Ok so I realise I promised this ages ago, but I did finally manage to get around to doing it. This is a picture heavy post. Also this is the way I find it easiest to do parking other people may find other ways much more efficient.
Ok here we go. When I stitch HAED patterns I stitch in 10x10 blocks in vertical rows. This means I stitch all the stitches in a 10x10 block and then move down to the next block below it. As I stitch each colour I 'park' or leave the thread in the place where that colour is next in the block below.
First lets have a look at two blocks of chart
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| Chart |
As the 0 symbol on this chart is metallic I am leaving it til the end so I have skipped those but normally I would start with whatever colour was first in the top left of the block. Therefore here I started with the second colour the ) symbol
Here I have underlined all of this symbol in this block for you to see.
The red mark in the next block down shows where I will park my thread. So I stitch all the stitches with that symbol in that bock.
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| My four stitches of that colour tent stitched |
Then I park that colour in the bottom left of where it next occurs in the next block down. It doesn't really matter in which corner you decide to park your thread just so long as you are consistent or you will get very mixed up.
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| First Parked Thread |
Then I move onto the next colour. The stitches I have just done are now coloured in green so I know which stitches I have stitched. I have underlined the next stitches to be done in this block.
I now stitch all these stitches and park the thread where that symbol occurs, I have marked in red, in the next block down.
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| Two colours, stitched and parked |
I continue on as such, working my way through each of the colours until the entire block is done and I have all my threads parked in the next block.
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| Completed Block |
I will then start on the next block beginning with whatever thread is parked on the first row to the left of the block. This way if I have parked them correctly all I have to do is stitch whatever symbols corresponds to the symbol where the thread is parked. I do not need to check the colour number for any of that particular symbol in that block, unless I run out of the piece of thread. Once I have stitched all the parked threads I then add in any additional colours there may be in this block that were not in the proceeding block.
I really hope this makes sense and is helpful, if not please do let me know and I will change it. If you need any further help please do not hesitate to e-mail me: pulltheotherthread@gmail.com
I have never tried stitching by 'parking' my threads, I just use all of one thread first and then move onto the next! Does all the thread not get in the way as you stich the next block?
ReplyDeleteI think I should give it a go though, as I always go wrong and have to unpick, or realise too late and have to style it out!
Gemma
yousewshould.blogspot.com
I find that it can sometimes get in the way, however it is usually fairly simple to separate the parked threads and pull them out of the way of the area where you will stitch. I find my embroidery scissors are very useful in getting the threads apart. Often I will simple part the parked threads down the middle and pull the left ones up and left and the right ones up and right so that leaves the block mostly free of hanging threads. Does that make sense? I only use parking for HAED designs as they tend to have quite a bit of confetti and colour changes. For regular charts I just stitch by colour.
ReplyDeleteI'm using a very similar method ;-) I'm marking the corner where I park my thread, just in case I mix something Up ;-D
ReplyDeleteParking makes life really easier and by now (after about 4 weeks of parking) I seem to be quicker with this method. At least I feel like I'm making more progress ;-D
Thank you for sharing - not sure if I am brave enough to try, but this is the best tutorial on Parking I have seen. Thanks again
ReplyDeleteI use a very similar method... but usually I stitch by column instead of per block.. and park by the end of the page (I found that that way I don't have to be threading the needle that often and I end up stitching more :D) But what a great tutorial :D
ReplyDeleteHugs,
I always wondered how ppl managed this! Thanks for the great demo :)
ReplyDeleteGreat tutorial...very clear and easy to understand!
ReplyDeleteVERY helpful, and so clearly explained and photographed. Thank you! This may just be the year I venture back to my HAED which I'd previously gave up on.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic explanation - like Kevin it is inspiring me to pick up one of my HAED designs again.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing explanation on how to do parking. I've always wondered how, but have never come across clear enough directions to do it. One question though, do you find you use up more thread by skipping so many stitches to go down to park in the next block? I hope I explained the question right lol!
ReplyDeleteThanks for making parking easy to understand I am going to give it ago.
ReplyDeleteI never seen marking your grid or parking your floss, have to try this method. I just pick a color near the center or corner and work out from that point.
ReplyDelete24Tangent@gmail.com
Hi. Thank you for the tutorial, very clear and easy to follow. I have a quick question for you...do you have a preferred fabric or fabric count for your HAED designs?
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
Thanks so much for your comment. I am unable to send a response to you directly so I hope you see this. I usually prefer using 28ct evenweave for HAED charts. I find that I get the best coverage on this count using the 2 over 1 tent stitch. However Bridge of Wings (you can see this in my WIP section) is being stitched on 25ct evenweave. This is a good count as well but the coverage is slightly less than on the 28ct. Having said that though it is really only noticeable when looking at it really up close. I don't think I would use 25ct for charts with large blocks of black or darker colours as I think lessened coverage would be more noticeable. I hope that answers your question, please feel free to contact me if you require more information r have any other questions.
DeleteI should also add that I did a few experiments for HAED charts on different fabrics and did try linen. I absolutely hated working with it for such small stitches. I only use evenweave for HAED charts now. I have never tried AIDA for these but have seen others use it. Using AIDA however significantly increases the overall size of the chart.
DeleteOut of curiosity if the symbol you are stitching isn't in the next block of 10 do you finish it off or do you go further than 10 stitches down. I have just begun parking on my HAED but have gone further than 10 stitches and just mark on my chart where it is. I know it will be neater if it is only 10 but I am thinking of time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great question, thanks so much for your comment. Sometimes I would park a thread further than the 10 stitches down, however I would rarely go more than 20. Often it would be a judgement call, certainly if there were only a couple of stitches in that colour I would definitely travel the thread rather than stop and restart for only a few stitches. I hope that makes sense, if you have any other questions feel free to contact me.
DeleteI've been parking since I tried my first Golden Kite pattern, but I've never tried your method. Have you ever run into the problem of being able to tell where the right-hand side of your column is due to the change in tension? I finally started working past the ten stitch block and leave my right hand margin uneven to avoid this problem.
DeleteDebbie, thanks so much for your comment. It's a great question and a problem I have seen people run into. I haven't found that it causes me difficulty in areas of high confetti, however if there are only a few colours and I use this method I do get visible lines. I am working on another type of parking at the moment, which I call park by feature which I find reduces the risk of lines. I'm hoping to get a tutorial up on that very soon.
DeleteDo you end up using more thread using this method and if so about how much more does it use I am wanting to give this a try on my next project and I just want to be prepared.
ReplyDeleteHi Carri, thanks so much for your comment and question. I don't find that the parking method uses more thread as I usually only drop to the next block down. My rule of thumb is park the thread if it would use the same or less thread as it would to finish off that colour and restart it further down. If it would be more economical on thread to just finish off the thread and restart is it where it next appears then I don't park. I would sometimes break this rule where there might be only a couple more stitches of that colour in the area I am working on. In that case I might waste the little bit of thread to save my sanity but it would only be if the thread waste was small, I certainly wouldn't waste a large amount of thread to park somewhere far from my current area. I hope this makes sense, if not please do get back to me and I will attempt to explain it better. Best of luck with the parking.
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