Too Crewel

Over the weekend my mother-in-law and I went to a workshop in crewel led by Katherine Shaughnessy, the author of The New Crewel, at Make Workshop in NYC.

I’m actually not one to try each and every craft out there, but there is something about crewel, which is embroidery done with wool on linen, that I’ve been attracted to for a long time. Once I saw the beautiful abstract designs in Katherine’s book when it came out a few years ago, I knew it was just a matter of time before I gave it a try, so this workshop was a no-brainer for me.

In the workshop, we went over the basic stitches to get started on a sampler. I chose some different shades of yellow wool to work with, and though I still have a way to go, I’m loving how it looks.

I think it’s the way that wool is such a forgiving fiber that makes crewel so great—instead of perfect stitches, it’s more about the organic shapes. Katherine has done a lot to bring crewel into the mainstream, and she now sells the hard-to-find supplies on her website Wool & Hoop.

I guess I’ve had stitching on my mind this whole year—later this month I’ll be adding the first cross-stitch pattern to the Mochimochi Shop! (More on that soon!)

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