Yet Another Project

I completely forgot to blog yesterday. My computer time for the morning was taken up with arranging testers for the Snowdrop shawl pattern. They're all raring to go, comments already flying this morning, it's all very exciting.

And lately, the afternoon computing has been, on bright days, devoted to yet another project I’m working on. Take a look at these:

Two lovely needlepoint panels I found a couple summers ago at an antique shop. My mother had been there previously with a friend, and suggested a trip to me (twist my rubber arm, eh?) The place was closing at the end of the season, so we had to check it out then. She had her eye on a copper bedwarmer, which she ended up buying. I poked about, and found these tucked away in a pile of linens. Think of all the work that went into them. Well used – the colors are faded (the back is brighter), and some of the stitches are missing. The ragged edges and slashes at the corners suggest that they were used to upholster the seat and back of a chair. So what am I doing with them?

 I’m sitting at the computer, and working on graphing out the pattern, trying to approximate the unfaded colors. I know it’s going to take a while, as some of the shades are hard to tell apart unless the light is good. The brilliant maroon and blues and gold are easy to pick out, but some of paler shades and the varied greens require closer scrutiny. At some point, this should result in being able to re-create the two pieces in (close to) their original glory. If I get ambitious, I could even dye the yarns myself with the natural dyes. But right now, I will be happy to get the graphs done. The smaller one is getting close to a third done, and that's been three sessions!

This afternoon I know I should cut the session short. Lovely sunny weather and I really ought to get back to garden clean-up. There are not enough hours in a day as is - I shudder to think of what it will be like when I get a job. Maybe I start buying lottery tickets.