It is going well. Keith is a help but I can’t let him pack anything that requires more then putting in a box. He packs the way most men do the dishes, do the absolute minimum and never think to wipe down the counters, clean out the sink or rinse & squeeze the sponge. Still, it is easier then doing it all by myself.

I am expecting the New Stirling Tote bags and accessories any moment. They are being delivered to my folks house. (smart of me, I have my moments).

I need to go through all my canvases to see which of them might fit into the the openings of the things I have ordered.

These items are all made of Leather. I have the large tote bags coming, a wallet, several checkbook covers, an accessory case and key fobs. I know I have nothing to fit the wallet, check book covers or key fobs.

We are not packing the plain canvases & paints till last, Keith hopes to do a few this week, when I am not slave driving him to pack.

Dr Denise, my intrepid and wonderful stitcher friend is stitching my Ballet Bear canvas. That is the one with the wonderful bear in a tutu dancing with a quote from Katherine Hepburn ” If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun”

I asked her to use some fancy stitches on him, I want to do a stitch guide for him, but she did not want to choose them herself. I sent her some printouts from the Stitch-opedia web site and a book of stitches.

I wanted to send her something, I am so grateful for the work she is doing for me. She says she is enjoying herself stitching. Anything I offer her she refuses, so I just sent this without asking.

.

I sent her my copy of Hope Hanley’s 101 Needlepoint Stitches and How To Use Them.

This got me thinking about the basic Needlepoint Stitch Books out there so I thought I would, in my own warped and opinionated way, review them.

There are many wonderful needlepoint stitch books out there. My first ever was Lucinda Ganderton’s Stitch Sampler. It has just a few basic needlepoint stitches, most of the book is embroidery stitches, but they are all clear and easy to learn. This book is still in print, which is why I do not sell it on NewNeedlepoint.com (had to get the link in here somewhere)

I am not critiquing the educational value of these books, just the stitches shown, how *user friendly* they are etc. If I was doing teaching books, it would be all about The New York Times Book of Needlepoint by Elaine Salter.

I am also not doing Bargello books…yet. Tonight is needlepoint.

Hope Hanley’s book was my second. It is not the biggest, and sometimes the stitch directions can be a little confusing but it is , overall, a great book with the added advantage of showing each stitch stitched. The pictures of the stitched stitches in Ms Hanley’s book are quite clear. This makes it much easier to choose a stitch to stitch.

Next up are the 2 other “classics”. Jo Ippolito Christian’s book, The Needlepoint Book which is subtitled A Complete Update of the Classic Guide, is not a book I use. I find it difficult to “get around” in it, the stitches hard to follow and her instructions not always clear. Still, it is a famous and indeed a classic book so I will not diss it. Since most people like this book the problem here could be me.

I will however say “poo” to The Complete Needlepoint Guide 400+ Needlepoint Stitches by Susan Sturgeon-Roberts. It is, to me anyway, a useless book. The pictures are dark, there is no picture of the stitches stitched. The charts are not very clear. There are so many much better needlepoint stitch books out there.

I am not familiar with either The Needlepoint Book:303 stitches with patterns & prijects by James T. Long and Lynn Lucas Jones or Susan Higgenson’s Needlepoint Stitches: 52 Stitches Explained and Illustrated (good name for a book however), so I will not mention them.

Now, we are getting into books I sell on my web site. I am not promoting them because I sell them. I sell them because they are good and useful books.

My forte is hard-to-find books, after all.

Carolyn Ambuter’s Complete Book of Needlepoint says it is the “most comprehensive, easiest to use dictionary of stitches ever complied” and I will not argue with her. It is a big book with heavy paper covers and a spiral binding which always makes a book easier to use. You open it to a page and it stays open. I like that.

The instruction part of the books is good. It includes an important page on Shading & Blending. few books mention that hard to learn topic.

There are color pictures of the stitches used in pillows and such salted all through the book.

