On the Other Hand...Our Mid-winter Q & A

Daisy pattern pillow, based on our icon

We began this blog in late February, 2013. Since then it has grown a lot. Some of you, bless your hearts, have been with us from the beginning. While it is possible to work your way backward to that beginning, it would take a very determined person to do so. Most of you have joined us in later years, found one or more topics that interest you, and used the search engine to find posts on those topics. Sometimes someone asks a question about topics from long ago. I'm going to try to answer a couple of them today. Those of you who already know all this, feel free to use the search engine to just browse or check back for our next topic in a week or so.

"I want to do a pillow like the one you did with the daisies all over it, but I get confused by the chart you gave for it.. Can you give me one with the graph paper squares instead? I don't have any trouble with those. Also, I want to use different colors of daisies. What is the best way to arrange them?”

Graphed pattern for daisy needlepoint stitches

Here is the pattern in squares. Each square represents 2 stitches side-by-side, each stitch over 2 threads on #10 canvas. If you are working on #14 canvas, you may want to adjust the squares to 3 stitches over 3 threads for each square. I hope you find it much easier to follow this chart. I prefer to start in the center of the canvas and work outward. For arrangement of colors, there are many ways; here are four suggestions. Make the center row in your main color and do the rows above and below it in the other colors, (above) ending with the outer rows in the main color. Do the same thing but put the colors in diagonal lines, with the main color in the center and at the corners. Put the main color in the center square and make concentric squares of different colors around it, repeating the center color at least once, preferably in the outer square. Or you can scatter the colors randomly, even if you use a different color for every flower. It is an excellent way to use up odds and ends of yarn. I'm sure other patterns will occur to you as you lay out your colors.

"My needlepoint is starting to feel heavy and awkward. Is it all right if I turn it around and work from the other end when I get to the middle?”

That depends.  I doubt that it is going to feel any lighter, but it might seem less awkward. If you are working with continental stitch on a printed or hand-painted canvas, and both the canvas and the design are even, you can safely turn the canvas 180 degrees. If there are patterned stitches in the design, don't turn it. If you are working from a chart, I advise you not to turn it. If you are working on a symmetrical geometric design such as a 4-way, 6-way, or 8-way, definitely don't turn it.  If you do turn it, be sure you reverse it the entire 180 degrees. If you turn it 90 degrees or some in-between amount, the stitches will not join properly at the center.

Home-made device for rolling needlepoint canvas

I suggest you try this instead. After completing two or more inches of the design, use masking or packaging tape to secure the top edge to something cylindrical: a mailing tube or the center of a roll of paper towels or gift wrap.  Use small metal clips to hold the canvas in place and readjust them as you make each new turn. I think you will find this helpful and the finished piece will require less blocking.

"I would really like to do needlepoint, but I am left-handed and all the directions and charts seem to be made for right-handed people. I have seen advice to sit across from someone who is doing needlepoint and make a mirror image of what they are doing, but I don't know anyone. I got some plastic canvas like what you advise us to learn with, but that is as far as I've gotten. I don't want to put a lot of time or money into a project and then find out I'm not able to do it. Can you help me?"

I will certainly try. I expect you will be able to do it. I understand your hesitation, though. My mother was strongly left-handed and I am right-handed. She did embroidery and some conventional needlepoint, but she got frustrated trying to teach me and stopped trying. I had to teach myself. I agree that you should not invest much money to begin with, but I hope you are willing to invest time.  If you find you enjoy needlepoint, it will become a lifelong pastime and pleasure.

A complex-looking Gobelin stitch pattern

You will need at least two contrasting colors of knitting-weight yarn and tapestry needles with eyes large enough to thread the yarn through.  Later I will teach you a simple way to do continental stitch, with which you can stitch canvases with patterns printed on them or ones from black-and-white charts. There are other tent stitches, but continental is the only one you really need. Right now I want you to practice some patterns with upright stitches. You don't need to be concerned with the slant of the stitches, as you do with tent stitches. These patterns often look much more difficult than they are.

Each stitch in the patterns below comes up through a square of mesh, passes over 4 bars of canvas (which represent the threads in needlepoint canvas), and goes down in the hole directly below where it came up. The bottom of each stitch in the first row shares a square of canvas with the top of the stitch in the second row. No canvas is left bare. We count threads, not holes.  Leave a couple of inches of yarn dangling below the first stitch. When you reach the end of the row, push your needle under the finished stitches on the back of your work for an inch or two and cut the yarn. Thread the dangling yarn into a second needle and secure it under stitches on the back. Get into the habit of doing this each time. Bad things can happen when ends of yarn are not secured.

Sample 1

The first pattern is a simple 2-color checkerboard with 4-stitch clusters. Begin at either the left or the right side, whichever is more comfortable.

Sample 2

This scalloped design is a little more difficult because the stitches follow a curve. Count carefully. Once the first line is done, it is easy to follow.

Sample 3

Working from top to bottom, the next row, in the second color, will begin in the bottom of the first stitch of the first color. Continue with the pattern until you feel that you have mastered it. To complete your sample swatch, turn your canvas around and work as much of the pattern in reverse as you can until the rows are even.

These simple patterns can be done in as many colors as you like and can be used to make things as small as a bookmark or key ring or as large as a piano bench cover. The stitch you have been using is called upright Gobelin and is used in a technique called Bargello. If you liked doing the samples, here is a link to a lesson in beginning bargello: [Link].

Directions for doing the Continental stitch

Here is an easy way to learn continental stitch. Your stitches should look like those in the diagram above. Begin in the upper right-hand corner of your canvas. Your first stitch goes from lower left to upper right. Work the entire first row. There are two ways to proceed.. One is to turn your canvas at the end of each row and keep stitching as you did before. This diagram shows you the way to do this by numbering the stitches. This may be the easiest way for you. Or you can just remember that working from left to right, stitches go from lower left to upper right; working from right to left,  your stitches go from upper right to lower left. Incidentally, the smallest design on the post for January 1, 2019 is worked almost entirely left-handed except for two parallel green lines that were worked right-handed.

I hope these steps help all three of you. Good luck. Have fun.




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