As named in the beloved story Twas the Night before Christmas, Santa's eight reindeer each have a name (Rudolf was added later).
"Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer, and Vixen,
"On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Donner and Blitzen;
"To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
Dancer is a female deer, pulling the sled ahead of the team with her partner Dasher. She is known as the most gracious of them all. Barbara Ana portrays her with large, expressive eyes and large white ears. She is wearing coquettish earrings, tiny keys to the left, a Christmas lantern to the right. It's a cold, frosty night out there and she is keeping warm in a red turtle-neck woollen sweater.
The date 1823 featured in the cross stitch medallion refers to the year the author of the poem, Clement Clarke Moore, wrote the story initially titled A Visit from St. Nicholas.
In between the antlers covered with powder-like snow, sits a sleepy village, with rooftops covered with snow.
There is a particularly interesting use of white in this pattern, not only for the berries and leaves in a mix of white and off-white, but also in the random white print of the background fabric (Murano Baslat splash from Zweigart). It is ideally suited for the design as it blends in softly with the cross stitch.
Counted Cross Stitch Chart
Dancer was stitched on 32 count Murano Splash Basalt from Zweigart using two strand of DMC over two threads of linen.
Stitch count is 79w x 92h.
Threads Used
DMC - 310, 646, 647, 839, 840, 918, 920, 3024, 3371, White