Incoherent Scribblings

Well, I am still not done with my needleroll.

This is a direct result of the fact that I haven’t been stitching as much as usual the past couple of weeks. However, I am happy to report that at least the one-over stitching is done… and in my humble opinion, it looks fab! The rest of the stitching consists of specialty stitches and though I always think they are going to go fast, they never do.

I did work a little bit on the needleroll today, but I was getting fed up with the four-sided stitches. The pattern calls for them to be done in #12 Perle Cotton, and after making a special trip into town to acquire some #12 PC and stitching two rows, I decided that since all of the other stitches are done with two strands of DMC the four-sided stitches look bulky and awkward done with Perle Cotton. However, instead of frogging them out tonight I decided to put the needlroll aside and pick up “Catch the Wind” for the weekend. After all, it is quite possible that I will come to the conclusion that the four-sided stitches look OK after I take a little break from them.

As we all know, “Catch the Wind” is nearly finished and since this weekend is dedicated to the first ever monthly stitch-a-thon over at the Robin’s Nest, I decided I would work on CtW with the hope of getting the cross stitching finished. As of this evening, I have two of the kite tails completed and there is a very good chance that I can get the others added tomorrow.

In fact, I just snuck a quick peek at the chart and realized that with a little persistence I could maybe even have a happy dance before I go back to the needleroll. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

In my experience, there seem to be two main categories of expatriates: career/relocation expatriates who, along with their significant others, are sent to a foreign country for work-related reasons and love immigrants.

As the name suggests, a love immigrant comes to a foreign country with no other security than his or her love for a person with a passport different than his or her own. A love immigrant may or may not ever plan to “officially” assimilate into her adopted country by acquiring another or additional citizenship, but every love immigrant comes with the intention of staying forever.

Like culturally homogeneous couples, couples that include a love immigrant face the task of keeping their love alive. However, in addition to this enormous undertaking, a love immigrant also faces the challenge of integrating into an unfamiliar society. She must start a life with new friends and acquaintances and carve out an identity that allows her to be more than just “X’s significant other.” Additionally, the love immigrant will face some degree of culture shock, may have to learn a new language, try to get a job, and might want to start a family.

Some love immigrants seamlessly make the transition into a foreign society while others have a much harder time. It takes a great leap of faith to become a love immigrant and most, if not all, would say that it was worth it.

However, it is a cold hard fact that in this day and age, culturally homogeneous or not, many relationships no longer last forever. People grow apart and love withers and dies.

This situation is never easy, but for a love immigrant it is additionally complex as he or she must confront a multitude of issues. However, first and foremost in her mind is the fundamental matter of whether or not she should stay in her adopted country or return to her native land. Many factors come into play when answering this question and it is probably the most difficult decision of all, but once it is made the rest falls into place.

I should know… I was a love immigrant.

Today’s SBQs are all about fabric! When I received these suggestions within days of each other I was a little surprised to see that I got two questions in such a short time that dealt with the same topic. I guess great stitching minds think alike, eh? So, without further ado, today…

Ami asks us:

Do you have an organizational system for your fabric? If so, what is it? If not, what do you store your fabric in?

And Anna wants to know:

How do people store their fabric, especially those small but potentially usable pieces? Do they sort by count? How do they label it or otherwise know what each piece is?

Before I packed everything up to move I had finally begun a fabric sorting system. I am sure once I get set up in my new place it will change, but recently my fabric was stored in an extra drawer (I don’t have a lot of fabric) and sorted first according to type of fabric (Aida, evenweave, or linen) and then according to count.

I had the Aida stored at the bottom and each piece had a note pinned to it stating the count. On top of the Aida was the evenweave and on top of the evenweave was the linen. Like the Aida, each piece had a note pinned to it denoting count. If the piece wasn’t too small I would just put it back with together with the larger pieces, but the really small pieces were just tossed into a couple of Ziploc baggies with no notes or anything.

A few months ago, some of my fellow stitching bloggers joined the 101 Things in 1001 Days project. For those of you unfamiliar with this project, “[t]he aim is complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days. The tasks must be specific and have a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching.”

At first I had no desire to join the 101 Things Bandwagon, but with the developments in my personal life over the past few weeks I began to think about how I wanted to proceed with my life. In the past I have always accomplished the most on a personal and professional level when I made long-term goals, so I naturally began to develop goals for the next stage. As I developed the goals I realized that perhaps the 101 Things in 1001 Days (or a little less than three years) wasn’t such a bad idea after all and so my list was born.

I began by just jotting down ideas as they came to me. As I typed them up not only did I begin to categorize and somewhat prioritize them, I also removed items that were either too vague or would be better classified as additions to daily, weekly, or monthly routines. I estimate that about 90% of my goals are tangible tasks that have a definite beginning and end point and can easily be crossed off my list with a victorious cry of “Done!”

The remaining few are not as concrete, but are rather long-term changes in my life that I will have to actively work toward in order to make them happen. I debated about whether to add these to my list as they don’t precisely fit the criteria, but ultimately came to the conclusion that this list is to reflect my life’s aspirations and if at the end of 1001 days I can document how I attempted to achieve these less-than tangible goals then I am justified in adding them to my 101 Things List.

The first 30 or so goals were fairly easy because they were things I felt that I would have to do one way or the other in order to get my new life on track. The following 71 goals took some serious reflection, but I have finally completed my list and think I can say that I am satified with what I am going to try to accomplish.

I completed and posted my list today, and according to my calculations if I started the list today, the 1001st day would fall 10 days before my 35th birthday. However, as I feel that my 35th birthday is a significant milestone in my life I have made an executive decision to postpone the “official” start date until August 25, 2006, or exactly 1001 days before my 35th birthday.

As I work in the direction of fulfilling My 101 Things in 1001 Days I will record my accomplishments, set-backs, experiences, etc. here in addition to my regular blog entries, so I hope that you travel with me to the finish line.

Stitching has been kind of sparse this week, but I did manage to get some time in on my needleroll exchange piece today. I am still working on the over-one section and have to say that I am really enjoying it.

I have stitched over one a couple of times, but they were small, experimental pieces that I did with the goal of just getting a little practice. This section of needleroll is the first thing I have ever done over one of any substance and it is taking me a little longer than it probably would if I had more experience, but I don’t mind because I am loving it so much.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that I may be only a few stitches away from being totally captivated by over-one stitching! I keep thinking of all the TWs and other pieces that I have that either call for or would benefit from over one and now I can’t wait to start them!

I wish I could show a picture because this piece is really looking great, but since it is for a secret exchange you will have to wait. What I can say though is that this piece is being stitched over one on 28 count and those small stitches do take some getting used to.

The other day I tried to switch from working on “Catch the Wind” which is 32 count over two to the needleroll, but rapidly came to the conclusion that I shouldn’t try and switch between working over two and working over one on the same day just yet. I am near-sighted so I don’t have any problems with close-up work and I think that with some practice I can probably switch from over one to over two with little effort, but for now it is sort of hard adjusting to those itty-bitty over-one stitches after working with the larger over-twos earlier in the day.

Given that I am focusing on robins and exchanges this month and because the over-one stitching is slowing me down a bit, I plan to on work on the needleroll some more tomorrow so that I can be sure to have it ready to mail to XXX by its September 5 post date.