Petite I am not

Greetings!  Did you have a nice weekend?  Weather wise we are fine here.  Weight wise, not so good.  I've been watching and doing my 1 mile DVD program, sometimes twice a day, and obviously my miles per pound need to be stepped up quite a bit.  I know it's one of the best things you can do for yourself, but I hate it.  Watching a skinny instructor go faster and faster while talking without taking a breath is not fun either.  I don't expect to get to that point but joining more than two words without that gasping sound would be nice.

I purchased two packs of John James petite needles when I visited the shop and find that my fat fingers and deformed joints have a hard time stitching with them.  I purchased the 24s because they looked so fine and I thought they would be comparable to my 26s.  Nope.  Maybe the shorter length made them look thinner.  I threw out my 28s because I stitch mostly on 30 and 32 with two threads and they seem to stick and shred in that smaller eye.  She told me that my new 40 count would be better with 28 so I have them once again, and she recommended Bohin for working with silks because the eye is very smooth.  I'm using a 26 now and I like it.  The needle's eye seems to be different and I know I brought this up before in a post.  A longer narrower eye makes me think it's a thinner needle and I need to look at the shaft instead of the eye.  Here's my old DMC and Loving Touch (my favorite with the fatter eye - no longer made), Bohin, John James, and Lance. 

 

The Lance needle was included with my Wyndham Needleworks order and you can see it is slightly shorter than the others.  As you know, Wyndham is now PAWS, a non-profit cat/kitten rescue shelter.  Here's what their website says about Lance (12 pack for $4)...

 Lance Needles  -
This size 26 needle is more like a 27 - it's shorter than a regular tapestry needle but has a longer, slightly wider eye, making it easy to thread. The blunt point tapers to a finer end right at the tip -- not quite sharp, but with a bit of a point which makes their needles especially good for stitching on finer counts of linen and for stitching "over one". The ladies at R&R Reproductions recommend it as their favorite!

 

So maybe if you'd like to try these and you can't reach PAWS, you can check with Dyeing to Stitch.  I Googled Lance needles and got zip.

As for 40 count - I did it!  Never imagined I could.  I can't go as fast with the sewing method of stitching as with a lower count, but I can see it (with reading magnifiers) and think I will give it a try.  The Amsterdam blue will be my fabric for the second horse stitch.  I may test a small piece to see if I could slightly darken it, but I'm afraid of losing the slight touch of teal.  The more I mess around with trying to dye or continuing to search, I'll lose interest.  Really, I think this color is as close as I can get to the original.  Size wise, The 32 count would be about 9.5" wide, and if I want a scalloped wall bag, that would be fine. 

 Making it into a wallet or needle case, the 40 would be needed.  I love the look of cases but I don't like part of the stitching being hidden by a fold or roll.  That's why I did my sampler sack instead of the one featured in SANQ.  I took down the link to purchase the chart.  It never fails.  The tag and box designs that I like, no one buys.  Same with this sack.  I love it.  Very few others did!  It could be framed instead, but it just didn't hit the mark with you guys.  That made me question whether anything else I do would be good enough to sell.  I designed it for me, I like long thin marking samplers.  Speaking of thin, that ain't happening unless I get moving.  I'm off to huff and puff!!

Hope you're having a splendid day.

Thanks for visiting!