A Slight Detour - Crisis Averted

This week I began stitching the left sleeve for Queen Elizabeth. When I originally purchased this canvas and its threads almost three years ago, the thread kit came with one card of Splendor 822 and one card of Petite Very Velvet 632. About half way through the right sleeve I knew that I would need at least one more card of each to finish the left sleeve. I ordered some more of both from Amy's and it arrived in time for me to begin the second sleeve this week. I had a little of each of the original threads left but decided to start fresh with the new threads on the left sleeve. Have you guessed where I'm going with this?

I stitched about six or seven rows with the new threads before I realized that the colors of the two threads were almost an exact match with each other. Ordinarily that isn't a bad thing, is it? However, on the right sleeve there is a contrast between the colors. The Splendor on the right sleeve is definitely a slight shade darker than the Petite Very Velvet which in person gives the sleeve a checkerboard effect.

I decided to take 2 strands of the original Splendor and lay them on top of the new Splendor that had already been stitched to see if I could darken the overall color and I think I have been fairly successful in achieving a similar look between the sleeves. I photographed the Queen before I began overlaying the darker Splendor so that you could see the before and after. Evidently my eye and the camera's eye don't see the same thing. To me, there was a glaring difference between the two sleeves. But when I compared the before and after pictures, the pictures don't show much of a difference. So, the picture in this post is of the Queen after I began adding the darker threads. I think I'll continue stitching the sleeve in the same manner as I have this morning. I suppose the moral of this story is to listen to other stitchers who have said to never stitch to the end of a skein of thread unless you are absolutely sure that the next thread you pick up is from the exact same dye lot.  I'm so glad I had a little of that original thread left to add in to the new thread. Crisis averted!

Well, right about this time of day a year ago, Andrew and Anna were about to become husband and wife. Happy Anniversary to you both! Anna is a wonderful addition to our family!

Hope your stitching is crisis-free this week! I think mine will be!