Celtic knots are finished...

 Finally!    

I don't know why, but my feet just drug as I thought about working on these cross stitched knots the last few weeks.  Days and sometimes weeks went by when I didn't even feel like picking them up for some reason.

I'm pleased with the stitching part, but I'm not sure how I feel about the finishing part.

Thinking they were a little too bland as plain pillows, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to see if I could find a trim that might perk them up.  I didn't have any luck with the trim, but I did come home with some fabric for an upcoming project!  More on that another time.

Back at home, I remembered once upon a time I had bought a cord-making gadget.   Of course!  I had plenty of floss - I could make my own trim!  Fortunately, once I remembered I had it, I remembered exactly where I had put it when I unpacked my craft supplies three and a half years ago.

Following the instructions that came with the Kreinik Custom Corder, I made the first cord in the two green colors I'd stitched the first knot in.

In the picture, the trim is hardly noticeable.  In person, it's more obvious, but it's underwhelming.  Clearly, I didn't use enough strands of floss.   But did I want to make it over?  No I really did not.  At least not until I made thicker cording for the second pillow - to my mind, it made sense to experiment on the second unfinished pillow before ripping out what had been done on the first one. And I figured watching a few tutorials wasn't a bad idea, either.

Ok... that's better, but I wish I had just used one of the colors this time.  The light and dark gold twisted together is a little busy.  But did I want to make it over?  No. I really really did not.

It isn't that the Kreinik is exactly hard to use, but the printed instructions are too brief, and I didn't find it as easy to use as the tutorials made it appear to be.  It didn't help that every tutorial I watched added some slightly different technique.  I also now know I used too-long strands of floss and it became unwieldy.  I needed Hub to come and hold one end while I kept my end taut (thankfully, I have long arms) as I slid the Kreinik to the middle and let it drop - to twist the cord back on itself.  One of these days, when I'm under no pressure to finish a project, I will play around with it and perhaps get the hang of it more easily. 

For now, I'm happy to be finished with this project that took way too long for what it was.  Someday I may remake the cording on the green knot pillow, but for now I'm relieved to call it done.  

Chances are, I'll be perfectly fine with its imperfectness and never change it.