Your eyes are not deceiving you.  Today's stitch is a traditional diagonal stitch.  I like the size of this stitch and, more importantly, it added the necessary movement to the object on the canvas .

It's a simple pattern.  A group of three stitches over two rows, followed by a group of four stitches over three rows (centered against the adjacent group), and repeat.  I chose this stitch for the body of a horse to add dimension and direction to the body as well as make it smooth (hence the larger stitches).  

For an animal body, I recommend any good wool.  We used Rainbow Gallery Persian Wool for the project above.  Vineyard Merino Wool would be a great choice, as well as Bella Lusso or Burmilana.  

This stitch would also work really well on water or a sky.  In either of those cases, I recommend skipping a single row in between the horizontal rows for a lighter effect.  (And, yes, I just snuck in an open stitch...sorry!)

Today's stitched sample is me playing with two plies of Floche on 18-mesh.  The only thing missing is a Pina Colada.

This stitch diagram, along with all other #whimsicalwednesday and #smallspacesunday stitch diagrams, can also be found on a Pinterest board here.

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If you like what you see on this blog, want to learn some very creative decorative stitches, and how to put them all together, whimsicalstitch.com sells stitch guides for Melissa Shirley Designs, Zecca Designs, and Patience Brewster.  32 guides are currently available and more are in the pipeline.

I hope you have the perfect spot for this stitch!  Enjoy!