Lo How a Rose - Week 3: Can I Count?

Here we are after my third week of stitching with the Lo How a Rose SAL, and I still can't count! I had to unstitch and restitch two separate areas, and then I decided to just leave one boo boo in because I'd gone to far to make going back worthwhile (to me, anyway). Even though counting seems to be a challenge, I'm loving the colors.

As I was thinking of Brightneedle and counting, I remembered the difficulties I had with this piece called Sunshine and Shadow ...

I got cocky while stitching this one and decided to work from two different corners (you can see where this is going, can't you?). Because I had made too many of the little checkerboard-type border squares, I found that the two parts I was stitching were gonna miss each other by about ten threads. Bummer. So reverse stitching became the task of several days, because about a third of those cute little over-one motifs had to be removed. Can you say "frustration"? I knew you could. Frustration wasn't the only f-word used during that time. Deep breaths help sometimes, as does vodka. Cocktail, anyone?

Meanwhile, back in the Garden, life is good. I've decided to stitch tonight and have a little show and tell tomorrow. I had the day off on Tuesday after a little torture session (painkiller required) with the nose doc, so I got to stitch for a few hours (my reward). It felt like playing hooky, and I love that feeling.

I'm gonna refrain from commenting on the lady with 14 kids, counting the eight new babies. Everything I have to say, including my many questions, would sound hideously judgmental. And as my mom told me when I was a bitchy, know-it-all 14-year-old, "It's not necessary that everyone knows what you think." I think of that advice before opening my mouth during a potentially controversial discussion, and I'm certain that it's saved me from tasting my toes on more than one occasion. Isn't my mom smart?

Happy Friday!

Lo - Week 2

Yesterday was Lo How a Rose SAL day, so I had a little break from the Garden. Here's a pic of my progress after replacing the L and then stitching, unstitching, restitching, unstitching and restitching some of the other letters. Having seen Staci's, Vonna's (who is finished ... holy cow) and Laura's progress, I believe I'm (again) the slowpoke and (apparently) numerically challenged (who, me? count?).

I like the new floss color (the name of which escapes me, but I'll tell you later) better ... I think. It shows up much better than the London Fog (just look two posts back), and it blends pretty well with the other colors. It'll do. Maybe next week I'll be able to count. I know! I could blame it on my old man cat Merlin. He wanted to sit in my lap, as he usually does when I stitch, but he can't fit up there because of the book the Lo chart is in. Without the book, he takes up my whole lap all the way to my knees. He fussed a lot (he's very old and very whiny) and made multiple attempts at sneaking up (not too old to jump into the chair). In fact, we had kind of a spat over it, and he was still a little cranky this morning. That's it. It's all Merlin's fault I couldn't count to 5 or 7 last night. Yeah, that's the ticket.

I know I said this last Thursday, but here it comes again ... ahhhh, tomorrow is Friday. I'm so happy to be employed, but I need three-day weekends to happen every week. OK, time to get to stitchin' in the Garden.

Uh oh ... New Project

Because Staci, fabulous and speedy knitter and stitcher extraordinaire, is such a bad influence (and I so love a bad influence), I'm gonna start Brightneedle's Lo How a Rose. I'm using WDW floss over one on R & R's 30-count Java-something-or-other (hopefully memory isn't the last thing to go). I desperately needed another project, right? Since I've had my face buried in ATS for a long time, it'll be good to branch out from the Garden of Eden into some roses.
Is it still true that whoever dies with the most projects wins?