A Little Reality Check

Well, as anyone who has had a near-cross stitch experience can tell you, it was quite a harrowing ordeal.  My future blogging life flashed before my eyes with such titles as "Maybe going to finish TWO projects this year" and "I gained another inch today."  I would have to start handing out "I.O.U." cards instead of gifts....er, that is, more often than I do now.  If THAT isn't enough to set a knitter quivering down to the very bottom of her WIP pile, I don't know what is.

Taking a page from the vaccination idea, tonight I dug out this
and worked on it for 20 minutes.  I think this is an "after" picture, though it hardly matters.  I'm not doing the best job in the world on this as I've gone all sorts of directions & the threads are crossing every which way, but I'm 40 now, and by the time I finish this sucker no one I know will have the eye sight to notice its flaws.

Just in case this was not a thorough enough inoculation against an even-slower-than-knitting hobby, I have a reminder to do at least one thread's worth of work on this thing per month, which sounds like a really slow pace but is actually light years faster than what has been happening now.  I started this thing to go in the office of my old house, and since I sold the just under 5 years ago, I'm guessing I started this thing in 2004 or early 2005.  I figure at the new rate I'll have it done in time to hang on the walls of the retirement center Andy and I move to in 40 years. 

And craft gods willing, I won't ever buy a SECOND one to start......

Comments

tinebeest said…
I've been following your blog for a few years now, and I've seen the cross stitch come out a few times, but what still puzzles me: what is the final product supposed to look like? Right now--- reminds me of coastal skyscrapers on the left with an oil rig out on the ocean to the right?
January 13, 2011 at 1:48 AM
bittenbyknittin said…
I used to do counted cross stitch, bake in the 80's. I tried to revive my interest in it about 17 years ago but discovered my eyes won't take it. All my threads and stuff went to Goodwill. And good riddance!
January 13, 2011 at 7:00 AM
RobinH said…
I picked up a couple of cross-stitch project to work on airplanes after 9-11 when knitting was verboten. I thought, 'hey, they're small, I can use them as Christmas gifts'. Well. They did both get completed (see again, the 'small' part), but they weren't gifted for the Christmas I thought they would be...learned my lesson there, by gum.

(I'm also curious as to what this will be when it grows up. You're not going to make us wait 40 years to find out, right?)
January 13, 2011 at 9:13 AM
Delana said…
Ok, reading your blog post today was like reading what goes through my mind every so often. Back in 2005, when I wasn't working, I got a cross stitch wild hair you know where and bought a Mirabilia chart to stitch up. It's now 2011 and I have the top left corner stitched up and that's it. Could I interest you in a stitch off?
January 13, 2011 at 3:34 PM
Dana said…
I have a 95% done cross stitch sitting in my UFO bin...but it was started for a baby, a baby who is now almost 8. Seems silly to finish now. Plus the only other large-scale cross stitch I've ever done is still just rolled up and not framed...so why waste the effort--at least I know I'll wear socks and sweaters eventually...!
January 13, 2011 at 8:51 PM
Meredith said…
I have a needle point project I started 20 years ago, I still pull it out every once in a while and look at it, I can't throw it out....I'm not sure why.
Have a great day,
Meredith
January 14, 2011 at 6:10 AM
Alice said…
Remember when my MAIN hobby was cross-stitch, and I wouldn't take up knitting because it was "too slow"? You pointed out the obvious and saved me. :)
January 14, 2011 at 5:44 PM
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