adequate job of shading the petals. I've done very little L/S stitch and will need more practice to get it to a level I'll be satisfied with. I love the way the stamen came out - their willowy-ness. They are worked in Stem and Satin Stitch.
I tried to get a good side view of the honeysuckle to show how fuzzy this thread is - this is the best I could do. Through a magnifying lens the fuzziness is much more apparent. This is why I never use soie d'alger for counted blackwork - you'll never achieve a clean line with a fuzzy thread, which is imperative for counted blackwork. I have decided not to use L/S on any other motifs except the honeysuckle.
Colors used on honeysuckle:
Soie D'alger:
2235
2234
2514
2511
Stamens: Mulberry Silks 412 K
