I am a cross stitcher. There, I said it. I am a proud cross stitcher. There, I said it with more feeling. According to Time Wasters, the bible of the craft industry, cross stitchers make up one out of every 145,672 people of the world population. Okay I just made up that statistic and the bible it came from, but being a cross stitcher in the world can sometimes feel like a lonely endeavor. There are many of us out there just not tons. I mean we can’t compete with say the knitting people (and who would want to – have you seen the size of their needles?) but we do have it over the decoupagers – so take your glue and kiss my floss all you decoupagers out there.

There is one thing you will hear over and over again when you’re with other cross stitchers and I’ve been guilty of saying it myself – “they say cross stitching is coming back!” We are a hopeful lot, we cross stitchers, a very hopeful lot. So I’m here to tell you a little bit about the craft of cross stitching with the hopes that maybe one day you will pick up a needle and find the love I’ve found in a piece of fabric and floss.

Now, what exactly is cross stitch you might ask? I have had people approach me when I was out in public cross stitching and say such enlightened things as “hey, what are you knitting?” or “I love needlepoint” or “my granny stitched me a Holly Hobby scene back in the 70s, is that what you’re making?” Or the best one of all, “oh, I really wish I could do that.” Well you can! It’s easy.

I won’t go into the logistics of how to cross stitch, there are plenty of sites that can explain it far better than I can and the fact of the matter is cross stitching is simple (you need to be able to count, and not even that high, and make a X over one or two threads depending on the count of the fabric) but I will tell you a few things I’ve learned along the way.

My road to cross stitching began where dilemma (I love TV but hate idle hands) met happenstance (a good sale). I was in a Garden Ridge store after Christmas when I noticed a few Christmas craft items on a sale table. I picked up a kit for a Christmas stocking. I had a baby boy at the time and he needed a stocking and did I mention that this kit was marked down to five dollars? Well, it was, so I bought it and thus began my stitching journey. After finishing that one I bought another for my next child (not marked down and a bit pricier,) and when that was done I started doing what anyone who has a hobby does – researching that hobby on the internet.

It turns out I knew nothing about cross stitch. To me cross stitch were the kits you bought at Michaels. The kits come with everything you need – chart, fabric, floss. I had no idea that people bought these items separately – that they “kitted” their projects themselves. And from that moment on I’ve been a kitter too.

The first step in kitting is to pick out a chart. There are many designers out there who have designed many wonderful charts. There are styles to fit any taste. There’s cutesy, whimsical, fantasy, fractals and samplers to name but a few. If you are partial to a particular subject I can pretty much guarantee you will find someone has charted it. Do you have a thing for giraffes? They’re out there. Owls? In abundance. Me? I am a sucker for a house (probably because I haven’t lived in one since I was a kid – damn apartments.)

So you’ve got your chart that features a sheep in front of the Eiffel Tower (actually this one doesn’t exist as far as I know but it should,) now what do you do?

You take out the chart and see what the designer proposes in the way of fabric and floss to make your piece look exactly like the picture that is on the cover of your chart.

So let’s talk fabric. Fabric gets a lot of discussion amongst cross stitch hobbyists. When I started out I thought there was only one kind of fabric – Aida. Aida is a stiff cotton mesh that is easy to stitch on. This is what you find in a lot of kits and it is what most people who know little about cross stitch picture when they picture cross stitching. I was shocked to learn that there were other materials you can stitch on beside Aida. There is afghan cloth, perforated paper, vinyl and the most wonderful of all – linen. Fabric comes in a wide variety of colors and there are many companies now that hand-dye fabrics giving the piece a wonderful, dreamy mottled look.

You will find snobbery in the cross stitch world regarding fabric choice. Many people (including myself) prefer linen. Many (not including myself) look down on Aida. Aida is not sophisticated. It’s like the LA Clippers compared to the LA Lakers, both play in the same field but one is glamorous while the other is hayseed. I take the position any stitch on any surface is a great thing.

When I first started I thought the only fibers to use were cotton DMC. Like the fabric I had no idea that there were so many more choices (not to put down DMC – it is a true classic) and brands. You can buy silk thread (pricey but wonderful to the touch), metallic (a torture at times to work with but gorgeous when completed) or rayon. Some floss are a single solid color while some come variegated giving your piece a subtle realistic color shift. There are amongst cross stitchers those devoted to fibers – they like to say things like “I’m going to fondle my fibers” and while I understand the sentiment, it’s a bit creepy. If you are prone to fondling fibers, do it quietly and in private.

There are many cross stitchers that take the chart as a mere stepping stone. They ignore the fabric and pick their own. They change the colors around to suit their own style. I cannot do that. I am an instruction follower. I buy the chart, fabric and colors the designer tells me to use. I have been known to switch floss brand from what is indicated but never the color. I marvel at people that change it all around. I wish I had that ability but I’m too insecure at this point. Maybe you won’t be.

To get started and see if cross stitching is for you, just google “free cross stitch patterns”. There are tons of free patterns out there. A bookmark is always a good first timer project. They are relatively simple, don’t involve much of a time or money investment, they’re quick and you have a useful item when you’re done.

There are many reasons I’ve come to love cross stitching and why I recommend it to anyone who will listen to me (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run after people screaming, “But wait, I haven’t told you about Jobelan yet!”) The first great thing about cross stitching: it keeps you from eating. You need clean hands to stitch and you usually need two–so no munching while you stitch. The second great thing which I alluded to above: I never feel guilty watching TV because I’m accomplishing something while I’m watching. And the third reason: the utter delight I feel as I see the piece take shape as a few stitches turn into a window or an owl’s beak.

I’m not particularly good at stitching. My stitches never seem particularly neat. My backs are not a work of beauty (there are crazy cross stitchers out there that care about the look of the back as much as the front). But I love it and I want everyone to love it as much as I do so that one day when I meet another stitcher and say, “You know cross stitching is making a comeback,” it will be the truth.

If you want to see my very first cross stitch completion check it out here.