Oriental / AsianA crane with its wings spread among stylised clouds, inside the same red and yellow medallion as the dragon and the phoenix. In China the crane is the bird of longevity, the mount of the immortals, so this is not just a handsome bird: it is a wish for a long life. It is 206 x 206 stitches and two threads, about 37 by 37 centimetres on 14-count.
It is the third of the medallions, and all three are exactly the same size: hung together they read as a set. As in the others, the yellow background is stitched too — nearly nineteen thousand of its thirty-three thousand stitches — so on yellow or cream fabric you can work only the red and save more than half the work. And for what it means, this is the one that works best as a gift: a big birthday, a golden wedding, someone you wish many years.
The crane of longevity
This pattern is free: open it, change it however you like and publish your version in the gallery, under your name.
Files open with the Puntotek app.
The numbers
Size by fabric count
| Count | Stitches/cm | The design | In inches | Fabric to buy * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 ct | 4.3 | 47.6 x 47.6 cm | 18.7 x 18.7 in | 64 x 64 cm |
| 14 ct | 5.5 | 37.4 x 37.4 cm | 14.7 x 14.7 in | 53 x 53 cm |
| 16 ct | 6.3 | 32.7 x 32.7 cm | 12.9 x 12.9 in | 49 x 49 cm |
| 18 ct | 7.1 | 29.1 x 29.1 cm | 11.4 x 11.4 in | 45 x 45 cm |
| 20 ct | 7.9 | 26.2 x 26.2 cm | 10.3 x 10.3 in | 42 x 42 cm |
| 22 ct | 8.7 | 23.8 x 23.8 cm | 9.4 x 9.4 in | 40 x 40 cm |
* The fabric to buy allows 8 cm on each side for the hoop and the frame. The highlighted row is 14-count, the most common: the pattern has the same number of stitches on every fabric, what changes is how big each one is.
Suggested fabric: white.
The threads
| Thread | Stitches | Of the total | Skeins * |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMC 445 | 18,923 | 56.7 % | 12 |
| DMC 666 | 14,457 | 43.3 % | 9 |
| 2 threads | 33,380 | 100 % | 21 skeins |
* The skeins are a guide: they assume about 1,700 stitches per skein with two strands on 14-count, rounded up. Finer thread goes further, doubled thread goes less far.
What this one asks of you
All 33,380 stitches are full cross stitch: no half stitches and no backstitch to follow.
It has 207 lone stitches, 0.6 % of the total, and 13 of those have no neighbour of their color at all. The more there are, the more the needle jumps.
