Stocking Detail 4

There is way too much blue in this photo. The colors really do fit the red and green theme for this stocking. Herringbone stitch, done with a strand of red rayon floss and a strand of green metallic thread, started off the horizontal seam. Two strands of green rayon floss were used for the accent stitches. Along the outer v's of the herringbone are three detached chains. Along the inner v's are three tiny straight stitches.
I used up the thread in my needle with only about a half inch of the herringbone left to do. Instead of rethreading the needle for that short space, I decided to do a wandering branch motif trailing down both patches. It starts at the lower point of yesterday's patch. I used a strand of metallic black and a strand of gold to make the branch in chain stitch. Most of the metallic threads I've used are made with a metallic fiber wrapped around a core thread. The gold I used here is a single fiber, similar to a very fine tinsel. It breaks very easily. The best tip I ever got for using metallic fibers is to use them in shorter lengths than other threads and flosses. It helps tremendously. I only wish I had learned it before doing this project. Iridescent seed beads accent the branch.
The vertical seam is cretan stitch done with one strand of green rayon floss. A combination of French knots and detached chains are worked along each side of the seam in gold metallic thread.