Laced Herringbone aka German Herringbone My way for Round the Garden

To create a laced herringbone stitch one must stitch a row of herringbone stitches. Next one would encircle each of the  alternating cross stitches created.  What I figured out was that you can encircle multiple times.  I am trying to create a tree trunk that is narrower on the top than on the bottom,  As my stitches get further apart I am encircling the cross stitches more times to cover the empty spaces.  I will go back and create some branches.  Then after the branches I will look at it and see if I need to fill in the spaces with something else.

In order to encircle the cross stitches and to alternate the over and under pattern you need to have an odd number of spokes.  A cross stitch obviously is four spokes.  I decided to use encircling thread as a fifth spoke so that as I go around the cross stitch the over under alternates.  I hope when I'm done it looks like a tree.  I am trying to get better at composite stitching.

I just figured out that my herringbone row is too close to the light house to add branches so I must unstitch.  Not the first time I have had to do that.  At least with a laced stitch there are not so many holes in your fabric.  I always think that this is just an opportunity to learn the intricacies of the stitch and to practice.  Wish me luck.