Late last month I started working on the Cat's Whiskers mystery sampler that began in the August 2010 issue of The Gift of Stitching. I started with the center section, first the verse and then its outline. Then I started stitching the snowflakes. Here's a picture I took a night or two in:
I only stitched a few of the snowflakes but I wasn't thrilled with the placement as they were charted, so I decided not to stitch any more of them until the next installment was released a week or so later. I wanted to see if there was a reason the partial large flakes on the sides weren't the same as the partial ones along the top. (I won't be stitching the small ones until I do the beading at the end.) So I moved on to the outer border and the words there. Once the second installment came out, I stitched pretty much everything released to date, made some assumptions that the bottom will match the top and went to town with my stitching, saving the snowflakes and the center of the top right medallion for last. This is where I am today:
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| Cat's Whiskers "On Christmas Day" mystery sampler 32 ct. Wichelt Permin Prairie Grain (true color of the linen is somewhere between the first photo and this one, more green than grey or brown) DMC in 3052 green, 3866 white, 3721 red, 221 dark red (for my initials) - 2 over 2 |
I love it! Except for one small problem... I miscounted when I started on the outer sections, and the entire outer section, including the bloody snowflakes, should have been one stitch to the right. See? No? Here's a close up of the left side:
and the right:
See it now? Yeah, I didn't either. Until I was stitching the very last one of those blasted snowflakes that I decided had to be moved for my sanity's sake, and found that it didn't align to the inner section's corner the way that it should have. I don't know how I missed it on the other side. ????!!!!???? There are 7 stitches/14 threads between the green line and the center motif on the left side and only 5 stitches/10 threads on the right. Trust me, I've recounted it about fiftyleven times since I discovered the screw up on Wednesday and, sadly, the elves didn't come in and fix it overnight, or the second night, or the night after that... Do you think I could possibly leave it be? We're talking me here, people. Me, who had to move the stinking snowflakes down by a stitch. Um, yeah. Ain't gonna happen. So what am I gonna do, you ask. Based on the lack of love for the snowflakes (which you may have already noticed) I will be unpicking the entire red and green center section and CAREFULLY restitching it one stitch to the left. I don't know what it is between me and those snowflakes, but I didn't enjoy stitching them the first time, or the second, and I refuse to do them a third! Much as I hate the thought of restitching basically half of the sampler, I can't just let it go. If I left it, it would bother me forever, so it's either redo it, trash it, or leave it as a UFO. I like it too much for either of the last two options, so I'll be filling up my orts jar with curly threads this weekend...
6 comments:
What a shame! That's exactly the kind of thing I would do though (both the not realising I'd miscounted and then having to rip because I couldn't live with it). I love your version, the colours of the one in the mag didn't appeal to me at all but yours is really pretty.
KarenV
It's too bad you plan to redo the center part. Even looking closely at your pictures, I don't see where the mistake is. Anyway, have patience with it and all will be well in the end. I know this to be true as I went through this on a couple of different pieces and they wound up UFOs for a couple years before I went back to them.
Such is the life of a stitcher, I guess!
I tend to be like you....wanting every stitch to be in perfect place but honestly I can hardly see the mistake until I keep looking back and forth. I think it's hard to tell your mistake because the two designs on the outer edge of the center part are different.
If you were to leave it like it is I am sure only YOU would know....but sometimes that is enough to make even the most sane stitcher rip out days of stitches.
It is absolutely beautiful nonetheless.
Ouch! I admire and nod at your perfectionista need to made it right, and despair over the sheer needlessness of it. Oh, well. Such is the life of us weirdos lol!
What a beautiful piece - can you maybe add some extra beading or something instead of restitching? I hate ripping out - but alas, I think I would probably do the same thing or my eye would go there all the time - even if no one else saw it...
I know your pain. I have a BOAF piece I started this spring, got all the outside border/words done, started a simple inside border to find that MOST of the outside words were off by one stitch/row!! I had to take it all out, or it would really bug me! Funny, now that I got it done (took two tries!!) I am not so enthused to work on it... But I do still love the chart, so ...eventually! Best wishes as you re-do that gorgeous piece!! It is quite exquisite! Hugs.
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