Elizabethan Squares

Here is another miniature carpet, called "Elizabethan Squares"; like the Long Flowers Panel, it is from Sandra Whitehead's book Celtic, Medieval and Tudor Wall Hangings in 1/12 Scale Needlepoint, but with three major modifications, one Whitehead's suggestion and the others mine.  I wanted a carpet instead of a wall hanging, since it isn't for my Tudor-house-to-be (because they didn't have carpets on the floors at that period), so I added in another pattern repeat at one end to make it longer, and I used Whitehead's alternative color scheme instead of the original pinks and creams.  The other modification was to work it in cross stitch instead of tent, as I generally feel that single-stitch diagonal lines in tent stitch always look a bit off to me, unsymmetrical, whereas in cross stitch they look the same whether they are heading upwards or downwards -- the strong black diagonal lines in this seemed to want more symmetry to my eye.

I made only one permanent mistake on the chart, on some of the 0 shapes inside the squares, but by the time I noticed it, it became a design element (!).

The fringe is a side-by-side Turkish knot one -- I used the chart in Meik and Ian McNaughton's Making Miniature Oriental Rugs & Carpets, which is essentially the same as the side-by-side knots here.

On 28-count Monaco, this carpet as modified works up to a finished size of 4 3/8 x 3 inches (11 x 7.5 cm), not counting the fringe.

I wasn't quite as successful with the long-legged cross-stitch edging this time -- I don't know why.  Maybe just because the white canvas stands out more between the navy threads?

I also tried something different with the hem, using mitered corners instead of folded ones.  Not sure if this is the best way of going about it, but I really love mitered corners, so I just get a kick out of it.  They didn't fold quite as well as I would have liked, but the Turkish knot edging needed a little bit of cheating on the turn to lie flat, and I suppose that canvas isn't as helpful as something lighter would be.

I enjoyed working this carpet very much -- the original colorway is very pretty, but the stronger blue-and-ginger really speaks to me.

Comments

[dawn in nl]

This is fabulous, it's going to look lovely in you house.

[marylou]

Wow. I can't even imagine. Have you seen the boutonnière knitted on size quad zero in the new Knitty? Maybe you can make flowers for house!

[Susan D]

Very very nicely done. And I have the same scissors. I love them.