My first attempt at crewel*, although not using crewel embroidery wool, as it’s difficult to get hold of round here, instead I used tapestry wool, which I think (not knowing precisely, as I’ve only ever seen pictures of crewel wool) is about twice as thick, so the definition of the design (which is from The New Crewel) isn’t quite there, but I still like it, I think it’s very textural and touchable and I like how the colour of the wool I used (which is actually purple), changes according the quality of the light, from purple to navy blue to brown. The pattern is called ruby shoots**, but I think (and Mr. Lacer to) that it looks like a dark scary forest, which I like.
I can definitely see myself doing more crewel, although probably sticking to tapestry wool, as one of the things about embroidery for me is that I have to stand in the shop or with my existing thread stash in front of me and get inspired by the colours, I do not get the same kick out of staring at a colour chart on a computer screen (there are lots of places selling crewel wool online).
*Prompted by being in John Lewis yesterday and them still not having any black embroidery thread, which has brought most of the projects I have been working on to a screaming halt, which prompted me to reach for the carousel of tapestry wool instead.
** The ruby shoots pattern seems to be the favourite crewel pattern out there at the moment on Flickr, as I’ve seen a few people attempt it and even today, as I was uploading my photo to Flickr, someone had just uploaded the biscuit version of this design, check it out, it’s lovely!
