One of the truly wonderful things, at least I think so, about being a stitcher is that there are so many things you can stash. There’s thread, fabric, gadgets, charts, kits, Lord I could go on forever. And when you aren’t buying things for your stash, you can spend your time thinking about your stash and all the lovely things you are going to add to it. Surfing around websites, looking at beautiful over dyed threads, hand dyed linens, and charts with insane numbers of color changes and fractional stitches that you MUST own. In the process, finding other sites you’ve never seen before and book marking them (when I do this it’s research by the way).
Then of course, there is playing with your stash. This falls into several categories. First is what I think of as rainy day play. It’s a lousy day out, or you are having a lousy day and you go and pull out some nice cream colored linen or your box of floss and just look at it for a while. Doesn’t the sheen of the fabric, the color of the floss make you feel a little bit better? Maybe you even take out some thread, a needle and work up a quick bookmark. Just getting the hands moving seems to do the trick. After that, is rainy day’s very close relative I’m completely bored. No one’s around to talk to, you aren’t interested in any of your books, the laundry is finished, no dishes to wash (and if there were who would want to), in short you’re bored. You go to the stash. You fool with it, rearrange it, figure out things to do with it, make plans for new projects, maybe make lists of things you need. Before you know it time passes, so does the boredom. Then there’s I just bought stuff and I have to fit it in and I found this great new organizing system I want to try. These two are mere excuses to play with your stuff, you know they are, admit it and move on. Next is, I have a ton of stuff, it’s getting out of hand, and I have to rearrange it. Now here we are getting into dangerous ground because here’s one situation where stash, can actually give birth to, more stash. It happened to me recently. I cleared out a pile of old yarn and half done knitting projects and what did I come up with? Cleared space? Yes. A better handle on what I had? Yes. Things I’d been looking for, for a long time? Again, yes. But you know what else I found? Empty tote bags; ready for projects, boxes to be used to store things, a pile of old floss bobbins, in short more stash! I can’t win, and don’t look smug, neither can you.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a pile of floss to wind onto those bobbins I found, some magazines to index, and a few kits to rearrange into the storage boxes I located.
The past few days I have fallen victim to PAS. It’s a dread disease PAS, and can afflict a stitcher at any time. It creeps on you when you least expect it and there is little you can do to avoid it, and once it grabs you it’s hard to shake. What? You’ve never heard of PAS? Well let me help you then PAS is project avoidance syndrome. It’s what happens when you get tired of that “wonderful” piece you wanted to do in petit point, the Angel of Cross Stitch (with 391 colors) that’s hardly been touched in months because it’s got your head spinning, or as in my case, you made a mistake for the umpteenth time, while you were taking it out frogged too much, and just can’t face fixing it. PAS is the leading cause of that other dread entity of the Cross Stitch world the UFO. So how do you prevent PAS from turning a WIP into a UFO? Here are some ideas:
--For difficult projects like the Angel of Cross Stitch break it down into sections. Don’t think of the project as a whole. If you try to attack it that why it WILL seem overwhelming. Try breaking it down into quadrants or perhaps parts of the design. I am working on a picture of Iris flowers that has many shades of similar colors. I’m doing one flower at a time to make it seem more manageable. You’re not going to want to work on something if it seems like a chore. This is supposed to be fun, don’t make it seem like a trip to the dentist. (Although if you’re my son then that’s your idea of fun. I have the only kid in the world who begs to go to the dentist. I swear.)
--For projects which are very detailed, and done on a high thread count fabric, good lighting is essential. Consider working on the project during daylight hours, getting a strong desk lamp that shines on the work, or perhaps getting a source of light that shines from underneath the work. If you have to strain to work, you’re less likely to work.
--When frogging (as I learned to my own sorrow) BE CAREFUL. A good idea is to use a stitch remover of some kind, or a seam ripper to take out the stitches rather than using a scissor. You are less likely to make a mistake that way. Of course you know what the best thing about this is don’t you? That’s right, stash! An excuse to buy stash. More fun gadgets, more stuff! (no it doesn’t take much to make me happy)
--Take a fresh look at the design by working on a new section, or starting a new color. Sometimes that’s enough to get the old spark going.
--Give yourself a reward for starting or getting some specific amount of work done. A nice dessert, a walk on your own, a couple of skeins of floss.
--Join a stitch along for the design. Doing it with others can be a great motivator.
You get the idea. With a little thought you’ll come up with a few on your own. I’ve got more stuff to do for this web page, and I am NOT using it as an excuse to avoid my project. Really, I give you my word.
