A Long Due Note

I haven't posted anything in quite awhile. Out of town guests, other obligations, laziness and the need for sleep have all kept me away. Add to that my utter lack of crapting for two weeks and really what do I have to talk about without going into personal foibles?

I have, however, read two books: Mrs. Lincoln, a biography of Mary Todd Lincoln by Catherine Clinton, which was interesting and Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which was stunning. If you haven't read it, read it. It's intense, sobering and I don't want to give anything away but at the end it had me doing something that rhymes with nobbing. Truly a classic. Also a classic: the movie UP. I really enjoyed it and also nobbed a few times here as well.

So even when I'm not crapting I'm usually pretty good about stitching. I usually find time everyday to at least do a little bit, but I failed these past two weeks. I've gotten in kind of a rut on Faith Hope and Honor. I'm so close to finishing, you'd think I'd just go ahead and steamroll my way through, but those couple of broken threads (mentioned in earlier post) have really bummed me out and put a damper on my progress.

I did take out one of my WIPs, Monet's Giverny Garden by Jane Greenoff. This was a chart from Cross-Stitch & Needlework's May 2008 issue. I'd started it sometime after receiving the magazine and made quick progress but then came upon a section that is one over one. One over one, for those unfamiliar with cross stitch, is literally stitching over one linen thread instead of two. It's a nightmare.

But, having just been to Giverny and forgetting about the one over one, I pulled out the piece and started to stitch but quickly gave up. It's just killer to see what the heck you're doing with one over one and making it even worse in this case is that the floss for part of it is practically the same color as the linen. Oh my eyes! I had no idea what I had stitched or what I needed to stitch. So I ripped it out, which let me tell you, ripping it out is probably harder than stitching it. But this frustration and agony was why it took me two weeks to return to it. I'd sit across the room from it, staring at it, loathing it. I felt like it was heckling me - you can't do it! You can't do it! Finally I broke down. I feel tremendous guilt if I don't do something while watching television. So I gave myself permission to skip the one over one until the very end. So I did the half Algerian Eyelet and the stitches below those and here is my progress:
The picture is blurry isn't it? It never looks blurry on the camera! Anyway, so the one over one are four lily pads that fit in between the blue half Algerian eyelets. I counted the rows in between those two lines of blue about a dozen time to make sure I haven't miscounted. Each time it was the correct amount but being a crapter, I'm convinced that it's probably wrong and I'll reach the end of the piece and realize that it is all utterly and completely wrong! I'll keep you posted!