Chutes and Ladders or How I Learned to Basketweave

Pischke Pocket

My Pischke Pocket is two Sunday afternoons away from completion now and I can't recommend it enough for a relaxing way to spend the day.  I have enjoyed doing basketweave and as I have been stitching away I thought I would turn it into a review of how to correctly do the stitch.  (I just can't stop).

It's a lot like the Chutes and Ladders game we played as kids.  I live in Miami and was born in the 50s so my family lived through interesting times.  We had a "safe room" attached to our house that was fully equipped with enough to keep us safe during a nuclear event.  Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and all those ICBMs pointed straight at us?  Well, we were not supposed to take anything out of this room...and my Mom had put some pretty cool games in there for me and my little brother.  So we played in there all the time.  Two of our favorite games were Chutes and Ladders and Parcheesi.  Actually, my most favorite thing to do was to lock him in there in the dark but that's another story (too bad we didn't have glow in the dark thread).

The way you played Chutes and Ladders was to go up the steps and down the ladder.  Little did I know I was learning the correct way to basketweave!  The canvas we typically use now is interlocking threads over and under like a weave.  When the thread on top of the intersection is horizontal (like a step) you are going UP and when the thread on top is vertical (like the rungs of the ladder) you are supposed to go DOWN.  That keeps the front of the canvas looking GOOD!

Now I have to find a way to incorporate Parcheesi into my blog!  (Maybe it's all those rules)

Keep looking up!

Linda