Band sampler WIP band 7

While I was working on band 7, hubby came in and saw me putting the "finishing touch" on it, and remarked how much he thought said finishing touch added to the design and made it "Wow".  So I grabbed the digicam to snap a pic to share, and am glad I did:

Adding blackwork style detail to band 7

The book mentions backstitching the dark green curlie-cues on, but other sources say a double-running stitch, also called a Holbein stitch, would be used because so many also did blackwork embroidery (which is supposed to look the same front and back).

Hubby's praise for this floral band makes me think I should use this one to stitch up a hatband for my grey linen sunhat ... although I do have another I am also considering, I need to stitch it out to check the scale first.  I don't want it too wide.

Speaking of the sunhat, I wore it yesterday to the library to return/renew/check out more books.  One of the books I returned was titled Hats Made Easy! and when I handed it to one of the ladies behind the desk, she asked if I had made my hat.  I told her yes, but from a Vogue pattern .... the book is actually a good one but mostly focused on drafting your own hat patterns.  Given my stash of hat patterns, this one - while good - is not useful for me at this point.

I'll wait and make a separate post for my lace-making efforts ... and I started band 9 last night on the sampler. It's a little past lunch time, and I feel productive already today ... here's hoping the energy level stays up!