So, I am an odd bird in that I have always had a needle for every symbol on the chart, no matter how big my project. For a VERY long time, I have always just lined them up on a spare piece of Aida and marked each 10 with a big headed pin to make counting easier. Then I would pull the needle number I needed based on what I had assigned to the chart symbols. Many times I'd have a lot of empty needles acting as place holders until I got into the meaty parts of the pattern. Here's a picture from the project I just finished. It was a smallish project - only 17 colors, but I'm sure you can imagine what a 75+ color project looked like.
I'm getting ready to start a bigger project that will probably have 100 needles or so going by the time I account for the tweeding and backstitching. I decided I'd try to make it a little easier on myself and try to eliminate the frogging required when I miscount and use the wrong, but similar, color. I took a piece of 28ct and put a border on it and then stitched myself some numbers that the needle can park under while not in use. By having the slots numbered I don't have to line up 100 needles before I start. If there is thread left on the needle when I get to my end point, I park it in the appropriate slot - otherwise, I can just load it with the next color and get on with my business. Here's a picture of what I did, and I loaded the needles from my last project on it just to see how it would work.
Things I learned doing this:
1.) I LOATH gridding.
2.) MCG really does produce terrible fabric.
3.) I can't believe I haven't thought of this before in the 30 years or so that I've been stitching.
What do y'all think?
