Oriental / AsianA goat with ridged horns among clouds, in the same red and yellow medallion as the rest of the family, with the character 羊 — yang — written to one side: the one that names the animal and the year, and which in Chinese covers both goat and sheep. It is 206 x 206 stitches and two threads, about 37 by 37 centimetres on 14-count.
2027 is its year: it begins on 6 February and comes round every twelve, so it also belongs to anyone born in 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003 or 2015. If you want it finished for the New Year, allow time: it is more than thirty-three thousand stitches. In exchange it is the most manageable of the medallions — barely a hundred and fifty isolated stitches in the whole piece, a third of what the dragon or the phoenix carry — so it is a good one to start the series with.
Yang, the goat of the Chinese zodiac
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 16 | 19,241 | 57.6 % | 12 |
| DMC 666 | 14,139 | 42.4 % | 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 148 lone stitches, 0.4 % of the total, and 18 of those have no neighbour of their color at all. The more there are, the more the needle jumps.
