Thursday, November 24, 2016

Frogs Needlepoint Kit

This project is currently in the shaping stage.  I have it pinned to my bulletin board to get it as square as possible.  I plan to buy a frame for it someday.  It's a 10x10 Design Works needlepoint kit simply called "Frogs".  It contains a 12 count interlock canvas printed in full color, acrylic yarns, a needle, and excellent instructions.

I think this is my favorite needlepoint kit yet.  It was simple enough that it didn't demand my full attention, so I could work on it while watching TV.  I believe I only made one mistake in which I started up a new row with stitches sloping in the wrong direction, which was easy enough to fix.  I didn't have any problems figuring out which colors needed to go where.

Because the canvas was printed in color, each time I added another color of yarn onto the canvas, it began taking on this 3D effect.  There were times when I considered just stopping and not adding yarn into some places, because I really liked the look.  It might be interesting to invent a kit that comes with a canvas that contains some sections with weave that you can needlepoint and other sections that are painted cloth that can either be left as is or embroidered to add more texture and shadow.  When you do an entire crafts project in the same stitch, it ends up with a flat appearance.  The hard part would be trying to figure out how to fuse different canvas types together.

I do wish there were more needlepoint kits with the challenge level of "Frogs".  It seems that most of the options out there are either super intricate flowers or landscapes that require a lot of focus and mapping between the legends and the hands on work you do, or kid's beginner projects.  I recommend "Frogs" for anyone who wants an adult needlepoint project that can be worked on when your life is full of distractions, and you just want something to do with your hands that can help you relax that will eventually result in a fun and beautiful end product.