I am confused by the Unicorn instructions

 I was happy to see that the directions and materials stayed with the canvas on the Unicorn Pillow.   This is making it possible to finish a project that was in UFO state for four decades (from the early 1980s to today).  

But in addition to the stitch guide issue that I mentioned in the introduction post, I have hit a bit of an odd instruction.

don't you love the mimeograph directions with the hand written edit

 

"Outline Stitch", yes, I know what that is.  But the actual directions are for STEM stitch (thread below the needle when stitching from left to right).   Mary Corbet's tutorial for OUTLINE stitch clearly states to keep the working thread ABOVE the needle when stitching left to right.   There's a LOT of "outline stitch" in this piece - used as a filler as well as the actual outlining in crewel wool, which takes the place of backstitching in counted cross stitch.

As I look at the cover photo, it gets even more complicated.  Some of the lines have the characteristic 'rope' look of stem stitch, while other lines are less defined, so outline.  The Persian Wool is S twist, so Stem Stitch will make the 'rope', which I like the look of.    

I'll just say that the editor wasn't a stickler for nomenclature and to be honest, the two stitches are often used interchangeably by needle-workers, sometimes even in the same piece!  The reason that I try to not make that mistake is that I got down graded on a 4H Fair submission for it once.  Nothing like getting a red instead of a blue ribbon to make one pay attention!