Yes, I embroider too. Is there such a thing as too many hobbies?

Oh wait, I'm in the SCA - no, there isn't. Hobby overload is a requirement.

It's kind of funny ... for most of my life I hated, detested, hand sewing of any type, including embroidery. Some years ago, after I joined the SCA and began making my own garb, and my boss discovered this information, he began to ask me to sew his son's Boy Scout patches on his uniform. (Why didn't his mother do this? She's a freak). Although I hated hand sewing, it got me out of the office (I was allowed to stay home to do this work, and got paid my usual hourly wage for it), so I did it. But a funny thing happened ... over the course of sewing on patches, I became interested in hand sewing and embroidery. It's really odd, because I really hated sewing on the patches ... it was difficult to get them on straight and in the right place, it was basically a huge pain in the butt. But regular embroidery - creating pictures with thread - began to fascinate me about this time.

I only mention this story because I know sewing on those patches really is what got me interested in embroidery, and it just seemed so odd to me, because now I'm borderline obsessed with this hobby as well. Go figure.

Anyway, I decided I want to start decorating more of my garb with embroidery, and decided to start right off the bat with the new pirate shirt. I designed the embroidery pattern for the front myself - well, not that it's so terribly original, I'm sure it's been done before, and I've probably seen it before - but I mean, I didn't copy it out of a book. I drew it out freehand, then traced it onto the shirt using my light box. The original idea revolved around swirly lines, then when I drew them out, I noticed that they formed something reminiscent of ocean waves. I thought that was terribly appropriate for a pirate shirt, so I went with it.

It's not turning out quite as nice as I hoped - I mean, I'm a perfectionist, and this is a little sloppier than I would have liked. But basically, I'm learning as I go along. Much as I like embroidery, I haven't done a whole lot of it since my obsession kicked in a few years ago (a fact I blame on lack of free time - what with the knitting, sewing, and all the other stuff).

One of my worst habits has always been impatience, and wanting to rush through things. There are some things - many, I dare say - that just don't lend themselves well to rushing. Needlework is one of them. I probably should have / could have spent a little more time getting the pattern drawn well, getting it transferred to the shirt better, and embroidering more carefully. Well, live and learn ... this is, after all, a pirate shirt, not a liturgical vestment, so it'll be good practice, I'm having a blast, and it will all turn out looking great in the end, I'm sure.

I'm embroidering in split stitch with two strands of DMC floss, one purple and one green (as those are my colors in the SCA, and most of my embellishments end up containing some combination of them).