In Search of Light

For a couple of years I've been longing for a Daylight Floor lamp. I saw one in the Nordic Needle catalog and flipped. It was a stitching lamp but didn't look like an office lamp, but it was well, $200+. No way was this in my budget. A week or so ago while wandering around Walmart, yes I said it, WALMART, I found a floor lamp that I thought would work well for a stitching lamp. It's a Mainstays Tourchiere with Reading lamp. It was $12.74(and yes while it is a floor lamp in theory it does look as cheap)inexpensive as you might imagine.) I checked it out several times, pondered why it might or might not work, went back and checked out all the various light bulbs offered in the lightbulb department. Would a GE Daylight 100 bulb(26watt) work as well as one of the Ott-lite bulbs or the Daylight bulbs? Since I really had nothing to compare them to other than how the light appears on my fabric, I gave in and bought the cheap inexpensive lamp and the cheap alternative light bulbs.

The results of my experiment are: I can freakin' see! I had no idea how horribly wretched the lighting in my house was until I could actually see again. The GE lightbulbs, while I cannot do a true lightbulb to lightbulb comparison, the GE works for me. Defintely worth the $8 I paid for two.

I'm telling you this because there has to be other stitchers out there like me, wanting the Ott-lite or the Daylight lamp and thinking, "I really can't spend the money on this right now but I can't freakin' see, what can I do?" I just want you all to know that there are options, for $20 I was able to put together a lamp to stitch by that isn't horrible in appearance. No one would know that the shades are plastic instead of glass--ok I'm reaching there, but if you're saving up for that great stitching lamp, see what you can do to make your stitching more enjoyable until you can buy it. Wander some stores, check out the lightbulb options and see what you can work with. For a while I was using a gooseneck desk lamp and a Reveal bulb, the difference between that and this GE Daylight 100 bulb is amazing.

The youngest son has already requested one of these lamps to read by at night. He thinks it's pretty cool.

I do believe the one difference in my put together lamp than the Ottlite or Daylight lamp is that it does kind of light up the room. Not as much as the overhead lighting but one of my neighbors knocked on the door and wanted to know if aliens had landed in my living room because it was glowing blue outside in the yard. I think the light from the better lamps is more contained.

The true test of this lamp will be And They Sinned. I'm stitching it on 36ct Dirty Linen. The fabric is so dark that it's frustrating to work on. I've considered switching out fabric because I don't have a lot accomplished on this piece yet but I really hate letting go. The fabric is purchased, the stitching has been started, and if I stop I might not pick it up ever again. So if this light makes a difference I just might get ATS finished this year. Seriously.