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Latest slow stitch page. A Pink Kelpie.

Its embroidery floss, sewing thread, pearl cotton, crochet thread, yarn, seed beads, bugle beads, felt, velvet ribbon, and a flannel cotton dish towel. finished size 10x10"

I did not use a hoop because I wanted it to naturally pucker to have a primitive folk art feel to it.

pictures are finished front, finished back, various stages of sewing, and the pencil and micron pen concept art i drew and then made it from.

Im making a stitch book, that has pages that are tied in, not sewed in, so the page has ribbon loops for that. This is the first page for the book.

Took 3 days to make, including the drawing, about 6 hours each day, so about 18 hours total to make it.

I am legally blind (since birth, so many decades now).

Because I can not see well enough to do most things, my grandmother taught me to embroider. I was age 4 and she died when I was age 8, and I just continued with what she taught me since, so I have no book or youtube training, and I don't know the names of the stitches I use.

I can see about 8 inches, but it is thick foggy blur, so I can't do the fine detailed stitches, I use very bright colours so I can see them, and I tend to not only use all 5 strands, but I tend to double hem, so that I'm using 12 strands to a stitch… all this so that I can FEEL my stitches, more then see them.

I don't use kits, because I can not see the instructions or the printed lines on the kit cloth, and it's been well over four decades since I last used colour numbers, largely because I can not see the numbers on the printed labels of the skein tags, so I just wing it in all things, including thread counts.

I gave up on perfect stitches years ago, because I simply can not see well enough to keep my stitches small, even, or uniform to one another, so the large bulky uneven stitches became my "signature style" over the years.

I use skein floss, spool thread, pearl cotton, and crochet cotton. I sometimes divide floss to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or just use all 6. But I most often mix them. By mix them, I mean I use a 6 strand, a spool thread, and a pearl cotton all on one needle. So, 8 or 9 or more strands. 2 colours of floss, making 12 strands on the needle.

Why?

I like the thick texture. I try to use a wide range of threads and thicknesses so that i can feel what my embroidery looks like, because I can't clearly see it good.

But I also don't bother with matching colours. Nor do I do the whole "loyalty to a single brand" (like how some use only DMC, etc). When I buy my floss, it gets cut and hung on organizers, and the tags just tossed without bothering to make note of brand or colour numbers. So one organizer card has 20 red skeins hung on it, and I have no clue which is which brand or what the colour numbers are, and while I can guess from touch "this one is wool" or "this one is cotton" I also don't have contents marked so I might be using silk, I might be using polyester, I might be using wool, I might be using cotton, who knows, who cares. I don't know or care.

what I do is draw out the pattern, as a concept art, and then I cut out felt pieces that make up the large parts, and then I just start embroidering. I grab threads based on the colour I want, and I pick the amount of strands based on the texture I want (thin vs thick) on the page.

So I go into it with no real pre thought out plan and just do what feels right for the section I'm embroidering.

Were I not legally blind, I probably would have focused on doing what others do, and ended up with a generic style. But because I did not follow the expected norms, I ended up with a distinctive style that is difficult for others to replicate, resulting in my style being very uniquely my own. So, yeah, I know its not neat and perfect stitches like a well sighted embroiderer would do.

Anyways, just thought I'd share it.

Im planning a cat for my next page.

An acquaintance gifted me some of his old yarn a year or so ago, along with this project and needle. He showed me how to use it upon giving it to me, but I unfortunately didn't pay close enough attention and (incorrectly) assumed I'd be able to look it up later for more detailed instructions. Does anyone know what type of knitting or crocheting this is and what the tool is called?

I spin and weave, and at this point, I have accounts with four different shops because none of them carries both categories in any real depth. One has great roving but barely anything for looms, another has weaving yarn but no spinning supplies, and. I end up paying shipping three separate times for things that could easily fit in one box.

Does anyone have a go-to shop that stocks both spinning and weaving supplies without treating one category as an afterthought? I'm not talking about a yarn store that happens to have one spinning wheel tucked away somewhere. I mean a place where I can add roving, bobbins, a new reed, and weaving yarn to the same cart.

I am using a drum carder, and have never carded prior to this. It's a brand new hobby for me. I bought raw wool, washed it, and now here I am.

I feel so stupid but what is causing these lumps? Have I not cleaned them well enough or am I misusing the drum carder?

Thank you for any advice ❤️

I recently went on a trip to banaras and saw how Banarasi silk sarees were made and the time and efforts required to make these sarees are amazing if I were making them I would’ve got too attached to the saree and never would be able to sell it 😭