An Embroidered Angry Bird

A gift given in the early 70's

While I was taking classes to complete my undergraduate degree Mom was fascinated with owls. She's not the type to obsess; she didn't collect owls of all types, but she made it clear that she would enjoy owl gifts.

So I embroidered this one for her sometime in the early 1970s and was very proud of it, even if I do say so myself. As a college student I couldn't afford to frame it; Mom did it well with the gold moulding emphasizing the eyes and the dark frame highlighting the dark browns of the owl and grounding the rather light coloured bird and background.

This project started a kit so I had the right thread at my finger tips. Plus the instructions must have been very clear because I was able to successfully complete the variety of different stitches required. It seems to me I spent hours working on it, and I'm sure my eye sight was much better than it is today. ( I struggle now doing cross-stitch as I often split threads because I can't see the tiny little holes clearly enough.) Even after all these years I smile every time I walk by it.

Those penetrating eyes sucked me in at the start and still do. So while I was home I photographed this beauty. After hanging around nearly 40 years it is no longer in a place of prominence, which is to be expected, but the serious look of this owl remains.

I am bringing up my rusty skills in embroidering because it will come up in the near future. These posts will relate to knitting and require my dusting off those skills of yore.

Comments

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting. It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008. (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.) See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles. And what about the yarn? It is truly ex-bulky. It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space. Or h...

Flagel Knitting Files

Search This Blog