Dark Cross Stitch for Cthulhu Fans

I have a random collection of links to cross stitch websites that I sometimes look through when I’m looking for things to share with you. I’ve been hitting them up more often lately because I’m trying to share more free cross stitch patterns, and just awesome things that you might not find on Etsy (much as we love Etsy!).

It was during one of those wanders that I found this spectacular Cthulhu Awakens cross stitch pattern from The World in Stitches.

In case you’re not up on the lore, Cthulhu is a powerful and ancient cosmic entity invented by H.P. Lovecraft and first introduced in the short story “The Call of Cthulhu” in 1928. He’s described as a monster with a sort of human like shape but an octopus-like head, a scaly body with claws and wings. He’s described as kind of a octopus, dragon, human like form, but also very tall.

The octopus-like face is the feature most depictions of Cthulhu focus on, and so it is here, too, though that’s his full body in the thrones on the sides.

There’s a lot going on here, from tentacles rising from the depths (he hibernates in an underwater city) to skulls and pentagrams and maybe a worshiper at the bottom with holy books and candles. The cross stitch design is adapted from original art by Brandon Wilhelm.

This would be a great project to stitch for an H.P. Lovecraft fan or anyone into D&D games that use the Cthulhu mythos.

The pattern is 105 by 151 stitches, which comes out to 7.5 by 10.8 inches, or 19.5 by 27.4 cm on 14 count fabric (the pattern gives sizing for other counts if you want to make it smaller). It uses 10 colors.

If this is something you’d love to have in your game room or to make as a gift for your favorite geek, you can grab the free chart from The World in Stitches.

[Photo: The World in Stitches]

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Unique Stitch Crafts is a Turkish designer that has a couple of main interests in their cross stitch designs: travel and Christmas stockings.

By far the biggest category in their storefront is Christmas stockings, with more than 100 options to choose from. There are fully stitched fronts with designs classic and whimsical (like an alicorn and a pastel rainbow, or a bunny in Harlequin costume playing violin to a mushroom) and designs that just go across the cuff of the stocking. There are ornaments with a Nutcracker or Frozen theme, New York City stockings and stockings for your dinosaur.

As an example, here’s a stocking covered with mini holiday designs, which you could also use as ornaments if you wanted. The full design is 165 by 255 stitches, which comes out to 10.3 by 16 inches, or 26 by 40.6 cm on 16 count fabric. The pattern just makes the front of the stocking so you need to grab some fabric for the back of the stocking and sew it together yourself.

There’s also a large collection of travel cross stitch patterns, including national parks designs both large and mini, and travel poster style designs for many US states and cities. (There’s not an Arkansas, which is my standard test since I live there, but there is a pattern of the Mississippi River bridge in Memphis, which is technically half in Arkansas.)

If you’re more of a world traveler you’ll find more of the travel poster style designs for cities and countries, including Thailand and China, Berlin, Sydney and Marrakech.

In addition to all of that, you’ll find patterns called retro, which includes a wide range of designs, but many seem to be food and coffee related; folk art designs (lots of flowers and birds); and famous paintings translated to cross stitch. Smaller categories include Christmas, Halloween, animals, kids and castles.

Check out all the fun designs at Unique Stitch Crafts on Etsy.

[Photo: Unique Stitch Crafts]

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