100 Stitches - Bullion Stitch

The next stitch in my 100 Stitches project is #53 the bullion stitch. This stitch is in the "knotted stitches" section of 100 Stitches - right after #52 - the french knot. Since I know how to do a french knot and it is one of my favorite stitches, I thought this bullion stitch would also be easy and fun to do :( However, no matter how many times I read the written instructions or followed the diagram, I came up with this:

I finally consulted an embroidery technique book that I had checked out from the library and it was a bit more helpful. I was pleased to see that this library book categorized the bullion knot as a level difficult - for experienced stitchers. I still wasn't able to make a good enough bullion knot though, so I watched a demonstration on the wonderful http://www.needlenthread.com/ website! After watching the demonstration twice I was able to do this:

This actually is a very easy and fun to do stitch once you understand how it is done. I love the way those stitches in the above picture are arranged - I think that if I had done them in a pale purple color and added a green stem, this would make a perfect lavender stalk!