100 Stitches - open cretan stitch

This beautiful stitch is the open cretan stitch:According to 100 Stitches, this is a useful stitch for borders: The open cretan stitch is the latest stitch on my 100 Stitches journey. I had a few false starts learning this stitch - here are my first attempts: Whoops! I had trouble with keeping the spacing consistent. This stitch makes an interesting little crossover every time the needle emerges, and you want to keep that crossover at the same height all along the stitching line. To do this, I think it is really helpful to mark out some guidelines. Four guidelines to be exact. I drew two parallel outside lines at 1/2" apart. Then I drew two parallel inside lines each spaced 1/8" from an outside line. The first step is to come up through the fabric on the top inside line:Pull all the way through and keep the floss to the right. Now put your needle into the bottom outside line and bring it out on the bottom inside line. Notice that the floss is under the needle tip:Now pull all the way through and to the right: Next, bring your needle into the top outside line and out on the top inside line: Pull all the way through and to the right:
Now you are just repeating the stitch again - put your needle in on the bottom outside line again and bring it out on the bottom inside line - with the floss staying under the needle: pull to the right and head for the top again:
Just keep doing this:until you have this! Here it is close up with all the guidelines removed. I really love the way this stitch looks and I have BIG plans for using it on my snowman quilt project!

I think the underside of the stitching makes an interesting pattern: This stitch is #36 and is listed in the looped stitches category of 100 Stitches.