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!

Too Much Info

Before I get into the too-much-info portion of my blah-blah-blog today, I have to fill you in on Super Sunday. First, I kinda wanted those Cardinals to win ... they were the underdogs and the team from out west. They put up a good fight, huh? Then there was stitching during the Super Bowl. It was a complete non-issue! Isn't that great? Of course, there was so much going on (two men, two dogs, food, beer, game, commercials, etc) that I had to unstitch and restitch more than once ... duh ... because I was rather distracted. But the point is, it was no big deal. Fabulous!

And now for TMI. I rarely answer lists of questions, but as I was visiting Anna one day, this looked interesting. So here goes ...

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to: leave in plain font

1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited Hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to Disneyworld – Hell, I didn’t make it to Disneyland until I was 41!
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis – and a tarantula named Rosie
10. sang a solo – not what you’re thinking … junior high choir class
11. bungee jumped
12. visited Paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea – complete with a waterspout!
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked – Sorry, Mom, but it was that bitchy know-it-all 14-year-old who used to live at your house.
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill - Do people not do this?
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden a gondola in Venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run
32. been on a cruise
33. seen Niagara Falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an Amish community
36. taught yourself a new language – I’m not counting the Spanish I learned in junior high and high school.
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied – Having it doesn't guarantee satisfaction.
38. seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing – not really high rocks
40. seen Michelangelo’s David in person – I wish everyone could hear my mom talk about the time she saw David!
41. sung karaoke – not a chance
42. seen Old Faithful (geyser) erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited Africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance – my poor mom
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. been to the top of the Eiffel tower in Paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theater – source of many a story …
55. been in a movie - only Grandpa’s home movies
56. visited the Great Wall of China
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited Russia

CADD

Thanks to Staci for coming up with the name of this mind-paralyzing disability, and to Erynne for designing the badge, I have become a card-carrying sufferer of CADD ... Crafters Attention Deficit Disorder. I reckon it's self-explanatory, but I'd like to tell you about my most recent bout. Since work began on ATS (and now Lo How a Rose because Staci made me want it), I've been thinking about all of my Adam and Eve charts ... slightly scary. I couldn't stop thinking about them, especially since I've been drooling over Siobhan's A&E wall (oh, baby), so I've dragged out all the ones I could find ... moderately scary. Now I have this idea in my pea brain that I'm gonna stitch all of the A&E's (plus one or two more I have to have because Siobhan made me want them) as soon as I finish ATS, even though I already have a plan to finish an ongoing project and then begin Shores of HRH ... help, I'm scaring myself. I need to be six people, at least.

If you're also a sufferer of CADD, and you'd like to have your own badge, go see Erynne. Then everyone will know, but no one will expect you to complete 12 steps toward recovery! Isn't it good to be accepted into a community? And don't you also love how I've tried to shift some of the blame for my CADD to others in the community (I thought that was rather clever)?

In an effort to spend time stitching and also hang out with the man I hang out with, I'm gonna do something I've never done before. I'm taking my stitching with me to watch the Super Bowl (gasp ... I know!!!). Can't wait to see how this one turns out. I'm not sure about what to take ... something small from the ongoing projects pile I suppose, even though I really wanna work on ATS, but it's so long now. I would absolutely sit and stitch if I were watching the football-game-of-all-football-games at home, so I'm just becoming more at home. Right? Am I right, girls? Besides, he sorta knows how I am. He just doesn't realize how serious my habit is.

Happy Weekend!

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.

Eight?

Certainly you heard about the octuplets born in California. How does someone get their mind around the concept of eight babies at once? How? I know several people with twins, and I can't even imagine that. But eight? Right before Christmas my 30-or-so cousin (she and her twin sister were babies at my wedding in 1978 ... yes, I'm old) had triplets. All are boys, weighing in at a whopping 2, 2 and 2.5 pounds. Three little babies who will have to be hospitalized for months. It's enough to make me blubber. I am in complete awe and admiration of parents who spend their lives at the hospital to be with their babies for the first few months of their lives. They must be incredibly strong people. But eight? Think of the help those parents are gonna need. All of the emotional and logistical and financial needs. It's overwhelming to me, and I'm just watching the news reports of the event. Hopefully, these people can laugh a lot at all the funny things those kiddos are gonna do. How could they survive otherwise? That mom's stitching days are over for many years.

As for stitching, I'm slowly making my way deeper into the Garden of Eden, but I'll wait a little longer before I post another pic. If I go practice my piano right now, I can get a few needlefuls stitched before my purple chair turns into a pumpkin. And then I'll dream of eight babies ...

Lo How a Rose, Week 1

Having joined a Lo How a Rose SAL with Staci, Vonna and Laura (oh, how I love partners in crime), I jumped right in last night and made a little bit of progress. And then, I started to notice how WDW's London Fog just fades right into my Java-whatever. Rats! So I suppose I'll be doing a little reverse stitching and hunting to see what I can find that's a tad darker (of course there's nothing in all those little plastic bags at home that will do). Since all the words are stitched in that color, something's gonna have to be done. Otherwise, we'll see the pretty little flowers, but we won't be reading the lovely words to the poem. Trouble is, I like the way London Fog goes from tan to purple-gray (is that whining?). If this is my biggest problem this week, life is too good. Ew, now that I'm looking at the picture, it looks a little blurry. When I looked at it on the camera screen, my old-lady eyes thought it looked fine. Oops ... sorry about that. This short week has seemed excrutiatingly long (could it be the nasal nuisance and Ambien hangovers?), so I'm thrilled that Friday will finally arrive, as promised. Six days off, even with the nose crap, spoiled me rotten. Time off is like really good chocolate ... it always tastes like more.

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?