TAST Knotted Cretan

I almost gave up on this stitch, before I started. I haven't posted my first efforts as I couldn't embarrass myself. : - (

This stitch is worse than my pet hate..the Long and Short stitch.

My colourful effort is not good either and I can't say whether many, or even any, are correctly knotted. I found I could manage the top sections but not the lower.

After many tries I found I was holding the thread wrongly and was trying to knot around the wrong bit.


The pink one is definitely not correct. No real Cretan stitch and just sort of tied. Grrr... I persevered.....after all TAST is about learning how to do the stitches.

The green is better and I think I am getting the hang of it.





Yes, the work is more even and the knots look right now. I have even turned the end bit.





This looks okay too.






Oh YES! After drawing two circles and having a guide I really got going and with great excitement and enthusiasm, kept going until the thread ran out.


















Lastly I tried to curve the work and I was okay until the end bit. Looks like I need to work on those bends.

I take back my words about this stitch, Long/short is definitely worse for me. This one, once nutted out is lovely to do.

Thanks again Sharon for the stretching excercise.

TAST WEEK 12 Couching

If not for Sharon I would never be trying to extend myself with different stitches and threads. I find I am using up all manner of odds and ends that would normally become knotted and useless and then be tossed out.

Always, couching for me has been the loop-over -the-thread, nothing inspirational there. I have used beads before but today I started with my Week 8 TAST cross stitched fish and decided to make a seascape. It may be difficult to see my couching stitches through the busy threads but the lower left weed is held down with yellow pistil stitches, the blue next to it is held with fly stitch (the hardest to see) and next again is with loose bullions in the rust colour.
The two long,blue MOPs are cross stitched to hold them there.

Above this weed is my octopus and this IS using the loop-over-the-thread method.

I used a very thick burgundy chenille and loosely couched this with a long green straight stitch and placed a flower and a cumbersome piece of green MOP at the base. I needed something to really hold the MOP in place and chose the double cast-on stitch. It certainly worked as the piece didn't move at all once the first leaf was laid.

The floss on the right is held down with shell bits and beads and at the base is a loosely laid broken shell couched with various beads.

Thanks Sharon for the weekly inspiration. Maureen

TAST week 11

I am running backward this week and have only two pieces to show, both using open Up and Down Buttonhole. This was a joy to work and I can see lots of ways to use it.

I am pleased with my peacock and it is a much richer colour than this pic.








Of course I must have a tree

TAST Barred Chain week 10

This week's stitch was a challenge that almost ended in the bin before I had done the first stitch.
I couldn't see how/where the bar was made. A brilliant idea had me looking in Sharon's marvellous Stitch Dictionary and found the stitch there. It's one I have never seen before. My first effort was to lay various thicknesses of threads like a tartan- of sorts. I found that if I worked from left to right I could see the bars, but when I reversed this the bars were covered and lost.






The stitch was good for petals, especially the top turn.

I wondered how the half circle would look in a diamond shape. It's below.










You can see that I have made a Puurfect diamond shape. If you can't then you may need to cross your eyes. Should that fail try squinting.