Incoherent Scribblings

Charts vs. Kits

Here in Germany, I have two online needlework shops that I order most of my stash from. The other day when I was doing a little stash enhancement from one, I came across a selection of “Flower Fairy” kits. However, at the same time I also saw that the other shop had most of the exact same fairy selection, but as charts instead.

Ever since I stitched the “Snow Drop Fairy” for a round robin a few months ago I have wanted to stitch some more of the “Flower Fairies” because they are so detailed and delicate. I love the “Lily of the Valley Fairy,” but neither one of my shops offered it. They both, however, did offer the “Candytuft Fairy” which is one of the other fairies that I have been drooling over.

I decided to order it, but I was then faced with the decision of whether to order it as a kit or chart. Obviously, since the kit came with the fabric (16ct Aida) and threads it was more expensive.

I ended up ordering the chart, but it wasn’t because of the price. It was partly to do with the fabric (I prefer to stitch on Evenweave rather than Aida), but it was mostly because if I have a choice, I prefer to buy a chart instead of a kit.

I favor charts because I feel they allow me to express my creativity better. I don’t feel obligated to use the supplied materials, and of course, I can often buy 2 or 3 charts for the price of one kit!

Sure, you aren’t required to use the materials supplied with a kit and it is easy to change the fabric. However, in my experience, many charts don’t give you proper DMC or Anchor floss numbers, and without them it is almost impossible to avoid using the supplied thread. In my opinion this makes it extremely annoying if I run out of a thread color while stitching a kit and instead of giving me a DMC or Anchor number it just says “light pink.”

In fact, this happened to me while stitching “Little Cactus.” I ran out of their “light pink,” and it was anything but pink! It ended up being (as far as I could tell) DMC 3607 which I think is more purple than pink.

That isn’t to say though that kits don’t have their advantages. I like small kits for travel projects because everything is already all together.

I do buy kits and, as far as I can tell, some designers (e.g. Michael Powell, some Margaret Sherry) aren’t even offered as charts-only. I find this rather aggravating, but I guess if I want to stitch these designs I either have to plunk down the money for a kit or wait and hope one day they will come out as charts-only. However, as I said, given the option I will buy a chart over a kit every time.

And this of course brings me to today Stitching Blogger’s Question which was inspired by the mini-poll that Vash has been running on her blog for around 18 months and it is:

Given the option, would you rather buy a chart and get the material and floss together yourself, or buy a pre-packed kit?

Take Two Aspirin…

Today’s entry, “Take Two Aspirin…,” is brought to you by Expatica.com!

For the last few days I have been battling a chest cold. It’s nothing that I won’t get over on my own in a few days time, but ever since I started sniffling A. has been threatening to send me to the doctor. In fact, whenever either one of us has a little cough, a slight fever, or a runny nose, A. is very adamant that if we don’t get over it in 48 hours time we should go to the doctor.

Even when we were still living in the States A. had this point of view. At the time, even though we both had jobs and health insurance I found this attitude rather odd. As most Americans will tell you, even with health insurance, we just don’t go to the doctor for every little scrape or sniffle.

Americans are masters of over-the-counter medication. Fever? No problem. Just go to Wal-Mart and pick up some aspirin or Tylenol. Runny nose? Stock up on Kleenex and decongestant. Scraped knee? Clean it up with peroxide and slap a Band-aid on it. It isn’t until we have had an affliction for at least a couple of weeks that we break down and see the doctor… and only because you can’t get antibiotics without a prescription.

However, things in Germany are different. Germany is a land with a national health care system. Everyone here is required to have health insurance and the people aren’t afraid to use it.

As an American with a natural skepticism of doctors, the idea of running to the doctor with every little ache or pain has taken some getting used to. It just seems silly to visit the doctor because I have a virus that he or she really can’t do anything about anyway. Honestly, I am not sure I will ever be able to casually make an appointment with a doctor just because I have a cold; it just seems like a waste of my time.

I must confess though, that in some ways it is nice. Dental care and yearly eye examinations are not treated as separate entities here, but as part of one’s regular health care. I haven’t seen so clearly in years and since my arrival in Germany, my teeth have never been so pearly white.

However, in other ways it is quite troublesome. Everything related to pharmaceuticals must be purchased at the pharmacy, and though over-the-counter medication exists here, even something as simple as aspirin is only sold to you upon request. Many more things require a doctor’s prescription and since there are no 24 hour pharmacies, you better hope that when you get a headache and discover you have no aspirin that it isn’t Saturday evening.

It just so happened that it was Sunday evening when A. hugged me and realized I had a fever. From his ingrained German health care point of view, this warranted rushing me to the emergency room so that I could immediately see a doctor. However, my American sensibilities won out when I suggested that I just take a couple of aspirin and go to bed. I agreed that if my fever hadn’t broken by morning I would go see the doctor.

Luckily for me, on Monday morning my fever had subsided. Once again I managed to avoid visiting the general practitioner’s office where, instead of leaving with a miracle cure, I’m sure I just would have picked up more germs than I had to start with.