the Cretan Stitch

My ongoing work in the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge features small sampler pieces of each week's featured embroidery stitch.

The fourth week (of TAST - Take a Stitch Tuesday) features a stitch I had never used before, the Cretan Stitch.  I enjoyed using two colors, one overlapping the other as I worked on this sampler piece.  Exploring the stitch's length and width was fun too.  I even tried a few free-flowing, rambling Cretan stitches, letting the inner-stitching-goddess take over!

One enjoyable feature of the TAST challenge is learning about each week's stitch,  from the basics of "how-to-stitch" to the details of the individual stitch's history.  Did you know that this stitch, the Cretan Stitch is named for the island of Crete, where the local women have used this embroidery stitch to decorate clothing for centuries?  There are two variations, called an Open Cretan Stitch and a Knotted Cretan Stitch (to learn more, click on any of the highlighted names).

Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST), an annual challenge hosted by Sharon B of Pin Tangle fame. Click here (to go to the beginning of the 2012 TAST Challenge).   Join in anytime for a year of fun stitching ....or check back with Pin Tangle, or any of the participants to see where our Tuesday Stitchings have taken us.  Or look back on my blog and click on my TAST label to see my posts.

If you enjoy embroidery, or would like to learn more about the many stitches (from their history to a step-by-step how-to) click here for Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary home page.  She has compiled an amazing compendium of information and wonderful photographs!