While I’ve only ever admired them from afar, last night I have most likely experienced what all ballerinas experience: grinding pain on the tools of their trade. In their case, their toes; in my case, my fingertips.
A while ago I have acquired a variety of textiles from IKEA. I was looking for something tightly woven to hold my stitches well. Most local and online shops carried counted linen which was too loose for my liking (16 count at most). Having had a great experience with the GURLI pillowcase from IKEA, I’ve found they carried nice, thick and tight cotton sold by the meter for half the price of AIDA linen: MINNA. It was really nice to the touch… drum-tight in my hoop…
…But a pain to stitch through!
I had to tug and yank at my needle to get its eye through the material. Before I realised I’ve used too many (3) strands and too thick of a needle eye, the damage was already done. Because my needle was lodged solidly in the material, my fingertips kept slipping along the metal with more and more force. While it didn’t help to pull the needle through 4 out of 5 times, it successfully peeled off 4 out of 5 skin layers from my first three fingers! The tugging also rubbed off some of the color at the end of my thread. Bummer! 😦
My two inherited thimbles didn’t help much either – the needle was too small in diameter. Then and there, I’ve wished for nice, thick, rock-hard calluses on my fingertips, much like ballerinas have on their toes. All that while I was stitching a ballerina… coincidence?
One thing’s for sure… in order to work with this canvas-like material, I need a very thin straw needle and no more than two strands of thread… hopefully the difference in the thickness is not too obvious:
Have you developed calluses on your fingertips from handling the needle? Do they help?
Oh! You Pretty Stitch 
Gorgeous! I’ve tried embroidery, but just don’t have the patience for it. (Yet I’ve knit an entire blanket, so you’d think I’d be able to handle it…)
Can’t wait to see it finished!
-Kathy
Thank you! Haha I would NEVER have the patience to knit anything remotely as big as a blanket… it involves counting, that’s pretty unforgiving. Especially when you are knitting while watching TV!
calousses never help, in fact they can snag on finer threads like silk. I find its ever a good idea to use anything that doesn’t glide easily, try using the more loosely woven fabric in two layers and lay a grid of tacking threads down to hold them together – these can be taken out when the piece is finished and allow you to work without a frame, which is much quicker for stem stitch
Thanks for the tip! I guess I’ve learned the hard way… 🙂 With the two thread and a straw needle it’s coming along just fine. I’ll look into your method when I run out of material!