Progressing

Embroidery, like tatting, is not done in a hurry, as Mary Corbet points out in this post. But keep at it and progress is made. I'm over half way on my skirt.

Thanks to advice from Margaret, I'm not using a ball point pen to trace the pattern. I experimented with different pencils until I found one that showed up better than the first one I used. I trace out one complete pattern repeat at a time.  I'm on the fourth one out of six.

I don't know if there's such a term a 'embroiderer's finger, but I have it

It's on my left hand, not from pushing the needle through, but from taking too deep a 'scoop' when I make a stitch.  I guess a thimble or superglue might help, but it doesn't bother me that much.