Duplicate Stitch Embroidery on Stockinette Knitting

It's my turn to knit a section on the "Go USA" Oddball Baby Blanket for the Southeast Region. I wanted to do something creative, so I knit a section of all white stockinette, so I could do some patriotic decorations in duplicate stitch embroidery. I've only done duplicate stitch once before, on a Christmas stocking, so I figured I could use some more practice.

I grabbed a book in my craft room called "Tink's Second Book of Duplicate Stitch Alphabets" and a couple other books and patterns of duplicate stitch designs. Then, I sat in my craft room and pondered what would work best. I didn't have any patriotic patterns, so I put down the books and looked on the internet. I finally found some knitting charts for stars, so I decided to use those.

Next, I took at close look at the stockinette knitting I had done for the blanket, so I could see how many stitches I had to work with. 21 rows high by 94 stitches wide.

So, I picked an alphabet pattern in Tink's book that is 18 stitches high. This would make some BIG letters, saying "Go USA".

Then, I got a piece of graph paper, and charted out the stars and letters, before putting into Microsoft Excel. (I decreased the size of the columns in Excel, so they would be the right size for charting.) Next, I copied the design I made into MS Paint, did some variation with the colors, and ended up with this:


Not too bad for my very first charted design! :)

Then, I got together my materials:

Leaflet entitled "A Beginner's Guide to Duplicate Stitch"
Scissors
Yarn Needle
Glasses
Knitted Blanket
3 skeins of yarn for the embroidery: Light Blue, Dark Blue, Red

When I wanted to get started stitching, I realized that it would be much easier if I could enlarge the design for better viewing. So, I did my work at my computer, so I could view the design VERY LARGE on my computer screen.


Then, I started stitching. Here's the star on the right, with the blue part finished, and the red part getting started:


First star is done!


After that, the second star was quick work:


Then, I started doing the letters, from the last toward the first. So far, I've only finished "SA". Tomorrow, I'll get to work on "Go U..." ;)