To grid or not to grid ...

[helbel]

maemae - I use ordinary sewing cotton to grid and just stitch straight over the cotton sometimes (especially on the back of the work). It's not a problem to remove as it pulls out at the end.

[Like_Fine_VVine]

I've completed some pretty large and intricate pieces and not done gridding (mainly because I learned to cross-stitch on my own before computers were a popular thing and I had no clue about gridding lol). While searching for new patterns, I found all kinds of cool information on the web, including information about gridding.

I'm working on a fairly small (in comparison to some of my other work) project now but I decided to try the gridding. I'm sooooooooooo happy that I did. First of all, it was fast. Second of all, this pattern has lots of blank spaces and no good points to play off of...that would have made it a counting nightmare and very easy to get off track.

I love how the gridding lets me find my place anywhere and counts "for" me in tens. Much easier than me counting 23 blocks away from the last stitch. It was worth the couple of hours it took initially to grid it and ensure that I counted my tens properly.

Gridding for me from now on! LOL

[Ann from Ireland]

I never used gridding until about 6 months ago, when I saw an advertisment for easy count on one of the cross stitch magazines. It is great and I really feel that I have cut the amount of time I spend trying to find my place on the pattern! Definitely will not be going back to the old ways!

[toni99]

I don't grid before but when I joined this group and learned about HAED and all things (read "patterns") big and wonderful, and reading about people gridding their work, I experimented with it and started gridding my fabric. And this has lessen my time on counting and recounting and finding my place on the chart. And I really enjoy putting grids by my air erasable pen.

I don't grid the entire fabric. I grid as I go along the pattern, around 4 to 6 blocks at a time.