A great stitch for baskets: Large Woven Stitch

In a recent post, I explained how I would be stitching hearts for cancer outreach in between each of my normal WIP finishes this year. To decide which stitch I would use for my first heart this year, I turned to a recent acquisition (purchased at my LNS's Super Bowl sale): Suzy's Surprize Stitches by SuZy Murphy.

I planned to use Caron Watercolours for the heart, just because

• I have several great colors of this in my stash.
• Only one strand is needed for coverage on 18ct canvas, so I don't have to dig out my laying tool (and therefore it stitches up more quickly!).

A good friend used Watercolours on one of her hearts, and it didn't cover very well when the stitches were all vertical or horizontal. This prompted me to look for a stitch made up of diagonal stitches. After considering several alternatives from SuZy's book, I decided to go with what she calls "Large Woven Stitch."

Here's my diagram and method of working this stitch. (Note that I used the same color throughout. The diagram only shows different colors to differentiate the rows.)

I like to think of this stitch as "inside-out Criss Cross Hungarian." You can see what I mean in my diagram of CCH:

Apparently I'm not alone in thinking of the Large Woven Stitch as a variation of CCH. In 2007, Brenda Hart showed this as Reversed Criss Cross Hungarian in ANG's Stitch of the Month series.

So, how does it stitch up? I think it looks pretty nice on my heart so far. I'm using Watercolours in Slate. (And yes, I know I stitched right over the spot where the cancer awareness ribbon is supposed to go. I'm going to add a separate ribbon later.)

 

This Large Woven Stitch looks like it would be a nice addition to any canvas worker's repertoire. It would make great baskets, parquet floors, or even a stone walkway. It might also make a nice non-directional background using a lighter-weight thread.