Preprinted cross stitch from china, would you buy one ?

 I must admit that I am a bit of a crafty hoarder when it comes to kits in charity shops but there is a gem of a reason for doing this.

1 I like to think that if I am confined to he house I will have plenty to do.

2 The small simple kits are often given away to people who want to try out cross stitch or embroidery. In fact I purchased a couple of small ones on Wednesday and one of them found a new home the very next day.

3 I like the challenge of a new style of embroidery when I come across one ( not the best at finishing things though)

4, This is the main point of this post. I'm curious about the influx of cheap, preprinted cross stitch from China although I would never buy any as often the artwork has been stolen etc. I understand that some brands are completely legit and I'm not complaining about them.

But whilst in Stonehaven I cam across one in a charity shop, a complete kit, unstarted ( in fact unopened) for a couple pounds so I bought it just to see if it works. 

The kit comes with 11count fabric so I'm not expecting any detail :-) I have since seen a kit with 18 count fabric which would be a lot better so maybe a more sensible choice? If I spot one at a cheap price I will try that also.

The cover picture depicts artwork not a completed stitch ( red flag moment) and a quick search found it on Amazon for around £8, reviews were interesting though, several were 5 star but one mentioned poor quality floss and having to redraft the pattern.

This is what I got.

Paper Pattern, I hope that I never have to refer to it as its really small and not gridded.

It looks more like a bunch of flowers but the colours do seem to be printed in line with the stitches. but we have symbols on the key which are difficult to read on the paper pattern or fabric

The instructions on how to cross stitch are printed on the transparent sleeve with an unremovable sticker across the part that explains how many thread to use at a time for different size fabrics.

another instruction sheet is included. There are clear instructions to only leave 1cm of thread when starting and finishing stitching so I suspect that the thread amounts may be the same across the three fabric sizes quoted on the cover sheet for this design. This makes me a little concerned that running out of thread may be an issue.

Threads are pre sorted, it remains to be seen how they hold up to being pulled through the stiff material.

They state that everything is included to start although though snips look a bit lethal !

I think that I may start with a couple of squares in the middle just to get an idea of how it works, I'm not holding my breath at all haha

If I don't like it, next up will be this heritage bookmark spotted by Ian which he has asked me to stitch for him. Comes complete with fabric, needle, backing material, threads, design story and even a tassel. Bargain £1.50 at the charity shop in Lochcarron ( I also picked up a lovely new cotton traders cardigan to wear over winter)

To conclude, I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised by the stamped cross stitch. Although my preference will always be for counted stitch designs I would like to know whether this kit, which is advertised as a beginner kit, is actually suitable for a newbie.

Holiday knitting round-up

 I usually knit quite a lot when we are away in the van but this year the never ending cross stitch sampler has been taking up quite a lot of my time.

 You can see from my previous post on Soed Idee Jubileum that I am working on part 40 so only ten more parts to be sent to me. However, I will probably add two more to take it up to the end of the tear if I have enough space on the fabric. You can catch up with the previous stitching here if you are new to this blog.

I did find time to pick up the needles can cast on this shawl to wear with my fishermans smock, this is an ongoing project until I run out of yarn.

A couple of Petes fibre studio braids found their way onto the wheel.

and three hats found their way off the needles.

Killin - Barnard Castle - Bridlington - Home

After a weekend spent in a pub carpark meeting up with friends we started to head south.

 

It had been a very wet and windy weekend but about 50 or so of us crammed into the pub and had a good time. Travelling back down to the Borders I kept my camera handy and soon realised that we were following a couple that we knew. You could tell when the rider was chatting to her husband in the sidecar over the intercom the movements of her head .

It gave me chance to play with the camera settings and capture the occasional bridge.

Our last three destinations are all places used as stop off points over the years. First up was Killin so I could do a full wash and clean out the van a bit after the last two or three weeks. We were heading for the caravan club site as I knew that it had laundry facilities, a Co-op nearby for food and a couple of cafes on the high street.

misty start next morning but the sun soon burnt it off.

I love these reflections, they get even more interesting when you turn the photo around .

This sign on the campsite made me laugh.

After a couple of nights, a restock of clean clothes and food we were back on the road again heading back into England.

Our next stop was Barnard Castle, the town getting its name from the castle which is still fairly impressive and offers views over the town. ( which I failed to get a pic of !! )

The last stop was Bridlington for six nights, totally relaxing, walking round the harbour and trips to Flamborough and North landing.

post box depicting Bridlington lobster 

Coffee at the leisure centre, one of my crafty venues

North Landing, waiting whilst Ian was out on one of the boats.

https://www.flamboroughmanor.co.uk/flamboroughmarine/

not a lot left of Flamborough castle

Ghostly post-box topper

Bridlington looking very quiet now the tourists have gone home, to be honest I quite like it like this.

Soed Idee Jubileum week forty

 Back in Nottingham for a while so I'm stitching at Nottingham castle today.

Free Fleece ? Yes please !

 Just before we went away, I returned from the local guild meeting with two bags of fleece. One was the saxon merino already mentioned in a previous post and the other was a Zwartbles fleece fresh from a farm. I'm always happy to take on fleece and I haven't spun Zwartbles yet but one of my favuorite fleeces in a a long time was a zwartble black wensleydale cross which I have just about run out of now. The last of it is currently on the needles.

The day after we got back was warm and sunny so I popped it out of the bag to see exactly what I have.

it is a monster and definitely in need of a good skirting.

Next step was buckets, hot soapy water and a reasonable amount of mess before I could pop it on the line ( a small portion of it)

My 'go to' prep for most fleece that has a staple length greater than three inch is to use my wool combs and this was no exception. Next up was my Ashford e-spinner where I hit my first problem. Over the last couple of months I have used this mainly for plying as I have been travelling with the Argonaut spinner. It took me a while to work out the best thickness to spin this one and in the end I've gone for a DK ish yarn.

Its now ready for a wash, about 50gm sample, not super soft so probably going to be a pair of fingerless mitts just to see how it knits up and washes.

After washing I'm thinking that its maybe a bit softer than I thought and would work as a jumper to wear over a long sleeve t-shirt in winter. To be honest there doesn't seem to be too much prickle for me .

A quick sample has it knitting up nicely and the world of wood carded fibre that
I spun for TDF shows up well against it.

I now have another 100gm processed and ready to spin, I will keep you updated.

Soed Idee Jubileum week thirty-nine

 I really struggled to get started on the original design and eventually asked into chose one for me. Apparently this one looks like my bobbin lace

Aviemore and Rosemarkie

We spent 2 nights at Aviemore simply to go on the railway, we have visited Aviemore several times in the past but have never taken a trip on the railway so here we are.

 I managed to get some knitting done during the journey...

After a final picture or two, we went in search of coffee and a charity shop browse

I do feel old when I see signs like this, there must be a couple of generations now who aren't familiar with this method of flushing the toilet.

The next day it was pack the van and travel over to the east coast again to Rosemarkie, home of dolphins although we didn't see any this time. Again this is a place that we have visited and stayed at several times over the years but it never gets old. 

The view from the van, we were parked right at the front of the campsite. As usual I headed down to the community cafe more than once, along with my wheel or knitting.

and also found that the golf club are quite happy for people to work in there if they buy coffee etc so on a bad day that became my refuge for editing photos and writing blogs.

We didn't see any dolphins this time but did visit the latest exhibition at Groam House Museum which is in the village and is a Pictish Museum.

George Bains celtic knotwork display was on display along with some of his earlier works.