Here is a christmas cross stitch kit that is not a snowman, a wreath, or a robin on a branch, which is most of why we carry it. The design is a Christmas sweater, the loud sort, worked on white aida and finished in the 4.25 inch, 11 cm wooden hoop the kit ships with. Everything else comes in the box too: embroidery thread, a needle, wadding, a backing disc, and a full color chart.
Small hoops are the reason christmas cross stitch has become a December habit rather than a January regret. This is a real project rather than a five-minute one, but it is scaled so you can start it on a Sunday and hang it before the tree comes down. It suits apres ski parties, ski house walls, a hostess gift you can honestly say you made, and anyone working a counted cross stitch kit for the first time. As christmas craft kit gifts go, it is one of the few that survives the season.
What is counted cross stitch? Counted cross stitch is worked from a printed color chart rather than from a design pre-printed onto the cloth, so the stitcher counts squares on the chart and matches them to holes in the aida fabric. Because nothing is marked on the fabric itself, the chart, the fabric, and the threads all have to be supplied together, which is why this style is almost always sold as a kit.
