After an inadvertent two week hiatus, the SBQ is back with the following question:
When you stitch a pattern that you have downloaded do you print out the pattern or do you stitch directly from your computer screen?
When I first discovered cross stitch charts online I didn’t just download them, I printed as many as my ink jet cartridge would allow. However, as time went on and I literally found thousands of patterns online I printed charts as I decided to stitch them. I printed charts for much the same reason that I printed journal articles I found online: I believed it was easier to stitch (or read) from paper as opposed to directly from the computer screen.
Then I moved back to the United States.
Now I am sure you are wondering why this is a significant factor in the whole printing vs. stitching directly from the computer screen dilemma and the reason is that when I decided to move back to the US I opted to leave the charts that I had printed out behind. I had the charts downloaded and burned on disk anyway and it was much easier (and cheaper!) to move them that way than try to move a couple of pounds of paper.
I had every intention of reverting back to the method of printing the charts off as I decided to stitch them, but I ran into a slight problem: I had (and still have) no printer at home. There were times when I could access a printer, but of course this never coincided with a time when I was moved by the urge to stitch one of the charts that I had downloaded. Therefore, I learned to stitch directly from the computer screen and have been doing so quite successfully for about a year now.
I still print out charts that I have downloaded now and then when I remember to put the chart on my flash drive, take it to work, and print it out, but these days I mostly stitch from the computer screen.
The only downfall that I have found is that it is extremely difficult to stitch from the computer screen and watch DVDs on the computer at the same time!