To be super-pedantic (sorry! I think of cross-stitch thread paths like little logic puzzles that get me a neat finished object at the end)...depends how you're working one-X-at-a-time. There's two ways; either you're leaving more thread behind the work or you get an uneven surface
The short-thread-path way to do one X at a time results in the top thread on each X pointing in a different direction -
12 34
such that the thread goes 1-4, then 3-2, then on the next stitch 3-2, then 1-4.
I don't generally call any approach to crafting "wrong" as long as you're happy with the results you're getting, but I think this surface looks objectively "worse" than one where the top thread is always going 3-2, and to get that you have to set for the second stitch by going from 2 on your first stitch (which is the same hole as 1 on your second stitch) to 4 on your second stitch - a diagonal under the fabric, which uses more thread.
(this may be well beyond the 201 level, honestly, but...really, this is how I think when I cross-stitch, and except for thread-ends my backs tend to be obsessively neat little squares.)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-11-08 12:43 am (UTC)The short-thread-path way to do one X at a time results in the top thread on each X pointing in a different direction -
12
34
such that the thread goes 1-4, then 3-2, then on the next stitch 3-2, then 1-4.
I don't generally call any approach to crafting "wrong" as long as you're happy with the results you're getting, but I think this surface looks objectively "worse" than one where the top thread is always going 3-2, and to get that you have to set for the second stitch by going from 2 on your first stitch (which is the same hole as 1 on your second stitch) to 4 on your second stitch - a diagonal under the fabric, which uses more thread.
(this may be well beyond the 201 level, honestly, but...really, this is how I think when I cross-stitch, and except for thread-ends my backs tend to be obsessively neat little squares.)