She divides the stitches in to types. The first section is Slanting Stitches. There are 29 of them.

Side note, I often find it confusing to find the stitch I want in a stitch book, they seem to be there in a random order or maybe the order is beyond me, that is possible. Putting the stitches in these categories makes them easier to find.

Next is Straight Stitches. There are 10 of them. Then Cross Stitches, 14 of them. Then Tied and Looped Stitches. 12 of them, I did not realize there were so many Tied and Looped Stitches.

The book finishes with an Alphabet Sampler, with each letter graphed out using Parisian Stitch, Scottish Stitch and Shell Stitch. Each is shown stitched in full color.

The book goes into lots of detail, it has hints, ideas and even a few projects.
These 65 stitches take 92 pages to show and describe. They are indeed clear & complete.

The Book of Needlepoint Stitches by Susan Higgenson is a small English hard cover book. I do not know if it has any relation to the American version of Susan Higgenson’s Needlepoint Stitches book mentioned above.

I bought this to sell on NewNeedlepoint.com but snagged it for myself. It is terrific. and the right size to slip into my needlepoint tote bag de jour, to take anywhere with me.

I am trying to get another to sell.

The last book I am talking about tonight is Mary Rhodes Dictionary of Canvas Work Stitches.

This is another needlepoint book that was published in England. This book is the Larousse Gastronomique of Needlepoint Books. These are not your everyday stitches. This is a book for the most experienced and able stitchers.

These are stitches here I have never even heard of and would never (ever) try. The are advanced and then some.

Gate Stitch
Ghiordes Knot
Indian Stitch
Interlocking Leaf
Cross Plus Two
Cornered Chain
Coral Knot
Italian Two Sided
Lattice Square-Twisted
Quodlibet
Rhodes Half Half-Drop (I am not kidding)
Rococco Square
Rose & Rose Overlapped
Wheatsheaf
Woven Eye

These are just some as I leafed through the book. There are some “regular* stitches in among these but this book is amazing.

There is a picture of Ms. Rhodes on the back dust cover of this book. She looks like she know her stuff.

So, this encompasses my limited knowledge of Needlepoint Stitch Books.

I am curious now about the Susuan Higgenson Book, the current US version. I think I will order it after I move. In the name of research, of course, not acquisitive mania, not me.

I have probably mentioned before I get the New York Times delivered here every day. It took me many months and the help of a supervisor in the Home Delivery Dept at the NY Times to get me this paper and I pay an obscene amount for it.

It seems no one else in Apollo Beach (or Ruskin either, we share a zip code with them) takes this paper. Needless to say, I tip my delivery person lavishly.

The local paper is scary. It is almost as if they were kidding, publishing a newspaper this narrow, biased and foolish, but they are not.

Please understand, I am no intellectual. I am moderately smart and medium aware but the Tampa Tribune? Oh my.

I keep and read the book review section. I took a break from my Georgette Heyer and Barbara Pym reading hole (or maybe I should call it a reading valley) I think I was stopped short by finishing Georgette Heyer’s A Civil Contract, which is my #2 favorite. I have read it umpteen times still…….

So got a copy of a book I saw reviewed in the Times book section. It is called Glass Castles by Jeanette Walls.

It is not fiction, the currently popular genre of books is memoirs. She describes being raised by her *free spirit* parents. I am only on the second chapter but so far, I am riveted.

I was a young adult in the 60’s & 70’s. I knew many people who raised their children in *alternative* ways. There were many ways to be different, may alternative choices. (I suppose there still are but somehow it seems different now)

I have wondered how it was for these kids, how they turned out.

It may be that Jeanette Walls experience was extreme, then again maybe not.

We watched the movie The Invention of Lying last night. It was great. It was funny, it was topical and it said something (as opposed to the many movies that say absolutely nothing as loud or as lavish as they can).

I recommend it. It is just out on Request/Pay-Per-View. In fact I triple recommend it. Maybe even quadruple.