It’s a shame I didn’t manage to post yesterday – such an unusual date that it seems a waste not to use it! Alas, we arrived back from the Netherlands only that morning so writing FoFs was not the first thing on my mind. There were new SAL subscribers to welcome, and of course our main business (unfortunately Mabel doesn’t quite cover the mortgage yet, not to mention pensions …) had more than its fair share of backlog. But today I just wanted to scribble a short post because I’ve made two exciting purchases!

The first is from Tamar Embroideries. It is really very kind of them to provide most of their colours in two shades, one light and one dark, perfect for the SAL . In order to find out whether their threads are suitable for Hardanger (most of them are not actually perles) I have splashed out on four different types of thread, all in the same colour: Fine Cotton Perle (“stitches as perle #12”), Mercerized Cotton (“similar to cotton a broder”, so should work instead of a #8), Matt Cotton (a similar weight but “with a softer feel and a matt finish”) and Combed Cotton (“similar in weight to a perle 5 but with a tighter twist and a matt finish”). Just as an experiment and because it sounded interesting I’ve also ordered one skein of their tubular Cotton Ribbon; it sounds round rather than flat, so will it work instead of silk ribbon?

My second purchase is something that I have long been looking for – yes, I have found a source for my favourite rainbow titanium squissors! I am expecting their arrival any day now, so they should appear on Mabel’s Fancies soon; could this be the perfect Christmas present for all you SAL subscribers and other Hardangerers out there?