Week Forty-Six: Knot Explosion

One of my favorite things about keeping a stitch journal is the unexpected shapes and sections that form based on the line of embroidery I place each day. I don't really plan what I'm doing for the stitch journal. Most of what you see is what I decided to do when I sat down and picked out a piece of thread from the 2021 ort jar. There have been planned pieces or themes, like when I hid stuff or embroidered to songs, but the vast majority of this just sort of happened. When I moved over a section last week, I wasn't paying attention to the French knots from a previous day (or days) until I realized it looked like knots were exploding and there was more opportunity to add to the knot explosion. After a few days of back stitch and stem stitch, I focused on knots for the remainder of the week. Now I have to decide if the bottom half of this section will be knots as well or if something else will emerge to round out this section. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. 

Here's this week's recap:

November 13: The first back stitches of a new section - beautiful.

November 14: Layering stitches is another thing I enjoy about my stitch journal. 

November 15: This is the day I realized maybe a knot explosion would be fun. The line of teal back stitches felt like a border that needed to be filled with knots.

November 16: I lucked in some great threads this week for the knots. Some variegated thread for French knots.

November 17: I don't use colonial knots nearly enough. I default to French knots, but this bright yellow needed to be done as colonial knots. Obviously.

November 18: Pink and green French and colonial knots

November 19: Ended with some brown French knots. I really need to use more neutral thread.

I moved the hoop on Sunday and took these photos of the piece to date. The top one is the front view and the bottom one is the back of the fabric. I'm planning on framing this when I'm done and I'm trying to decide if I want a frame where I can see both sides. The back is as cool as the front.

Random Fun Stuff

I finally bought myself a new desk for my home office. My original desk was purchased before I started working from home permanently and it wasn't the best desk for being remote. It took me a long time to find something I liked and that gave me more space without taking over my living room (my office is a nook in my living room). It's been working beautifully and I've been decorating it since now I can have desk decorations. My brother got me a Lego aquarium (he thought the bottom shelf looked like an aquarium) and I made the greatest online purchase of all time: dance battle cats. 

Even though there aren't any additional lights it looks lit up. I'm considering adding LED lights. 

These are not called dance battle cats, but that's what they look like. I got them on Etsy and a friend purchased a set for me so now I have 10 dance battle cats on my desk. The set in the below photo looks like they're performing a ritual. 

I also bought a lovely floss saver box from Modern Hoopla. I'm not sure where it's going to end up once it's full, but it's a really beautiful piece. The thread is from this year's non-stitch journal projects. 

And probably the most random thing this week:

My friend Anita sent me a video from an embroidery account called Hoops and Horrors Instagram featuring ort jar versions of these crystal balls. I was at Target yesterday and there they were...the last remnants of Halloween. I bought one and plan to put my own spin on the ort jar idea. The crystal ball part isn't attached to the hand; Hoops and Horrors used waxed to seal their version, which is fitting for what it is. I'm thinking of trying something else and painting the hands.