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New! The Herrschner's Worsted Palette - thank you to BetwixtTheStitch!
New! We've just added the palette for Deborah Norville Everyday Yarn! If you knit and/or crochet, this is for you. This is a beautiful yarn with a nice feel to it, a good alternative in worsted weight acrylic! (Thank you again to BetwixtTheStitch!)
New! The Red Heart Super Saver Palette - thank you to BetwixtTheStitch!
Welcome to Stitchboard! Feel free to sit and stay awhile. Check out our new Premier features. In addition to the ability to create larger patterns (up to 500 stitches wide), illusion knitting and private labeling (no more worries about editing those pesky and messy PDFs), we've just introduced Filet Crochet, our most popular request! We have many more features planned, too!
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Super! When you get a chance is fine...no worries about rushing to do it...our predrool will wait.
Juliet,
Welcome!
What a shame, that people think there's something wrong for a teenager to cross stitch! Well, you're gladly accepted here.
I believe you're going to
find there are others who share your passion, and anyway, cross
stitch is ageless!
Have you tried any cross stitch magazines? They usually have tons of great patterns. I actually found the British magazines are spectacular (not sure if you have a source, though). I used to buy them all the time! Oh, and most of them have what they call "cover kits," which is a small kit included with many of the magazines: cards, bookmarks, etc. There are usually both small and large projects in the magazines, and the best part is the small ones usually take very little time!
Another thing...there are all kinds of cross stitch alphabets available for free online. So if you don't like your lettering or want it to be fancier, blockier, larger, smaller, etc, give some a try!
I'm guessing you already know this, but in case you don't, with cross stitch the way you should work is to do the bottom of the x first (all should face in the same direction) and the top stitches should always face the same way as all of the other top stitches.
You've probably found that you can work a row of bottom stitches, stitching each from lower left to upper right (for example), then you can return to do the top stitches of the same row from lower right to upper left.
When you use your floss, I believe convention is to make the pieces no more than 18 inches, but here's a trick...cut them 36 inches long. Strip your floss next...e.g., pull out one strand at a time. If your pattern (or whatever you're making up for a pattern) calls for an even number of strands, 2, 4 or 6 - and in my example of 2 strands you can take that 36 inch length of thread, double it, take the ends, thread them through the needle an inch or so in, then pull the needle through the loop on the other end so that when you pull on the cut ends (together) through the needle eye, your needle ends up with the thread looped securely, where it won't get unthreaded until you want to unthread it. (Argh, I can't find any examples of it, so I may have to make a video.) Sorry if that's as clear as mud!
There's also such a thing as a knotless knot, which also requires an even number of strands, but you can't do both the looped thread around the needle start and the knotless knot. The convention is usually for 2 strands for a project...but I've seen 1 strand and 3 strands, so not everything follows that rule. (I found 3 strands very difficult for stitching and wouldn't recommend it. It feels odd! I would use 2 strands if a pattern called for 3.)
Anyway, I hope these hints will help you. I'm sorry about my bad explanation of the doubled thread on the needle, and if you'd like, I'll make a video.
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask! And maybe if you start making really cool things, your friends will get jealous and ask you to teach them! (Maybe not...but if you find
something to make that they really
like, they might get jealous!)
Cookie,
As I mentioned previously, we'll need more information before we can tell what's going on.
Was there an error message? Did your screen freeze? DId it go blank? We can't figure out what's happening without knowing exactly what you get when you try to make a pattern.
Welcome! Feel free to share any
photos of your finished work so we can all drool! 
To read a particular post, simply click on it!
Lauren,
A half cross stitch is
basically working your stitches only one way, instead of returning
and working the second slants over them to turn them into the X
shape. So half cross stitches end up looking kind of like
this:
/ / / / / / /
only they'll be a little different, as these slashes are
a font and not a stitch, so they're not being stitched on squares,
LOL.
I agree, Shaleigh's project looks
totally amazing!
Super! When you get a chance is fine...no worries about rushing to do it...our predrool will wait.
Juliet,
Welcome!
What a shame, that people think there's something wrong for a teenager to cross stitch! Well, you're gladly accepted here.
I believe you're going to
find there are others who share your passion, and anyway, cross
stitch is ageless! Have you tried any cross stitch magazines? They usually have tons of great patterns. I actually found the British magazines are spectacular (not sure if you have a source, though). I used to buy them all the time! Oh, and most of them have what they call "cover kits," which is a small kit included with many of the magazines: cards, bookmarks, etc. There are usually both small and large projects in the magazines, and the best part is the small ones usually take very little time!
Another thing...there are all kinds of cross stitch alphabets available for free online. So if you don't like your lettering or want it to be fancier, blockier, larger, smaller, etc, give some a try!
I'm guessing you already know this, but in case you don't, with cross stitch the way you should work is to do the bottom of the x first (all should face in the same direction) and the top stitches should always face the same way as all of the other top stitches.
You've probably found that you can work a row of bottom stitches, stitching each from lower left to upper right (for example), then you can return to do the top stitches of the same row from lower right to upper left.
When you use your floss, I believe convention is to make the pieces no more than 18 inches, but here's a trick...cut them 36 inches long. Strip your floss next...e.g., pull out one strand at a time. If your pattern (or whatever you're making up for a pattern) calls for an even number of strands, 2, 4 or 6 - and in my example of 2 strands you can take that 36 inch length of thread, double it, take the ends, thread them through the needle an inch or so in, then pull the needle through the loop on the other end so that when you pull on the cut ends (together) through the needle eye, your needle ends up with the thread looped securely, where it won't get unthreaded until you want to unthread it. (Argh, I can't find any examples of it, so I may have to make a video.) Sorry if that's as clear as mud!
There's also such a thing as a knotless knot, which also requires an even number of strands, but you can't do both the looped thread around the needle start and the knotless knot. The convention is usually for 2 strands for a project...but I've seen 1 strand and 3 strands, so not everything follows that rule. (I found 3 strands very difficult for stitching and wouldn't recommend it. It feels odd! I would use 2 strands if a pattern called for 3.)
Anyway, I hope these hints will help you. I'm sorry about my bad explanation of the doubled thread on the needle, and if you'd like, I'll make a video.
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask! And maybe if you start making really cool things, your friends will get jealous and ask you to teach them!
(Maybe not...but if you find
something to make that they really
like, they might get jealous!)Cookie,
As I mentioned previously, we'll need more information before we can tell what's going on.
Was there an error message? Did your screen freeze? DId it go blank? We can't figure out what's happening without knowing exactly what you get when you try to make a pattern.
Welcome!
Feel free to share any
photos of your finished work so we can all drool! friends
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