
The eldest of our three cats, Dot, has lived with us since she was 2 weeks old. Her mother was a formerly feral cat who lived in our yard. Although she had the kittens across the street in a neighbor’s yard, we brought Mother Thing and all three kittens to our garage when the kittens’ eyes opened.
She’s lived with us ever since.
Dot is black and has medium-long hair. And I’m stitching her this mini-sock. The design is from ABS Designs and I’m modifying it to suit Dot.
Because of Dot’s long hair (it will be stitched in Wisper) I had to stitch the background first, so the black thread wouldn’t pollute it.
This plaid background is wonderful, so I wanted something to set it off. Initially I planned to stitch it in all metallics. Their sparkle would be a nice contrast to the matte fur. But along the way I realized something. Stitching the whole background in metallic would be too much the same.
I needed something to set off the metallic, just as the metallic sets off the Wisper. So I replaced the red metallic with red overdyed perle #5. This highlights the attention-grabbing metallics and, like areas of Tent Stitch in many canvases, gives the eye a place to rest.
The threads used for the background are Sparkle Rays (green), Gold Rush 14 (brown), Water n’Ice (white) — all from Rainbow Gallery. And Weeks Dye Works perle #5 in Turkey Red.
I’m hoping to finish the background over the weekend and then start with the eyes and tongue on all the cats before I stitch the fur.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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