Heroic efforts not withstanding, I am now an Official Failure. I did not manage to complete my Mystery Project to meet the contractual deadline. Last minute complications included a surprise 14 hour work day (my career takes precedence over my hobbies); and the fact that the miserable excuse for a clothes moistener acquired as part of last year's house purchase is totally inadequate to the job of fulling (it barely washes garments). I gave up after four washes and ended up fulling by hand. That was very time consuming.

I can however report a success!? The yarn I used - Classic Elite Renaissance - given an adequate method of fulling does in fact do so beautifully. My stockinette piece is soft, dense, and without stitch detail, although one area where I carefully lined up decreases does show, and is now a nice textural contrast to the rest of the surface.

The piece is still not totally done, but I do intend on finishing and furnishing the pattern even if it's late. Having taken two nights (or one evening plus what was left of the other after my 14 hour day) to full the piece, I now have to do some minor seaming and the embroidery. Flowers, leaves, abstract paisleys or acanthus-like scrolls - all are possibilities. I'm a stitcher though, so the embroidery I feel might be achievable by knitting advanced beginners/intermediates might in fact be too much to attempt.

I invite comment. There are many embroidery stitches that could be used, although the selection is somewhat limited due to the thick and dense nature of the felt ground. I am thinking of using variants on Romanian couching, herringbone, or other mostly-surface type stitches instead of satin stitch, which most embroidery beginners find easier to understand, but very difficult to execute cleanly. Perhaps a chain stitch variant, plain couching or knot stitches (coral stitch?) as well. My question is - this is a knitting project, not an embroidery project. Given clear stitch diagrams, including motif placement and how-tos for all stitches, what's your threshold level beyond which a program of embroidery becomes unmanageable?? How much is too much, or how complex is too complex?? Where do you draw the line?