Sprite Stitch Board!

I'm starting my first large project, well large for me, and I have some questions. It's 152x145 stitches, 15 colours, 14 count pink Aida & it's going to be batgirl.

1. I think I'll use 3 strands of floss so should I use a 24 needle? (I've been using 26 on 16 & 18 count)

2. I charted it out in 20 stitch blocks with spare floss but what do I do with this once I start stitching? Do I take it out as I go or do I leave it in & take it out at the end?

3. I want to make her bat symbol glow in the dark. I plan to stitch it in regular floss first then stitch over it with kreinik yellow glow in the dark blending filament. Do I stitch the bat symbol with 2 or 3 regular floss?

Most of these questions are probably already answered but I'm too excited to start this project to sift through the forum.

Thanks everyone who takes the time to help me!

stitchingmama wrote: 1. I think I'll use 3 strands of floss so should I use a 24 needle? (I've been using 26 on 16 & 18 count)

I would do a test on your fabric to see what you like the look of. Ideally, your needle with the thread should pass through the fabric easily and not make the Aida holes significantly larger than they already are. But if you test it out, you might find that certain sizes feel better to stitch with, despite what's "right" and for a long project you really want to make sure it's easy and smooth sailing and not going to cause you undue hassle.

2. I charted it out in 20 stitch blocks with spare floss but what do I do with this once I start stitching? Do I take it out as I go or do I leave it in & take it out at the end?

Well, I've never been ABLE to take it out at the end. You'd be surprised how tightly even not-properly-stitched in threads can be when there are stitchings surrounding it. I'd absolutely plan to take them out as you go.

3. I want to make her bat symbol glow in the dark. I plan to stitch it in regular floss first then stitch over it with kreinik yellow glow in the dark blending filament. Do I stitch the bat symbol with 2 or 3 regular floss?

I've never used glow in the dark stuff, but I imagine you don't need to stitch the underneath first. In fact, stitching the same stitches twice could mean you distort the Aida holes because you'll have twice as much thread going through. Do a few tests and you should be able to figure something that you like out.

I agree with everything Eliste said, but I do have something to add!

stitchingmama wrote:3. I want to make her bat symbol glow in the dark. I plan to stitch it in regular floss first then stitch over it with kreinik yellow glow in the dark blending filament. Do I stitch the bat symbol with 2 or 3 regular floss?

If you want to use the glow in the dark filament then you can do one of two things. 1) Stitch the bat symbol using only the filament or 2) you can tweed the filament with regular thread. If you don't know what tweeding is, it's basically just combining two (or more) different threads, but it does give a sort of random effect!
Personally I'd go for option 1, use 2 or 3 strands of filament. Something else I'd recommend is stitching quite slowly with the filament and let it untwist regularly (more so than with standard threads)

Hope that's of some help!

stitchingmama wrote:
1. I think I'll use 3 strands of floss so should I use a 24 needle? (I've been using 26 on 16 & 18 count)

You can use a 26 needle but for 3 strands of floss it's easier to thread a 24 needle.