Erin go Bragh

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy Birthday to my friend, Erin! I don't know about her, but having the name Erin on St. Patrick's Day is one of those things that makes you want to punch people in the throat. If I had a dollar for every inappropriate "Erin go Bragh" joke I've heard in my lifetime, I'd be a very wealthy woman. 

I had two designs for today's piece, and decided to go with a version of the Celtic spiral, mostly because it gave me the motivation to learn a new stitch, the whipped back stitch. The stitch starts with a regular back stitch, and then you do a whip stitch to basically wrap the back stitch. It's creates a cool, raised stitch that reminds me of cording or braiding. I practiced it on fabric and metal last night, and I'm now obsessed. Apparently, you can also do whipped stem stitch. 

Yes, this is a kitchen sieve. I'm experimenting.

Back to today's piece. Celtic spirals are one of the oldest symbols in Irish culture. The early Celts believed all things happened in threes, so the triskele is one of the most common versions of the Celtic spiral. The triskele is said to symbolize the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth or the unity of a person's physical, mental, and spiritual self. Fun fact: RCA used the triskele as the inspiration for one of the plastic adapters it sold for records (called the Spider). 

As I'm still working on my drawing skills, spirals felt more approachable than Celtic knots. I'll get to knots at some point in the future. I also drew a cute shamrock; I may share that another day this week because I liked it, but wanted to try something else for today. For the outer circle, I did two rows of regular back stitches and then did the whip stitch over both. The double back stitch gives it a more decorative, ornamental vibe. It makes me think of a patch on clothing or something you'd see in ancient tapestries. I also used DMC Etoile thread, which adds a little sparkle. Who doesn't love sparkle and glitter, especially on St. Patrick's Day. 

Happy Birthday, Erin! Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! 

Etoile thread has a weird texture that can be annoying sometimes, but for today's piece just makes it feel more like braiding. I dig it.

Details:
Stitches: whipped back stitch, regular back stitch
Thread palette: DMC C972, C699 (3 and 6 strands)
Learn the whipped back stitch! Here's a super quick video from one of my favorite embroidery tutorial channel.