my would-be cretan stitch

spatial concepts is not my strongest intelligence. i’ve known this for a long time, and while it is not on the long list of reasons i married mr. thrillenity, i must admit that it was like finding yet another diamond about him when he first translated a diagram of an embroidery stitch to me in terms i could grasp and run with. now i’m getting to that point in life when it seems prudent to learn to follow diagrams on my own, but alas: i’m thinking (with one of my stronger intelligences) that it’s just not in the cards. not in my deck anyway.

for the past few days i’ve been working on stitching my way through a dilemma. am wanting to do random some sharp-edged, pointy stitches – something with a trident look about it – and the cretan stitch seems just the ticket. but, shoot, i simply canNOT replicate the diagram, the sketched instructions. i mean, really. do any of these thread markings even vaguely RESEMBLE any cretan stitch you’ve ever seen before?

wouldbecretanstitches060108.jpg

sigh.

i suppose today i’ll just have to ask my ever-willing-and-patient translator for assistance.

or just do what i’ve done so many times before: make up my own stitches.

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4 Responses to my would-be cretan stitch

  1. jude says:

    well i like it, sort of a growing pattern. make them up, sure, and name them….i could enjoy that….

  2. Acey says:

    Hey here we are birds of a feather yet again. I have a terrible time with even the “simplest” of diagrams. It takes me FOREVER to translate those my own type of scanner personality forces me to try even when I’d rather not. The other night Jim was looking over my shoulder at the Creative Embroidery Stitches book and blurted out “You’re following those diagrams? You’re UNDERSTANDING them enough to follow?”

    I laughed for a minute and then showed him the corresponding doodle cloth. Some stitches were more recognizable than others. As for the cretan stitch in particular – I think of it as the CRETIN stitch because it looks like a cretin made them in my version of this. But I won’t give up. I REFUSE to give up because, you know, in order to be a serial master I do actually have to master things no matter how unlikely it may seem.

    If making up the stitches makes you happiest by all means do it! My working daily motto is that life’s too short for bad pizza, crappy art supplies AND any form of handwork that isn’t some level of FUN.

  3. jeanne, herself says:

    jude, i could enjoy that, too, if i could ever repeat the same made up stitch twice! sigh.

    you, too, acey? that is too funny. i can’t tell you how long i spent on the cretan stitch the other night. like you, i was DETERMINED that i could follow a simple little ole’ stitch diagram. but NO. i really can’t. time to just admit it and move on.

    (but you well enough to know that i’m not done yet. i’ll keep on trying till i get something, something that you can at least squint your eyes at, soften your brain, and say truthfully, “yeah, i can see how that might be a cousin to a cretan stitch. a DISTANT cousin maybe . . .”)

  4. Wendell says:

    Breakfast is the most important part of your diet. Most of the pepole does not take breakfast properly and ignore it by taking a little or no food. Actually they are making a big mistake. If you do not get proper ingredients for you body at the start of the day, how will your body respond well the whole day?Chris Cooper would love you to read..

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