Once again I enjoyed seeing the samples created last week. This week the stitch for the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge is Cretan stitch which can be worked in an open or closed manner. For centuries women on the island of Crete, have used this stitch to decorate clothing. Hence the name.

For those who are new to embroidery you will find aspects of the hand movement needed to make this stitch are similar to those learnt in feather stitch so indirectly this stitch is related to the buttonhole family. If you cant see what I mean, take a look first at the Open version of Cretan stitch in my stitch dictionary, then take a look at the closed version of Cretan stitch.

Once again the challenge is:
For new hands to learn the stitch
Or
If you are an experienced stitcher take the stitch and push it a little further in a creative manner.

Rows of the stitch can be built up to create patterns.

Try working it different threads, or on different fabrics. Play with the spacing of the ‘arms’ working the parts closely together, or work them far apart, change the height of the arms.

You can overlap lines of the sttich to create other patterns.

You can add beads, or use it to couch down another thread or ribbon.

No matter what you do with it explore the stitch.

If you have worked a sample in a previous challenge that is great and feel free to post a link in comments as it will inspire people (I am sure folks learn most form the eye candy provided by the community) but if you have time do try another sample and do something different and new!
How to join in
Stitch a sample, take a photograph of it, put in online in your blog, flickr site or on stitchin fingers page, swing by here and leave a comment with your full web address so people can check out your stitching.
When you leave a comment
When you leave a comment leave it on this post. There is a practical reason. People will not find your comment if you dot them all over the blog and this means you will get less visitors for you! That is sad after going to the effort of stitching a sample then photographing it and getting it online.
How do you know what this post is? Click on the title and you will be taken to an individual page. You can favourite it or copy and paste the URL as a note to yourself so you can return to this page again.
Don’t forget to leave your full web address including the http:// bit as this will then become a live link that people can follow. Leave it in the comment itself so people can just click on the link and they come to your site.
Visit a few sites of people who have already left a comment. See what they have done. I am sure everyone will enjoy following the links left in the comments. If you have time, let other people know that you have seen their work on their site.
Where is the comments link?
Look under the title you will see comments. Click there to be taken to a comment box.
Any special rules?
There are no rules but I do have a request, please link back here.
Interesting work will be featured
On Pintangle I will feature samples that participants have stitched as part of the challenge. These feature spots draw attention to particularly creative and interesting work. This will mean some people’s work will be re-published here. Obviously I will credit them and link to their website. I am going to assume that when you leave your link here if you dont say anything, I have your permission to feature your work. If you do not want your work to be featured in the highlights series please state this in the comment you leave.
Other groups and networks
You can also share your explorations with other members on the social network site of your choice. There is a Facebook TAST 2012 page, stitchin fingers group and the flickr TAST site. All these sub groups are set up at request of members.
Although I do watch these groups my main focus is here and if you want to contact me do so here as with so much activity I might miss you on the other sites.
Guidelines to the challenge are to be found here and all posts relating to TAST are in the Take a Stitch Tuesday category
In my side bar I have a feature where you can have PinTangle delivered daily to your email inbox. If you find this a more convenient way to track what is going on here please sign up.
Have fun! Enjoy the stitch.