Candace Bahouth: Starry Night tapestry cushion

I couldn't resist buying the kit for the Starry Night waistcoat, because of the name.  Candace Bahouth has done work with Kaffe Fassett and has had joint exhibitions of mosaic work with him.  I planned to cut out a square of the canvas to make a cushion and fill the blank parts with some abstract pattern of my own device.

But later I found this cushion kit, and it seemed much simpler to do it instead.  I was glad I did, because I found that, although the picture is pretty similar, the detail on the cushion is greater and nicer to stitch.

The stitching went fine.  I enjoyed doing the floor tiles.  The sky was more complex, with four different shades of blue.  I wondered if I got the shades right.  The sky was done in horizontal stripes, and the reverse got quite thick with yarn.  It looks fine anyway.

Gold lurex yarn was provided for the moon and stars, and it does add interest.  You were supposed to use two strands of lurex; I added a strand of yellow embroidery wool to one strand of lurex to make it make stitching more pleasant.

I liked the border that hardly shows in the picture, and I did a backing of a patterned blue fabric.  Overall I am happy with it.  It is not one of my favourites.  I would not have chosen to do it if it hadn't been for the connection to Kaffe Fassett.

Stitched  2 September 2016 to 25 November 2017; finished cushion 12 January 2018

The next blanket

It was never my intention to stop blogging for so long, but life got in the way.  And once I got out of the habit, it became difficult to get back in again.  Life got in the way of knitting as well, and I have a number of projects waiting to get finished.  This is old projects waiting for finishing before life got in the way.  I was too stressed to knit anything but my standard blanket.  Again I wonder why I insist on doing difficult blankets and garments when the thing I enjoy the most is my standard blankets...

The next blanket # 193 became pink and green, and the colours really make it.  As before I just try to use up yarns in a similar tone, and I didn't expect the pink and greens to be so prominent.  No harm done.

I unravelled the next of my Susan Duckworth entrelac or basket stitch sweaters.  There was a lot of nice Rowan DK wool, in my kind of colours.  I enjoy unravelling entrelac.  I have one more of these sweaters, but the next one is going back to a charity shop, come autumn, because the angora yarn in it has shrunk with washing, and unravelling would involve cutting and frustration and wasting yarn.