Barred Chain and Alternating Barred Chain

I wanted to produce a thickly textured woollen piece in this stitch.

I often doodle swirls and then echo the shapes with ripple lines - this design came from one of my doodles. I guess the influence of Aboriginal art has also deepened my enjoyment of this type of pattern.

I decided to stick to the wools in my stash - some dating back to unfinished tapestry kits that I had as a child! I stitched on linen - next time I will use a darker background colour as I had trouble with the ugly muddy green showing throw between the rows in places.

I didn't find this an easy stitch - the bars of the stitches got drowned under the thicker wools. Next time I will rework this stitch to show them better. However, this time I decided not to redo it - as I was happy with what came out.

I really liked the rich texture that was created and was pleased with the singing colours. This has become a patch for my denim bag!