Nessie's Hat

Work has begun on the top portion of Nessie's hat.  One my goals with the beautiful painted shading is to do a stitch and use a fiber that will let it show through.  I'm going to use a technique that has been around for a couple of years called "Lite Stitching".  Essentially that means that I'll use thread(s) that are not thick enough to cover the canvas or will leave spaces in between the stitches for the canvas to shine through (see source information at end of post).

-- don't you just feel the love that Cocoa has for that one spool on the left? saved that one from being a doggie treat

In choosing the thread, I surprised myself by pulling out a few of Kreinik's braids.  The color and sheen just seem to fit the hat.  I had originally thought I'd use a combination of wool and metallic but after the first few stitches, it was ALL metallic.  One of Kreinik's new Holographic won the day - the 005L in size 8 to be specific.  I just love the Holographics - they all have such life that comes from their core.

The hat seemed to need a diagonal stitch that would draw the eye around that gorgeous bend in the point (Wonder how Nessie's hat got that way?).  It needed something that would have some texture but not be a show steeler like the ornamentation and ribbons.  For that reason, I chose the Mosaic stitch - a consistent and sturdy old friend.

I've stitched enough so that you can see how this thread and stitch will play out on the lighter grey areas.  One area to note is the fold of the hat:

See how pronounced the grey is before and how subtle it becomes after.  Notice that I'm stitching right on top of the flowers.  My thought is that I will do something that will go on top so the background may show through.  If, say I do ribbon embroidery, then there is a possibility of seeing under it and I prefer that we see the stitching, not the painted canvas.  Here's a view that is not marked up:

And from a distance:

Brim update - because this is a BIG project I'm still working on the brim.  I will most likely work about a week on the brim and hat (cross your fingers) and will post again on Nessie as soon as those are done.

Sources:
"Suzy's Lite Stitches" by Suzy Murphy (Great review here)
The Needlepoint Book: A Complete Update of the Classic Guideby Jo Ippolito ChristensenKreinik Holographic Threads
Leigh Designs


Christa,Lilystitch
 www.lilystitch.blogspot.com and www.lilystitch.com