Scotch Missed

 At school we were taught people were Scottish and things were Scotch.  This gets confusing when you discover a schottische is a dance [a slow polka, apparently] and the word scotch has many definitions. It can mean

1. To put an end to - he scotched the rumours
2. To wedge something somewhere - she scotched herself against the wall
3. To cut or score the skin - he scotched the back of the fish
4. To render useless - we have scotched the snake [Macbeth Act 3]
5. Whisky

Catriona made a lovely suggestion for my cross stitching - something to represent a good part of my eventful holiday in Scotland. Thanks C! I decided I'd do an all-over pattern of tartans. I used one based on my maiden name and one from Kirsten's family. Mine [Hall] was red, blue, green and yellow, hers [Gunn] was red, blue, green and black. But by joining along a diagonal, I could use a narrow red stripe and green wide stripe to link them.

To get the warp and weft effect, I did the under thread with 6 strands, the crossing top thread with 3 strands of thread. This gave a dense, but not stiff piece. 

Meanwhile K. has been looking at medieval stitching and illuminated manuscripts. She was stitching the piece which will finally end up with me - so did a capital A in 5 colours, surrounded by green and black lozenges [each one is a different pattern] with a lively border in blues, purples and black. It's exquisitely stitched! 

Getting back to the words - Scotch Mist can refer to

1.  a weather condition, a cold penetrating mist, verging on rain, a drizzle or mizzle
2. a cocktail made with whisky poured over crushed ice
3. In the North of England, a phrase meaning "something unlikely to happen" 

I think the July stitchings are great, as they show that yet again we've both come up with another way to interpret the idea of a cross stitch sampler. My flat gifts from Kirsten will merit their own post later. 

Do you have a family tartan?