You didn’t really think I could stop, did you? I knew I’d be back sooner than anticipated. In truth, I should have posted last week, but I hadn’t started a big project last week, I was working on a little side project, but it bled into the big one I started.

I have a kit for The Runaway from Bothy Threads. It’s supposed to be a birth announcement piece, but since I’m not planning on having a child anytime soon I thought I would put a quote to the left of the runaway carousel horse about imaginations or dreams. I haven’t settled on one yet but I’m leaning toward:

Some things have to be believed to be seen.
—Ralph Hodgson

I’m getting ahead of myself though. The little project I started last week is one of a set of 6 carousel horses. I thought I could put them about the room to tie in with The Runaway one. I made the first one to spec. Except I didn’t do any of the border work. I thought I could attach some star sequins and maybe stitch some little stars in the corners like the big one so they tie in more to the big horse. But then I lost my nerve and thought maybe I should stitch them as they are and finally I decided I wouldn’t know what to do until I made the big one to have something to compare them to—that’s how I ended up talking myself into starting another big project.

Here’s what I’ve got of the little one so far. I haven’t finished the french knots on it because I think they look dreadful. I’m half-tempted to rip them out and replace them with beads. The gold thread the magazine listed to use (which I had to search high and low for) is terrible to work with. And I’m blaming the crinkly lopsided weirdness of the french knots on it, the Anchor Coats Reflecta.

The french knots on the bridle

The half-finished french knots on the saddle.

Any thoughts? I’m not crazy, those french knots are ugly, right? Should I just use beads?

So, Friday I started the big project to give me time to mull over how to proceed with the little horses. And by Saturday I realized I miscounted 2 stitches and realized I had to rip out all of the two back legs and 2 full length strands of the red rainbow I did at the bottom. I’m most concerned about the red rainbow because I can’t reuse what I tore out. I’m pretty sure it’s Glissen Gloss, if I run out of it because of my error I have no idea the exact color of the thread.

The state of the horse pre-ripout. I thought his legs looked a little short…

Since that fiasco I’ve forged on. I try not to get upset when I make a big mistake. Just recover from it as best I can and keep going. I’m also trying to switch colors more often because I only noticed my mistake when I added a second color to the outline and noticed it was off. The downside to my error? I’ve got a few big holes next to the horse’s back feet where the design shifted. It’s probably not noticeable to anyone that isn’t looking for it, and this project is for me to hang above my computer desk someday, so I’m not going to get my panties in a bunch over it.

If you look at the top left of both hooves and also all around the bottom of them you may be able to see the large holes. The bottom may be partly covered up when I try to put the rainbow back in.

And here’s where I am as of now. I’ve got a lot of the body in. I’m working my way over to the front legs. And then I’ll go up and do sleeping Gorjuss clinging to the horse’s mane. So far all I’ve got is her blue boot and part of a leg. 😉

Like Mirabelle this piece has a lot of border stitching. I was going to alternate doing the horse and the rainbow at the bottom, but that floss is a little temperamental to work with and I think I’d rather save it for the end so I don’t have to worry about pinching or snagging it in the frame when I move the project around. FYI, the horse is going to be white. I haven’t done much of the white because I don’t want it to get dirty, so I’m saving most of that until later.

More on this saga next Wednesday!