cross stitching

One of the best places to start will be Kathy Dyer's website . If Kathy's website doesn't have, then she probably has a link to "it"!

Skyhooks ""aahhtt"" s b c g l o b a l ""ddoott"" n e t

P.S. If you see the term S.E.X. in this newsgroup (RCTN); it doesn't mean what it implies -- it stands for "Stash Enhancement eXperience" meaning any reason to shop for more needlework supplies . Just be sure to use the "dots" inbetween.

Perhaps you might begin with some simple cross stitches and backstitch to start with. I'm not sure what you mean about the threads being too fat to fit through the hole. If you're using stranded cotton, you need to separate it into strands before you stitch with it, not use the whole six strand hunk at once. A french knot is a small, decorative knot formed by twisting the thread about the needle that leaves a small (hopefully tidy) knot on the top of the fabric. Useful for eyes in animals/people on a pattern and provides texture to a project.

Welcome into the craft world . A french knot is made by pulling your thread through the cloth looping the thread several times around the needle pulling the the needle+thread through the loops and pushing the needle back into the cloth quite near the first place it came out from the cloth . French knots . If you Xst as on Canvas , i may advice not to make the french knot before practising it a bit on softer cloth . You erite 2 threads ?? are you meaning a regulat One Thread that you folded into the needle and hence you have 2 threads ... or do you have a Moline thread that is made of 6 seprate threads which you can use either as i or 2 or 3 or ,,,, as you wish and need ? mirjam

Or if you find the French Knot too daunting to begin with, you can always use a tiny "seed bead" instead! You may well need to use a finer needle for that - maybe a beading needle.

Pat P

"rhea" wrote ..

There are lots of people here who are more than willing to help. We all started sometime.

There are alot of "cross stich terms" in the

This is a good place to go and find out how to do just about any stitch you come across. (French knots take a while to figure out--don't worry if your first efforts are wobbly. There are other kinds of knots some people use because they find them easier--and some people who really hate knots use beads)

and I the two threads are too fat to go through the hole. please

You might be using two whole pieces of floss (thread). The thread usually used for cross stitching divides into 6 thin strands. It is likely that your instructions want you to use 2 of those strands--pretty usual in cross stitch. Grab one end of your thread and squash it between your thumb and first finger--you will see the 6 strands. Take hold of one of them, pull it out and away from the main thread. Then do another one. Trust me---don't try to pull out two at once--you get a tangled mess. (like I said, we all started once, and that is one of the things I tried when I started.) Good luck, Dawne

Victoria Sampler has some great animations that may help you. Under surface stitches, you will find "Cross stitch Danish" and "French knot stitch" They do assume that you are working on an even weave fabric, but if you are using aida (the fabric that is woven into squares) then treat each pair of thread in the animations as one square on aida. Addie

Try not to get too confounded. Reading all the directions at first can be scarey. It's good to do that to get familiar, but don't let it distract you from beginning your project. Simply take things one at a time.

A French knot is simply an embroidery stitch which is used in many different types of embroidery. It's not specific to cross stitch. If your instructions don't include a diagram, please post and we'll refer you to one on the Internet.

In order to help you with how many strands of thread to use, we need to know what fabric you are using and it's count (how many threads to the inch). Two strands of thread is a typical number to use.

Dianne

rhea wrote: