How far away do you place your pin stitches?

[JoannaG]

Starting... Do you place the pin stitch immediately underneath the first stitch or place it a short distance away so that it can be covered by other stitches?

Ending...Do you place the pin stitches immediately next to your last stitch or do you place it a short distance away so that it can be covered by other stitches?

Just curious as to other people's habits and opinions.

When I don't use the loop start, I normally try get my starting pin stitch underneath the start (unless it's a solid line of stitches and then I can just work over the last of the thread without a wasteknot). Having a bit of trouble deciding what is best for ending.

Must admit, having had to frog a few pin stitches recently has improved my opinion on them.

[Allyn]

Well, a pinhead stitch *is* a stitch so you'd put it where the chart says that stitch would go. I don't understand why you're using them like waste knots.

[Mabel Figworthy]

I think Joanna means a pinhead stitch used to secure the working thread, not as part of the design. I that way it behaves like a waste knot in that there is no set place for it.

[JoannaG]

Yes.

Definitely meaning as a starting/ending of a thread. Where the pinhead is later covered by other full or half crosses. Not where it is a stitch in its own right.

[Squirrel]

Once I discovered how to do a loop start I have never done anything else. Prior to that it was always a waste knot.

[Allyn]

I think Joanna means a pinhead stitch used to secure the working thread, not as part of the design. I that way it behaves like a waste knot in that there is no set place for it.

Yes. Definitely meaning as a starting/ending of a thread. Where the pinhead is later covered by other full or half crosses. Not where it is a stitch in its own right.

I gathered that from the post. I'm not clear why it's being used that way, though. It seems to be a bit of work where a waste knot serves just as well and stitching over the pinhead would make a double-thickness in that stitch. I'm not criticizing; I'm just trying to understand the thought process.

[Mabel Figworthy]

The pinhead, as I understand, is often used when there are very few stitches in an area; also, although it makes the initial stitch a bit higher, there is no tail along the back of many stitchesm which I suppose keep sthe back from getting very bulky., especially when there are a lot of colour changes.

I've never used a pinhead, so am speaking only by hearsay! But I do use a similar sort of start on goldwork, where you work two tiny stab stitches in an area that will be covered, and then go on from there. Those I normally stitch quite close to where I'll be starting, because otherwise there's a long bit of thread atthe back of the work from the securing stitches to the start.

[nannyrainbow]

I don't use pin stitches at the start of a project or new coolur away from ain design.. I use a waste knot, where you knot the end of first thread to be used, put needle in about 1 inch from where first charted stitch is to go ; thus leaving knot on upper side- once you start stitching normal cross stiches, thread on underside is contained by these so you cut off the knot on the upper side - on reverse side draw thread through fabric to the undrside side of work. That way no starting threads are visible & thread will not pull out.

[BizzieLizzie]

I use pin stitches all the time to both start and finish, even over 1 on 28 count, which IS possible despite what most people would have you believe. I’ve tried waste knots and tails (i.e. waste knots without the knot) but I find they use more thread and they get in the way of my parking. I snip off my ending pin stitch tails immediately so they don’t get in the way, but the thread is still securely anchored.

To answer your question about distance, my starting pin stitch is immediately under the first stitch of that colour. I stitch row by row across the entire design, so I place the ending pin stitch in the next place in the same row that won’t need a starting pin stitch, i.e. it either has a parked thread in it already or is the second instance of a particular symbol. I rarely have to carry the thread more than three or four holes, usually only one or two. I love the pin stitch because as long as you pull it nice and tight, it doesn’t add bulk and because it’s a very secure method, you don’t have to carry the thread very far so it keeps the back neat.

[Allyn]

Okay, I went back and re-read the original post. I don't know why I had it in my head that the pinhead was being used like a waste knot. That really threw me for a loop because it defied the purpose of the pinhead stitch in the first place.

I use the pinhead stitch as the first stitch or the last stitch of that color when there is a single stitch or a small group of stitches out in the field or to start and end a color when there are a lot of color changes in a small area. I haven't stitched anything with a large number of stitches of the same color in the same area in a very long time, but I don't use a pinhead stitch when filling in an area of color, so I can't speak to that.

[poppy]

Thank you for posting, JoannaG, as I looked at pinstitch on You Tube and found it very interesting. I am going to give it a try.