Incoherent Scribblings

Stricken vs. Sticken

Stitching Bloggers’ Question of the Week:

How do you explain cross stitch to non-cross stitching people?
Do they get it or do they say “Oh, right.. you do knitting then (or sewing, or needlepoint)”?

I don’t try to explain cross-stitch to non-stitching people very often. However, I have lived in Germany for the past 2 1/2 years and when I decided to take cross-stitching back up about a year ago, I quickly learned that I had to figure out a way to explain cross-stitching to people in German so I could find supplies!

I didn’t have any trouble finding embroidery floss, but didn’t even have the slightest clue as to the word for “cross-stitch” in German, and to make matters worse when I looked in my “Unabridged” German Dictionary the word wasn’t even there! Of course, asking my husband (who is a native German speaker) was pointless, because at the time, he barely knew what cross-stitch was. His suggestion was “stricken,” which is “knitting!”

One day I was in a very large department store and stumbled upon the sewing department. As luck would have it, they had a decent selection of stitching supplies. Not only did I buy things for my stash that day, I made notes of all the German vocabulary related to stitching that I came across.

At first I thought that “sticken” was the word I was looking for. Not only is “sticken” very close to “stricken” (which of course means I must be careful with my pronunciation so that the store clerks don’t get confused), I later learned that “sticken” just means “to embroider.” It wasn’t until I came across the chart section that I found out that “cross-stitch” in German is “Kreuzstich” and is actually a literal translation (Kreuz = cross; Stich = stitch)! Armed with this knowledge, I now have very little trouble explaining what I do and what I want to store clerks.

Although about a month ago, I did find out the importance of correct pronunciation between “stricken” and “sticken.” When I attempted to tell my mother-in-law that I did “sticken,” she misunderstood me and offered to buy me a pair of knitting needles!

Cross-Stitch Dilemma

Here are the thoughts that led me to suggest this week’s Stitching Bloggers’ Question of the Week:

Do you stitch small projects one at a time that you can finish quickly, have numerous large projects going at once that you rotate, or both? How does your current system work for you and have you thought about changing it?

I am facing a cross-stitch dilemma. I am considering completely changing the way that I cross-stitch. No, I don’t mean the actual cross-stitching. I still cross-stitch from the bottom right corner to the top left and then from the bottom left to the top right.

When I learned to cross-stitch back in 1999, I did one piece at time until it was finished. I didn’t have a big stash back then and I was still learning the techniques. Before my enormous 2 1/2 year break from stitching I had begun larger pieces that I never finished… Works in Progress, if you will. I worked on something until I got bored and then started something new. When I picked my stitching back up last October, I had 3 unfinished projects that I finished before I started anything new.

At that point I told myself that I didn’t like those unfinished projects and in order to avoid having more of them in the future, I decided to only stitch small projects that I knew I could finish before becoming bored. And that has worked well. Since last October I have completed close to 40 small projects.

But here is the thing. I have recently come across some large complex patterns that I really want to stitch. I have not yet started them because I am afraid I will get bored with them before I finish them. And here is where I am thinking about changing my cross-stitch style.

Most other stitchers out there (at least those who blog) seem to have numerous large and complex projects going at once. In order (I assume) to avoid getting bored with one particular piece they rotate them. And that is what I am thinking about doing. I really want to do the “Passing Admirers” and would like to work some more on my “Cat in Garden,” in addition to doing a couple of Pam Kellogg designs. But the thing is, I do like to finish my projects.

So, after thinking about it, I decided to begin a rotation with two projects and leave myself room to do small projects as the desire arises. If it works out well, perhaps I will add more projects to my rotation.