Sampler SAL - Page 2 - Week 2

Welcome to the next part of the Sampler SAL! This being a weekly SAL it's going to get complicated with how many parts there are, so I'm chickening out early and going for “next” instead. It's variegated thread month and this week brings us diagonals and the old up and down the column stitching!

When it's done yours will look something like this depending on how variegated your thread is. The funny thing is that last week I randomly grabbed Land, Sea and Sky from my box of Jodyri threads, and this week, from another box I grabbed Sea Wall! Talk about an accidental theme! Now on to the placement of this week. On the left-hand side I stitched diagonally towards the centre. In the centre I did up and down in columns, and finally on the right-hand side I worked diagonally again, also to the centre.

Because the edge isn't straight I did this bit as the first row. I did two stitches on the diagonal, then the next stitches as a zigzag, then the final two stitches on the diagonal again.

Then I went back to the top making sure my stitches were in the corners of the stitches that already happened. To start the next row I had to go below the last stitch of the previous row rather than next to it. Keep going along the diagonal till you have finished stitching, hopping across the gap as needed. Or you can stitch the hole too if you prefer.

When you are done it will look something like this. I added a second thread while doing blue, and made sure to use blue as the starting end of the second thread.

And here is mine from the back. If you are careful it's easy to keep it neat — even if you aren't a neat back person (I'm not, this just happens to be the way I like to stitch.)

In the centre both parts are the same this week. I started on each side at the top next to the previous stitching and then worked towards the centre going up and down the columns. Interestingly the blue in this week's thread is kind of close to the darker blue in last week's thread, so it looks a bit blob-ish on the left-hand side. I made sure to start with the brown first on the right-hand side.

And finally I did the second section of diagonal stitching. I started the same as on the left-hand side — so working in mirror image.

This week yet again shows that direction makes quite a difference with variegated thread use. Next week you will need the first colour of variegated thread, unless you wish to use a third colour.

You can find the pattern here.

That's all for this week! Have fun and don't forget to show us your stitching results in the Facebook group! I'll be back on Friday with this month's Blackwork SAL!