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]

I was recently approached by Alyssa, the cross stitcher behind the Etsy shop Stitchonomy, to take a look at her cross stitch pattern subscription club, known as The Pattern Club.

I took a look around and there’s a lot of cute stuff and fun options you’ll want to check out, especially if you love themed patterns that are small, easy to stitch and fun to combine.

The Pattern Club combines cross stitching with a social network. When you open the site you’ll see a news feed and have the ability to share updates much like you would on Facebook. You can see who is online, have buddies and post your own updates and photos. The community aspect is a little sparse right now but that should only grow.

The stitch along hub is the place to find the most recent patterns and information on the current stitchalong. As of this writing the Book Lover’s stitchalong was happening, with little designs like Peter Rabbit, a skull for Hamlet and keys for Jane Eyre as well as authors including Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Other pattern collections include European designs, Halloween, ocean life, an allotment garden and more. Alyssa tells me there’s a new theme every month that either she picks or members in the community suggest. You can stitch just the patterns you want or put them together to make a larger collage.

The Stitchanomini vault gives you access to all of the previous patterns, and new patterns are released daily through the stitchalong. You can download individual patterns (most of them are 19 by 19 stitches) as PDFs or Pattern Keeper files. The PDFs include a color and black and white chart as well as a floss list.

Another cool thing you can do is build your own pattern collages from all of the squares that have been released. The collage configurator allows you to add patterns of your choosing to a grid ranging from 2×2 patterns up to 4×4. You can scroll through all the current patterns or search by theme and size to make a project that suits your needs. (Above is an example I made kind of at random but you get the idea.)

If you want to check it out, you can grab a three-day free trial and see all the pattern options. Membership is $7.99 a month, or if you pay for a year at a time you’ll get two months free. In addition to the patterns in the club, members receive discounts on patterns and supplies purchased through the shop within the club. Annual members get access to three paid/retired stitchalongs and lifetime members receive all retired patterns.

If you check it out I’d love to hear what you think!

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