Tips for Traveling with Cross Stitch

As a person who is mostly in the knitting world, it comes up fairly often that people will have questions about traveling with knitting and whether knitting needles and other supplies are allowed on airplanes. (The answer is generally yes, but it’s somewhat up to the discretion of the flight agents whether items are truly allowed.)

I haven’t heard a lot of people question whether cross stitch supplies are allowed on planes, though sewing needles are generally sharper than knitting needles. As far as I know there’s nowhere you can travel by plane that wouldn’t allow you to carry sewing needles. Scissors may be a different story.

The rules in America are that scissors shorter than 4 inches/10 cm from the pivot point (where the two blades join) are allowed in carry on luggage, and scissors of any length are allowed in checked bags. In the UK the measure is 6 cm, or about 2.5 inches.

One rule that trips some people up in the States is the fact that while scissors are allowed, cutting tools that include blades are not allowed in carry on luggage. Those thread cutters that look like pendants? Technically not allowed. I guess the idea is they could be taken apart and then you’ve got a blade. So your best bet is to stick with small scissors or even fingernail clippers on the plane.

Caterpillar Cross Stitch goes into greater detail about how to travel with cross stitch supplies, alternatives to scissors, tips for packing and what to do if an agent confiscates your supplies. They’ve also got tips for the things you might want to include in your travel cross stitch kit and etiquette tips to ensure your stitching doesn’t annoy other passengers.

Have you ever traveled by plane with your cross stitch or embroidery? I’d love to know if you have any tips to add to this collection! Check out the post at Caterpillar Cross Stitch for all the details.

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]

As a knitter, I love a good sheep motif, so let’s take a look at some cute sheep cross stitch patterns.

If you want to stitch a little sheep, this mini square from Good Dog Needleworks is a nice choice. It uses just three colors and measures 32 by 32 stitches. That’s 2.2 inches or about 5.5 cm square if you stitch it on 14 count fabric.

I also love these two little sheep, which you can stitch together or in individual hoops and shown. The designs are form Threadbound Art and use six colors. They are slightly different in size, with one being 21 by 17 stitches and the other 21 by 20. They fit in four inch frames if you work them on 14 count fabric.

You can stitch a sweet sheep bookmark with this design from Kits by SA Stitch. This is not for the person who doesn’t like back stitch, because there’s a lot of that here, but it is really cute. It measures 30 by 91 stitches and uses 10 colors. That will make your bookmark about 2.4 by 6.5 inches, or 6 by 16.5 cm on 14 count fabric.

Stitch a pretty scene of sheep in a meadow with this design from Motok Nytok. It uses 21 colors and the design is 99 by 73 stitches. On 14 count fabric that makes it about 7.07 by 5.21 inches, or 17.96 by 13.24 cm.

This yarn full of cross stitch sheep has a bit of a knitting twist because the sheep all look like they have sweaters on. The design is from Soda Stitch Design and it measures 179 by 216 stitches. The full design uses 27 colors. On 14 count fabric it will work out to 12.78 by 15.42 inches, or 32.48 by 39.19 cm.

Another great one with a knitting theme is this one where the wool is coming off the sheep and straight onto the needles. This one is from Happy Cross Stitchers and uses 12 colors. The pattern is 137 by 137 stitches, which comes out to 9.7 inches or 24.86 cm square on 14 count fabric. This would be a fun one to stitch for the knitter in your life (even if that is you).

Or you can stitch the field of sheep of a knitter’s dreams with the Happy Sheep chart from Charts and Stuff. These per-colored sheep can be stitched as shown or worked in any colors you like. The eyes are French knots but you can just stitch them in white if you’d rather.

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