Make It Wild Wednesday - Front cross stitch

For all my “Twisted Sis” girl family out there and the YarnGoneWild - Yarn Craft Funky Crochet Hat pattern of the same name, this one’s for you.

We know about screamin’ and shoutin” for joy, but what about twistin’. Twisting (it’s proper expression) not only brings movement, release and giggles from time to time to our lives, it also brings texture, unknown parts of stories and new vistas into view. Just to be clear, Twisting, or more specifically the Front cross stitch is not a metaphorical match to a fork in the road (that’s another stitch for another time), it’s more aligned to being the comeback sauce of my funky crochet hat stitch game.

Okay, okay…Im getting other worldly about this, but in its essence, the Front cross stitch is a semi textural stitch that when done using double crochet or other combo, can take a single yarn and make it speak volumns. Sometimes, those that look at it, don’t know what it is or how it came to be...they just dig it.

I find myself incorporating it into hat patterns regularly as it just “does the dang thang”. Sometimes I add a space, sometimes I don’t. Window open, window cracked. Hey, let me live my stitch life 🧶. The raised surface is not as bold as say a bobble or cluster, but its can be just as showy as its grouped friends or subtle if desired.

The technical stuff: You may want to check out a generic video, but this is my expression of a basic Front cross stitch using a double crochet: following a double crochet or a chain 2, *skip 1 stitch, double crochet in next stitch, double crochet in skipped stitch (that’s the come back sauce part 😉)* or for my crocheters: *sk 1 st, dc in next st, dc in sk st*. Its next row is typically of just one stitch such as a single crochet which acts like a spacer, but to each designer their own dreams.

So go on, scream, shout, twist…its all good in the yarnie hood.