Here is a pretty Kettle Holder.
It hangs up by the loop at the top.
HOW THE STITCHES ARE DONE.
Here is a lovely chance for you to do some Berlin Woolwork. This is done on Penelope Canvas. You have already learnt to work cross-stitch designs on Penelope Canvas, haven’t you? so you have not so very much that is fresh to learn here. When you did the work before, however, you pulled the threads away afterwards, but here you do not pull any away, but you cover the whole of the canvas square with some pretty pattern. It may be alternate rows of two colours, or it may be a little square pattern, or it can be the “upstairs and downstairs” pattern that you see in the kettle holder on this page.
The easiest kind of kettle holder to start with would be one like the mat on [page 103]—in green and purple—working a row of green crosses, and then a row of purple crosses. When you are working several crosses in a row, you do not finish each cross before going on to the next. You make the halves of the crosses all one way, and then go back and cross them all. You will see what I mean by the top illustration in the picture on this page, showing the stitches.
You will want some Penelope Canvas, and some purple and some green Berlin wool—J. and J. Baldwin’s English-made Berlin wool is the kind to get, as we all like to buy things that are made in England, don’t we? You also need a piece of thick serge or cloth to line the kettle holder, and a pretty cord to finish the edge.
To start the kettle holder, take a piece of canvas, about 7 inches each way. Before you commence the pattern, thread your needle with wool, and take over-and-over stitches all round the edge to keep the canvas from fraying out while you are doing the pretty work.
Now, starting half an inch in, work the cross-stitch, first doing a row of purple and then a row of green, leaving half an inch all round the edge. This will give you a worked square, 6 inches by 6 inches.
Having finished the cross-stitch, turn in the edge all round as far as the work, and tack it. Take your piece of cloth, turn in and tack the edge of that all round to the same size as the kettle holder. Place them together with the wrong sides facing, and hem the lining to the holder, not letting the stitches show through on the right side.