Complaining here to avoid the urge to complain to people in real life who may or may not care, lol.

Had a stitch guide made for a beautiful Rebecca Wood stocking almost 2 years ago - life happened, got busy, didn't open it properly until recently. Found the guide disorganized and several threads missing. Contacted owner of the shop who apologized, said the lady who wrote the guide no longer worked there, and promptly sent out new threads for free and worked through all my questions with me. Great!

Going through and actually organizing the threads now, though, and LOTS of the colors are way, way off. Like a bright cherry red for a section on the canvas that is clearly a deep red wine color. There are also many areas in which there is clear shading that is definitely necessary and no threads were included or recommended for these. This is my first time paying for/using a stitch guide, so I asked the owner if it was supposed to be comprehensive or if it was normal to have a guide be more of a jumping-off point. She said it was more the latter, and because she'd been so helpful with everything else especially almost 2 years after the original purchase, I dropped it.

But there are like...SO many places where multiple colors are still needed for the shading. I made a spreadsheet and I'm at minimum 15 more threads needing to be either added or replacing current bad choices. I already paid $178 for the threads + stitch guide on top of the $300 canvas cost. I was not anticipating having over a dozen more skeins left to buy, but if I don't, I'm going to lose a LOT of the detail that makes this canvas so beautiful, and it was so expensive I'm not about to sacrifice those details.

Is that normal? Is it normal to still need to buy so many? I guess I thought by paying for the stitch guide and matching threads, I was basically paying for them to kit it up for me and have it ready to go. I did expect there to be a possibility of another thread here or there, but not this many. My LNS is 35 minutes away which isn't terrible, but I have a baby, a 4 year-old, a full-time job, a house, 4 pets, and a husband, and carving out 3 hours on the weekend just to get to the LNS to sort out and buy new threads is the exact thing I wanted to save myself from having to do when I paid for the guide in the first place.

This is a stocking for my second daughter and it is honestly starting to feel kind of unfair because my first daughter's stocking was a kit that was around $75 which I did all in basketweave because it was my first needlepoint project ever and I didn't even know handpainted canvases were a thing at the time. It definitely feels unfair that the second daughter will get something much fancier, artistic, and WAY more expensive just because my skill level grew in the years between having them.

Between the costs, the frustration just getting started, and the growing feeling of unfairness between daughters, I'm honestly feeling like I want to package the whole thing up and try to sell it to recoup my costs, and start over again with something that's less of a 'thing'.

Anyone who got to the end, I appreciate you sticking with me and letting me vent. Any thoughts or opinions are very welcome.

https://preview.redd.it/xgwn5ewuaivc1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddc2f3df471f79c5ee32d77987131af86ce2d04f

I thought I would have enough thread to stitch the entire background when I first started but I don’t. I could just buy more but I’m not sure how to make sure I get thread from the same dye lot.

Not sure if it’s too late to turn this into a rectangle or square ornament? Help!!

(PS: if anyone has any suggestions for what stitch I could use for the red fry container, I’d appreciate it!)

I’m dating a guy who’s really into Dead & Co. so I got this adorable canvas to stitch! I’d like to finish it into a gift but I have no idea what I could possibly turn it into that would be useful for a guy. A Christmas ornament wouldn’t really be great for him—I was thinking of maybe turning it into a patch and having it sewn onto a jacket or something. But maybe there’s someone out there who’s more creative than I am who has a better idea?

When I started this sub <<mumbles>> years ago, it was made clear to me that Bargello was, most assuredly, not needlepoint as we see it in this sub. Others, however, state that bargello is just another type of needlepoint stitch.

As such we've kept bargello off of this sub and gently shuffled it to its own sub.

I thought I'd put this to a vote and see where the community stands on the whole bargello topic.

As always, your thoughts are well appreciated!

Note: I'm also the mod for r/Bargello not just randomly trying to take over another subs people. LOL.

View Poll

I fell down an eBay hole. Jiffy needlepoint kits were such fun. A nostalgic stitch. Rather like paint by number without the mess. It was perfect for stitching on the porch or deck. It’s from a series, Harold is next! Nice to have a finish in just a couple of days!

No markings on the canvases thanks in advance.

I feel like there’s been an influx of “influencers” in the needlepoint world. They’re making a lot of reels, getting PR packages, becoming designers - pretty much doing everything, but actually stitching. What are your thoughts? I don’t know anything about them for them to influence me on anything.

This is the back of a vintage piece. Front is Continental stitch but I'm unfamiliar with how that was achieved by looking at back.

I’m looking for some kind of needlepoint journal/notebook or preprinted pages that would allow me to log information on projects in a systematic way. Canvas name, designer, where purchased, threads, colors, costs. Online or paper based. Any suggestions?

Have not added the rain/beads yet.

Not an easy stitch to compensate which rather surprised me.

