Medici Thread

I have been concentrating on needle punch lately.  Several years ago I was lucky enough to purchase a large lot of of Medici thread, just before DMC stopped producing it, and just before the rest of the world found out about it.  It is a single-ply wool thread, wonderful for needle punch. You can use a single strand for details or multiple strands for background.

I sold the small skeins at shows, and they didn't last long.  I tried selling the larger hanks -- at a really great price, I might add -- but no one seemed to want to deal with them.  The hanks are rather unwieldy, and if you aren't careful you can end up with a snarly mess.  Because I bought an odd lot, the colors were rather limited.  So I over-dyed some of them and I'm making them into skeins.  Aren't they pretty?  They have yummy names like Bing Cherry, Vanilla Bean and Georgia Peach.  Look for them in my etsy shop soon.

New Year, New Work

I'm here!  I was sick for Christmas -- a nasty head cold -- and we were away for New Year's weekend, so I don't have a lot to show for myself.  It's time to put the iPhone down (my husband gave me one for Christmas and I have been playing with it) and get back to work!

I designed a couple of heart patterns for Valentine's Day and need to get the prototypes finished.  I ran out of blue floss, so there's a trip to the store for that in the very near future.  I'm finding the heart a little too bright, even for me, and I may age it with some black walnut tea.  I was thinking of an analogous color scheme in cotton floss for the circle, but this morning I am looking at my hand-dyed wool Medici thread -- Bing Cherry, in particular.  

Some punch needle designs just lend themselves to wool thread.  It is has a warmer, fuzzy look to it and resembles miniature hooked rugs.  The cotton floss, however, tends to produce crisper lines and has a beautiful sheen to it.  Decisions, decisions . . . . .