Continental & Basketweave – How much are they the same?

I was finishing this piece for a customer when my mind said ~ “teaching opportunity”. I’ve always thought continental and basketweave really do appear different on the finished side. Many customers find it really hard to believe and think I’m just a stitching snob so now I tend to mention it to my more fussy customers. The yellow background in the Lee canvas stitched below was done in about 1/3 continental and 1/3 basketweave. I won’t go in to details which is where; if you can’t see the difference then I guess it’s a mute point for you. The difference for me is continental/tent looks like rows of corn on a corn cob and basketweave provides an all over texture. I prefer the all over texture, but if using a variegated thread beware of diagonal streaks! When stitching with a thread like watercolour’s or DMC variations I defer back to continental. I think this is of less importance if a thread is only shaded like Gumnut stars or Renaissance Dyeing wool and not obviously variegated. That being said I respect those who just only want to do continental or who struggle stitching on a diagonal path, needlepointing is for fun and relaxation.