Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Using Counting Pins in Cross Stitch

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Here’s another topic in cross stitch that I didn’t know anything about until I found a post about it: counting pins.

I mean, it makes sense that you could use pins as an alternative to gridding your cross stitch fabric for a big project, but I guess I had never heard of anyone doing it or how it might be done until I saw this post from Stitching the Night Away.

Tommye J Bunce explains that counting pins are like blunt tapestry needles and they are a specific thing that’s made for this purpose — you don’t just use sewing pins to mark your design grid.

These pins can be used to mark out an area where you’re stitching the same color for a long time. Say you have 25 stitches in a row that are the same color. Instead of counting as you stitch (and recounting over and over to make sure you’ve got the right number) you can just mark those 25 stitches with pins and know that every stitch between them is the same color.

You can also use them to help you mark your place when you’re stitching some distance from the last stitches you worked. Say you’re stitching all the parts that are in one color and part of it is away from the rest.

You can get more details on what counting pins are and how to use them from the post at Stitching the Night Away. Tommye sold counting pins until their retirement but you can find lots of options on Etsy, including the colorful ones shown above, which are from Stitchingly Along.

Have you ever used counting pins for cross stitch? I’d love to hear about it. Or if you’re new to knowing these things exist let me know that too and make me feel better!

[Photo via Stitchingly Along]

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Cross Stitch Creatures from the Sea

Last fall I came across this cross stitch pattern for a sea turtle and I talked myself out of sharing it right away because tropical animals don’t feel like a “fall” thing, but now that it’s summer again, let’s take a look at some cross stitch patterns for creatures that live in or around the sea. 

This sea turtle design from Witch Wolf Web Creations is literally just a chart with no grid to help you count stitches or suggested colors, but I would print it out and add a grid to make it easier to stitch. You can work it in many colors as shown, or there’s also a black and white version so you could just do it in a single color. 

Stitch up some fish or a seahorse with this bundle of four tropical fish cross stitch patterns from LaSelva Design. It includes a clownfish, seahorse, moorish idol and blue tang, all of which vary in size and colors used, but they’re all really cute. 

Or you can stitch a tank’s worth of tropical fish with this project from SamXstitch. There are 22 fish in all on this project, which measures 153 by 153 stitches. On 14 count fabric that’s 10.93 inches or 27.75 cm. It uses 15 colors. 

I also love the jewel-toned fishies on this project from Velvet Pony Design. This one has seven fish and a seahorse and measures 113 by 140 stitches. That’s just over 8 by 10 inches or 20.5 by 25.4 cm on 14 count fabric, though you can make it smaller with a higher fabric count. It calls for 24 colors. 

This vintage design from Past Pattern Palooza Co has a whole school of little fish. The design is 120 by 260 stitches and uses 30 colors. It measures 8.57 by 18.57 inches (21.7 by 47.2 cm) on 14 count fabric. The pattern notes say there are 69 designs in total, an individual fish range from 1.5 to 3 inches, or 4.5 to 8 cm. 

You can stitch up a whole tropical world complete with coral using this design from Easy Stitching Outlet (though I don’t think this one is particularly easy). At 219 by 95 stitches, on 14 count fabric it will come out to 15.6 by 6.8 inches, or 39.73 by 17.24 cm.