Incoherent Scribblings

Though there is still about a foot of snow on the ground and it is still way below freezing at night, I am SO ready for spring!

I came across this little freebie while surfing today and since it mirrored my sentiments so well, I decided to whip it up. Anybody else feel this way?

As I was browsing through my charts the other day, I noticed that there are three distinct varieties of charts; those charts that are black and white and only have symbols to indicate floss colors, those that are color and only have colored blocks to indicate floss colors, and those that have both colored blocks and symbols to indicate floss colors.

As I thought about it for a moment, I realized that I really prefer the charts that have both colored blocks and symbols. I find that they are the easiest for me to read.

Black and white charts that only have symbols are fine, but I have made more than one mistake using these charts because (for example) there was an arrow that pointed right for one color and an arrow that pointed left for another and because I wasn’t paying attention, I happily stitched the color for the right arrow when I was actually looking at the left arrow.

Charts with only colored blocks also OK, except that I find on a complex piece that has slight shade variations in the floss the blocks are not always clearly differentiated.

That is why I prefer patterns that have both colored blocks and symbols. At a quick glance, the colored blocks give me a rough idea of what color I need. However, when I run across a place where the colors are very close, the symbols tell me without a doubt which color I need.

And so, of course, I am curious about the preferences of other stitchers and this leads me to the “Stitching Blogger’s Question:”

Which do you prefer and why? “Old-fashioned” black and white symbol-only charts, charts with colored blocks, or charts with a combination of colored blocks and symbols?

As you can see from the cute little ticker above, I have started counting down the days until my wedding anniversary. On March 25, A. and I will celebrate our third anniversary.

As we get ready to enter our fourth year of marriage, I have learned two very important things: Marriage is a damn hard business and that little piece of paper really does make things different than if you only “live together.”

I lived with A. only a few weeks before our wedding, but some years before I met A., I was in a long-term relationship where I lived with my ex-boyfriend off and on for about five years. I was just shy of 21 when I moved in with my ex for the first time. We lived together for about a year in bliss. It was fun and I thought I had it made. He owned the place and he never asked me to pay rent or any of the bills.

After that first year though, things started to go sour. He lost his job, I found out that he had a drug problem, he began taking advantage of my financial situation, and I made some friends (namely one guy) that he didn’t like. He began to get jealous and suspicious and instead of talking and/or trying working things out, he simply kicked me out. At that time I began to realize what I vulnerable spot I was in: It was his house and for all intents and purposes, I was a squatter.

But I still loved him and thought we might be able to work things out. After we had been separated for a few weeks, we got back together and I moved back in. It started a vicious circle that in one way or another propagated itself for the next four years. By the time it was over, I was in financial ruin and my heart had been broken so many times by his empty promises and jealous streak that I felt like all that remained of me was an empty shell.

After I ended it with him, I took a “relationship break” break that lasted about two years. When I met A., I wasn’t even sure I was ready for a relationship again, but I decided to take a chance. For the first six months of our relationship we lived many states apart and I think that was a good thing. Every moment we spent together was special and when we weren’t together, we talked on the phone or chatted online and really got to know each other.

At Christmastime I spent three weeks with him and it was then that I knew that I didn’t really want to go back to Mississippi. I wanted to be with him and I found out he felt the same way. He had been talking about moving back to Europe and wanted me to come with him. At that point, things began to move rather quickly: We decided to get married and move to Europe. Six weeks later, I had quit my job and moved in with him. Six weeks after that we went to Las Vegas and tied the knot and then another six weeks after that, we moved to Germany.

Though we have to work at it (and that isn’t always easy) for the most part, I think that our marriage is a good one. A. is really the complete opposite of my ex. He is stable, patient, and I don’t think he has a jealous bone in his body. We probably could have lived together without getting married and still been able to work out the issues that come up between us, but I think that the document that legally binds us together gives us just a little more incentive to do so and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.