Journal / Needlepoint

For most of embroidery history, wool and silk were the only threads. Cotton came later, and it came for reasons of cost and convenience rather than craft quality. This is a guide to what wool and silk threads do that cotton cannot, which base is right for your work, and how to care for hand-dyed fibers so they last.

The 2026 Storyteller Stitchery advent calendar is open for preorder. The River Bank in Winter is a Wind in the Willows advent in two editions: a yarn advent and, for the first time ever, a needlepoint advent calendar. Twenty-four days of hand-dyed color, one beloved literary world, and your choice of how to make in it. Limited presale — ships November 2026.

Hopeful Bunny is a beginner needlepoint kit on a printed 13ct canvas, stitched with hand-dyed Awen merino wool and silk thread. In this post I walk through every stitch I used, including Tent Stitch, Staggered Diagonal, Balloon Stitch, and the Turkey Rug Stitch technique that gives her tail its fluffy, 3D finish.