Enemy of Entropy

The Stitching Bloggers’ Question of the Week is:

Do you have any projects that you have scrapped and started over? What made you start over from scratch?


I can only remember one, and I restarted it at least twice, maybe three times. It was the Celtic Cross designed by Deb Davis for Y-Knot Designs. I think I tried starting with one of the corners, but kept finding myself off a bit, so I frogged everything and started from the middle, as I usually do. I still kept getting off by just a thread here or there, so I do think I frogged all that again, then started from the center again but working in a different direction. I’m very pleased with how it turned out, but I think it was the last piece I did on linen instead of evenweave.

I am, in fact, still keeping up with Thing-a-Day! I need to go post over there, though. I do wish I could automatically cross-post, but if wishes were fishes and all that.

I stitched tonight while Sam and I gamed. I also wrote for a while, earlier. Sam and I have recently begun participating in a forum that does a great job of encouraging introspection, and being a safe place in which to express oneself. It’s a powerful thing, and I’m in awe of the people who created and run it.

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The Stitching Bloggers’ Question of the week is:

What is your favorite past time while stitching? Do you just enjoy
silence, listen to music/audiobooks or do you “watch” TV/movies? Do
you have specific favorites you listen to/watch while stitching?

I like gaming while stitching, but I’m finding that it doesn’t work so well in one-on-one games. When we played with other people, I got a lot more stitching done, because I could do that while other players were “on stage,” so to speak. I love listening to those interactions, but I get fidgety without something to keep my hands busy.

One-on-one games are too intense, usually, to get any stitching done. I prefer to maintain eye contact with Sam, which just doesn’t work while doing counted-thread work. If I ever learn to knit or crochet, I’m told it’s much easier to do those while looking elsewhere.

I used to stitch while “watching TV,” too, but haven’t done it in some time. We don’t have cable, since we’re not big TV people, but maybe I’ll pop in a DVD of something I’ve seen before.

I’d really prefer having a gaming group again, though. Hope, Waya, and J-Chan, when are y’all coming for a stitch-n-game weekend?

“Another blue sweater? You have four of those. Why not get something different for a change?”

“No, I have navy, cornflower, Williamsburg, and baby blue sweaters. This one is royal blue. That’s totally different!”

Okay guys, I know that you thought women were making up some of the color names we use. Chartreuse? Why not say green? And garnet—that’s red, right? What’s this about plum, amethyst, grape, violet, mauve, and fuschia all being different? They’re all purple, aren’t they?

No, really, they aren’t. We don’t make them up just to vex you. They’re all very, very different, which is why we would never consider wearing brick red lipstick with a cherry red sweater. Ick!

Now there’s help for you. Free help, even!
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I’ve been waiting eagerly for this week’s SBQ. I don’t know why, I just have. They sometimes remind me of stash I don’t think about often enough.

Do you have an organizational system for your fabric? If so, what is it? If not, what do you store your fabric in?

How do people store their fabric, especially those small but potentially usable pieces? Do they sort by count? How do they label it or otherwise know what each piece is?

I never really thought about labeling them. I’ll start doing that in the future. I’m usually so excited when I buy material for a project, though, that I can’t resist starting on it right away. It’s only the much older stuff that needs labeling!

I can tell what most are just by looking at them. I’ve got a nifty little ruler for thread counts if I have any trouble determining that visually. Anything that isn’t a neutral color has been purchased for a specific project, so I know immediately, for instance, “oh, that’s for the second set of the Amaryllis Artworks mandalas” (yes, I love those so much I intend to stitch them again).

Almost all of my cloth is evenweave, but there’s some linen and even a little bit of aida and hardanger that dates back to my teen years when I started stitching. (I gave away most of that old stuff via Freecycle last year, then found more!)

All of it is stored in a set of plastic drawers with some cedar balls tossed in. We don’t have a problem with moths, but I don’t want to take any chances and I do love the scent.

No picture this time - things are all topsy-turvy and I can’t get to my drawers to get a photo.

I couldn’t stand it. I had to do photos.