Back to Bargello

I recently decided to indulge myself and rediscover bargello, a type of needlepoint. (A big shout-out to Barbara Sher, life coach, for her category of "cyclical scanner" - an individual who may revisit multiple interests over a lifetime. It was such a relief to read in black and white that jumping from one interest to another didn't mean a lack of "stick-to-itiveness".)

It had been many years (dare I say decades) since I did any needlepoint. The craft technique itself hasn't changed, but the manner in which I obtained my supplies sure has. Way back when, my little village had a three story bargain center that was chock full of interesting yarns and notions. Over time, the family run business succumbed to worldwide market pressures. Standing firmly on principle, I refused to shop at Walmart. Instead, I let my keyboard take me to the people's marketplace, eBay, and quickly found both canvas and tapestry yarn at extemely reasonable prices. I learned that the storeowner of Linda's Vintage Treasures had lost her house when Katrina made landfall, but was one of the fortunate few who have been able to rebuild. I added her to my favorite list of sellers because of the quality of her tapestry yarns and ease of the transaction. I'm also very pleased to be able to send a little business the way of a Katrina-ravaged business. It feels like the small town thing to do.

So, here we have the work in progress. It will be a bookcover. (No surprise there, given my proclivities.) And it looks like I've enough yarn to experiment with several different bargello patterns for additional bookcovers.

Since this is the age of digital cameras and uploads via Flickr, I hope to post more pictures as the bookcover nears completion. And, speaking of finishing, I'd asked my crafter friend if she knew how to make linings for such a bookcover. She didn't off hand, but gave me some suggestions where to look. Wouldn't you know that I already had just the pattern in one of my craft books, purchased years ago as a discard from my local library. "So many books, so little time" (cribbed from the Fulton Public Library bookbag) and so true, so true.