What do you love or loathe about Cross Stitch?

[wendywombat]

I was thinking about this today as I was stitching large sections of half cross stitch in one strand in one colour.

Love:
Sorting through my Stash on miserable days.
Relaxing stress whilst stitching. (why I started in the first place)
Trying out new fabrics and threads.
Finding patterns that I Must Do.
Starting new projects.
Finishing projects.
Shopping for Stash!
The Cross Stitch Forum ( where else would I get new ideas and meet 'Enablers' )

Loathe
14 count Aida!
Knotted thread.
Large area in the same colour.
Breaking/losing needles.
Hunting for a pattern/kit which I KNOW I’ve got...somewhere!
Fractional stitches.

OK, well that's a start. I shall think of a few more, no doubt.

[richardandtracy]

Love:
Feeling that I've learnt something new. AND I can do it!!!!
Finished something I'm proud to put up on the walls.
Stitched the fabric to the roller frame without marking the fabric with blood.
Sitting there with a happy cat on my lap while I work.

Loathe:
Marking out.
All the preparatory work for a new project.
Finished something and been left thinking 'I could have done ... better' or 'I wish the chart/conversion was better'.

Regards,

Richard.

[cairee]

Love

watching the picture forming
using bright colors
confetti, lots of it
finishes
new starts, they are always exciting

lothe

large areas of a light color
low count fabrics
dmc metalics
couching

[rcperryls]

Love:
The process from start to end. From prepping for a new project, stitching and completing it.
Sorting my stash.
Learning new things and trying new things.
Shopping for stash, even on line.
Sharing my love for cross stitch with others who share that love.
Cross Stitch Forum (of course)
Being on the moderator team
Stitching with my 4 legged lap warming assistant.

Loathe:
knots in thread
when I miscount and have a visit from
kits
large patches (or pages) of one color (like black in my poor neglected "Burden" piece)

This is an interesting topic. Curious what people will have to say.

[Allyn]

I love the mental vacation I take every single day while stitching. Loathe? I can't say that I loathe anything... well, except for bees and I really don't loathe them. They just raise a well of panic in me.

[LadyS]

Love:
- Looking through my stash
- Starting a new project
- Finishing a project
- Seeing a finished project framed (or turned into whatever it's going to be)
- New stash
- Getting good at something new that I learned
- Quiet evenings when the toddler is sleeping, the house is clean, and I'm comfortably on my couch stitching and watching my favorite shows/movies.
- Using exciting colors

Loathe:
- Gridding (but love how easy it makes the work go afterwards)
- Unpicking mistakes
- Working with metallics
- Knotted threads (my current birth announcement wip is plagued by it, that's what I get from working from a kit with dubious quality threads)

[fccs]

Love:
new starts (always so exciting)
finishes (even though I'm sometimes sad a WIP is done)
how relaxing stitching is
seeing the design come to life
watching Jackson watch me stitch (until he decides to attack the fibers)
looking through my stash of charts, books, and kits
adding to my stash (yes, it's an illness)
seeing everyone's work here on the forum
the quiet when I stitch in the morning before work

Loathe (or at least dislike to various degrees):
having to stop stitching and go to work
knots (darn those noose knots!)
frogging
backstitching (even though I love what it does for the design)
beads that jump around when I'm trying to stab them
broken needles
lost needles
DMC metallics

[lavenderbee]

Love seeing the picture emerge but dislike backstitch

[vanessanjf]

Love:
Starting new projects
Finishing projects
Making lots of progress in one day
Buying new stash

Loathe:
Back stitch
Too much confetti
Being asked to stitch pictures I don't like for other people

[mauveme]

Putting the floss away on a finished piece.
Missing one out of 30+colours , and nothing matches to replace it with.

[seedreemer]

Love:

The act of stitching. It's meditative to me.
The sound of the threads being pulled through the material. It's also meditative.
Finishes.
Starts!
All the new threads we have available these days!

Loathe:


Wrestling my new lap frame into position.

[wendywombat]

I'm looking forward to getting my millenium frame...I'm beginning to hate the wobbly lap frame I bought earlier this year!! It's too wide for my favourite chair and won't sit square on my couch!
So I'll add that to my list!

*edit*
At least I can use the frame part on my Aristo lap stand which I will get in the New Year.

[seedreemer]

My frame isn't wobbly, but I hate the task of getting it all set up just right. Then, inevitably, a cat needs something or the buzzer goes off and I have to unload the frame, the pillow my right arm is propped up on, try to get out of my chair without knocking off all the threads, glasses, remotes, etc., I've stored on the arm of the chair. Then once I've taken care of said cats or buzzer I have to get back in my chair and set everything up again JUST RIGHT.

And then the cats need something again.

[Kathy_A]

Right now, I'm loathing kits that can't be bothered to put in the correct colors and, even worse IMO, don't include the corresponding DMC color code, even if they do provide a conversion chart on their website. (The Candamar kit I'm currently working on has completely messed up its various shades of green and I'm to the point where I just don't care anymore, and am going to stitch with whatever I find, even if it is the wrong shade. Grrr....)

[frankattleborough]

I have come to hate half stitches. I am doing a relatively small project called Safe and Sound from the Margaret Sherry Collection. It is littered with them and is driving me bonkers.

[Fizzbw]

Well, I like ve my Lowery, my Millenium, the whole cross stitch experience, and I love the quietness, the meditativeness and pain distractingness of it all.

Hate, well I hate the time it takes me to get my fabric on the millennium....I hate gridding with anything but pen, and I truly dislike not having enough time to stitch, though it's for a good reason with CirrusCreations doing so well....

Niki xxx

[fccs]

And then the cats need something again.

Of course they do!

[richardandtracy]

And then the cats need something again.

Of course they do!

Last night I had a cat around my feet and rubbing on my legs while working on my lathe. Now, that was dangerous. I always remain hyper aware of the need for an escape route when working on the lathe. If a 22lb (10kg) 5" diameter steel chuck is spinning at 950 rpm, there is a huge amount of energy in it and you don't want to be anywhere near if the attachment bolts fail or come loose... I've also had a fleabag jump up onto the lathe swarf tray while I've been using it - cause for an emergency shutdown. The lathe can chew up metal, and could obliterate a cat in the blink of an eye...

Regards,

Richard.

[wendywombat]

My knows instinctively Which chair I'm about to sit in to stitch!! I don't have him on my knee when I stitch or knit as he's a restless cat....he twitches and moves, and as he's happy to be on my knee then the paws start padding with Those Lethal Claws!!! Not to mention the FUR!!!

[stitchhappy18]

What a fantastic thread! Here are mine.

Love:
thrill of the first stitch in a new start
satisfaction of the last stitch
gazing at my stash
admiring other stitcher's work
relaxing while stitching
block of the same color so I don't stress about counting correctly

Loathe:
French knots
the impact of stash acquisition on my wallet
having things to do other than sitting and stitching