My latest project - multidirectional taaniko

I have just finished my first finished piece in multidirectional taaniko. Well that's what I call it.  It is my adaption of a very old Maori cloak in the Stockholm museum. Margery Blackman showed me how to do it.  The taaniko stitch is done in different directions depending on the slope of the pattern.

I enjoy this work although it took a while to work out that I needed to put the direction of each stitch on my paper pattern so that I would always be in the right place for the next stitch. I didn't always get it right and still needed to do some 'mending' when I had finished.  You can see that both directions makes a clean line instead of being stepped in one direction as happens with normal taaniko where the stitch is always done the same way. 

I discovered someone who had learnt to do the taaniko stitch by twisting towards her body instead of away. It took me a while to realize that unless she was careful the rows had a tendency to not abut the previous one as is necessary. I don't think I emphasized this in my book.  Twist away from your body and upwards to make a good taaniko stitch (unless of course you are trying this multidirectional taaniko stitch).