Especially around the brick wall

This is probably a dumb question, but I haven't had any luck with searching on the Internet. Can anyone recommend any books similar to something like KnitLit for knitters or books involving other hobbies where they're more about people who do needlepoint and how they do and enjoy it or how it otherwise impacts their lives?

I can find a ton of patterns or techniques books, but haven't had any luck turning up anything that's a more personal viewpoint (bad way to explain it, but that's as close as I can come).

Hi everyone! I’m wanting to start a collection of travel round ornaments. I’m thinking of either embroidering the year I visited on the back or adding a charm with the year on it.

I’m more in favor of the charm idea but can’t seem to find a good place to buy charms online with a variety of years (most are for 2024 or the last couple of years).

Any ideas on where I can get charms at? Thanks!

Canvas by Nerah Stone 18ct canvas. Stitch and thread choices mine.

Hi! If a designer sells canvases directly to consumers but also stores- should I try to order the canvas through my LNS or direct from the designer? Newer to needlepoint and I am wondering what the correct etiquette is here..either way I would buy the threads from my LNS I prefer to see/pick in person. Not quite sure the economics of a LNS and if they make more money on a canvas or threads, etc.

Hi. I really tried to find the answer on my own but I don’t think I’m using the right key words and I’m hopelessly lost. I got a “3 ply” thread where the guidance was to use 2 ply for a 13/14 mesh. Ok. Academically I get that. I separated my strands. And then … now what?

Do I twist the new strands together? Do lie them flat next to each other (they don’t seem to be flat..)? Do I put both thru the needle? Do I stitch with one strand at a time then go over it again with the second strand?

I put both strands thru my needle and tried to go for it but it was so thick I couldn’t get the needle thru the canvas. Figured that couldn’t be right.

There’s got to be a video or link that explains how to do this with a photo. Please someone point me in the right direction 🙏🙏

Very happy with the kit purchased thru Etsy. So excited to start back up! Thanks for looking.

I picked up some cheap 7-count plastic mesh from Joann and actually loved just using my DK weight yarn to do needlepoint instead of using thread. Started a project on 10-count today and even that is causing my eyes to struggle 😬. I’m looking online for 7 or 8 count canvas instead of plastic because I’d like it to be bendable for pillowcases and such and it seems quite hard to find. I guess because it hardly seems available anywhere that almost no one is wanting to do needlepoint with lightweight or DK yarn? It just feels more enjoyable to me

I’m making a Natural History rug from the Elizabeth Bradley Needlepoint Animals book. I’ve done the first three squares from the printed-canvas kits, but the other three will be done from the book charts.

How do I do that without losing my mind? I worked the printed canvases in blocks of color, carrying the yarn over short distances from one block to the next. But I’m 99.9% certain that if I try to do that on these squares, I’ll get off count and make a mess, especially as there are so many teeny flowers and such.

I’m very experienced with full-coverage cross-stitch, so I’m thinking that the best thing to do is work row by row, carrying the yarn a reasonable distance between motifs. I’m only worried that I will end up with way too much yarn on the back. What say y’all? Is there a better way?

Good morning everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that if you post an affiliate link for Amazon in a comment or post it seems it will be auto-remvoed by Reddit. This isn't something your mods are doing.

If you want to post a link to an Amazon item try using the actual link. We "think" that's working but will need to monitor to make sure it works for everyone.

While affiliate links aren't a problem per se, they are typically associated with spam and low effort posts. Not saying you personally are spam or low effort if you use them, just that they correlate with that behavior and that's why they get nicked.

I recently found a set of knit blocking combs and used them to block a project. I thought it was so much better than 1 T pin at a time. I was able to more effectively get it even. I'd love to know anyone's thoughts on using these with needlepoint. Thanks!

https://www.amazon.com/Blockers-Blocking-Knitting-Needlework-Projects/dp/B0BMKRXVHC/ref=sr_1_7?crid=KAMXH2NXSC5M&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VZf81XkaE4x1-4MSSn6mUkkyjUJWm4LPrMk_0D0PvLRAhpi8gT7tGemSPg8cISyTsY3lKEYwZNtgWDeCj0s1iA7wT9wCwMsN0hvVRsij0WjmoECQqh4SKBLYCEMxFexnTyh_mc0aINjo3dTKqDZaQJwKNoOFkciZawR8eIzaCoNcwNFBBaSmy3EPldGWHzXwZyc1laQOVz1IYQ8K2LO9ylv_OK8KAmuLCf6ktkj6tFOKOVNKhEoMooWh9JVrMQyeOnZ5-_6abcLu-6-MktVsvI--2eEQvLdvFXFwGg-UtHY.wYflATlot4se85qnDuDmWdDax9O5XisruARSYEpbrAM&dib_tag=se&keywords=knit%2Bblockers&qid=1712526217&sprefix=knit%2Bblockers%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-7&th=1