The
triangular ray stitch is a nice stitch to use when arrangement of color needs to
be an interesting element. It has a sort of rickrack effect with one color
pointing up and the other color pointing down. Of course, it can be done in a
solid color as well. It has a nice effect when one row is worked in an overdyed
thread and the other is worked in a solid thread.
I usually work this stitch in horizontal rows, but it can be worked vertically as well. Because each triangular ray is really an eyelet variation, all of the stitches go down into the same center hole. The stitch will lie more smoothly if you widen that center hole with your needle before you start stitching. All of the stitches in each triangle come up at the edge and go down into that center hole. Be consistent in your pattern if you work the first stitch from left to right, work all the stitches on that row from left to right.
You can accent this stitch with a long backstitch between the triangles (which is particularly handy if the stitch doesn't cover perfectly). I used two different colors of #5 pearl cotton for my sample. Generally, you can use any thread, but the stitch pattern will be smoother if the threads are approximately the same weight.
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