Over the past years I have entered a number of SALs, or Stitch-Alongs (often late, so that it was more of a Stitch-Catch-Up, but that didn’t hamper my enjoyment). Perhaps you know the sort of thing I mean – a designer releases part of a design every month, people sign up (sometimes paying a small fee to do so) and all round the world stitchers work on that same project, often with their own choices of fabric and threads and colours. A good example is the SAL that has just started at Papillon, which will be running for 24 months.

It’s always fascinating to see how different people’s versions look; some in shades of one colour on white, some in bright colours on black, some in cottons, some in silks. It’s like seeing and enjoying all the possibilities for a certain design without having to stitch them all yourself!

And so the idea grew for a Mabel’s Fancies Hardanger SAL.

Now a SAL can be whatever you want, and so the first thing was to work out what sort of SAL would work for me with my particular style of stitching and designing. And one thing was quite certain, it would not be the sort of project where all the little bits are part of a big design. The Papillon SALs work like that, and they are beautiful. But when I started on the present one I soon realised that I simply cannot work with a big piece of fabric. It gets in the way, I find it heavy and cumbersome, and having had to unpick the first bit several times I have now decided to stitch the parts as individual projects.

What then? Well, perhaps a set of 12 small designs; a common outline or shape, with variations in worked bars and filling stitches, and lots of different surface stitches. Something, in fact, very much like Round Dozen, where all the designs work individually, but they clearly belong together.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. 12 card-sized designs, so that at the end of the SAL you have 12 very useful little projects. But stitchers who prefer a bigger design can still choose to stitch them all together as a 3×4 sampler, or as a bell pull (or possibly two bell pulls, with six designs each).

To see whether people might be interested in a SAL like this, and to get the suggestions and comments of a wide variety of stitchers, I asked my fellow-needleworkers at the Cross Stitch Forum. One very clear wish was that the series would start simple, and gradually get more advanced, so that those undertaking Hardanger for the first time would be able to join in without getting discouraged.

Next I wanted to make sure that no-one would be put off by the cost of the materials needed – so the designs should look good in only a few shades of standard perle cottons, and if any other materials are used (like beads, ribbon or metallic threads) it should take only one pack or skein. On the other hand, there should be plenty of scope for stitchers who like experimenting with speciality threads or hand-dyed fabrics.

At that point I started doodling shapes, scribbling notes, making lists of worked bars and filling stitches and devising a few new stitches to keep things interesting, and by now it is all beginning to come together. To give everyone (including myself!) plenty of time to prepare, the "Song of the Weather" Hardanger SAL will D.V. start in January 2013. More information can be found on the dedicated SAL page, where you can find out about the way the project will be set up, the reason for its name, and what will happen when; in time there will also be a materials list and links to the SAL blog and gallery, and a section where you can join. I’m looking forward to it!