Ready or Not (WIP)

I am not ready for Christmas stitching, though now is the time that I ought to start working on it. I am still having a nice time working on Halloween stuff. But before long, ready or not, December will be here, and I will undoubtedly find myself wishing that I had worked on this wip from years ago.

I started this ten years ago, when the pattern was released. Poor Santa, he keeps getting stashed away in a dark closet while I work on other things. The last time I worked on him was a couple years ago. 2011 really ought to be the year that this jolly guy gets finished. 

This pattern calls for a lot of Weeks Dye Works overdyed floss, which is SO fun.

A floss named after booze has got to be good, right? ;) Except, unfortunately, the thought of Whiskey makes me queasy. *shudders*

It's still a really pretty color, though. It's very variegated, which I love. I love the lettering, too, which is also done with a highly variegated color.

Besides the cool WDW floss, this project uses a bit of blending filament to add sparkle to the snow.

It's difficult to see the sparkles in this pic, which is unfortunate. It's really quite pretty.

This pattern also uses something really neat called Wisper thread, which is a one-ply, super fuzzy floss from the Rainbow Gallery. I've used it before in the past, and I really like it. It's fun stuff.

Just look at how fuzzy it is!

The pattern calls for this Wisper to be used on Santa's hat trim, beard, and cuffs. I, however, chose to stitch his beard with white cotton floss instead, for I didn't know if I would have enough Wisper to complete the beard. At the time I made that decision, I was packing Santa up to take along with me somewhere, and I didn't want to risk getting halfway through the beard and running out of Wisper. The thought of putting Santa on hold, beard partially completed, while I waited until I could get my hands on more Wisper, was something that I just couldn't bear. That was two years ago. Clearly, I could have waited to get more Wisper, seeing that I put Santa back in the closet yet again. Oh well! Santa's beard is a few shades whiter than his cuffs and hat trim, which I think says a lot about Santa's grooming habits. The man likes his beard to be clean & bright at all times. :-)

I'm so close to being done!

As you can see, I am this close to being done with Santa. All I have to do is finish the hat trim, and then do a little bit of backstitching. (Also, I think I will re-stitch his eyes; the perfectionist in me doesn't like the way I did them.) Maybe I will actually finish Santa this year. I can't turn this into an eleven year wip! Ten is enough!!