My Secret Old Lady Pastime

I have a secret that I've been slowly letting those close to me know about, but it's time to let the world know, because I am not ashamed:

I LOVE COUNTED CROSS-STITCH

What is counted cross-stitch?  It's a fiber art medium where designs on a canvas are produced through a series of X's (or crosses) stitched into the fabric.  You might recall seeing counted cross-stitch designs in your grandmother's home, because it seems to be something popular primarily with a generation 50 years older than me.  Like many things popular with the elderly, cross-stitch may seem less that useful to your average 31-year old when viewed superficially, but on a closer look it's clear there are many benefits to sitting and stitching.  It's a very low impact activity, it won't tweak your back like skiing or require days of recovery like running.  Cross-stitching stimulates the brain as you work to find the best, most efficient way to stitch your pattern with each color.  Plus counting continues to be an important life skill.  Finally, cross-stitching gets the creative juices flowing because you're actually creating something stitch by stitch and skein by skein.  It may take days or weeks for the picture to emerge, but as the final design takes shape the delight of adding more stitches grows.

My most recent project, people on the beach

None of the benefits of cross-stitching that I listed above comes close to my favorite reason for cross-stitching: it makes me feel closer to my Grandma Fisher.  My grandma was a very talented cross-stitcher.  She was particularly talented at stitching patterns of LDS prophets in various shades of sepia (something I've never come close to being able to do) and completing large poems and quotes.  My grandma finished a cross-stitch project for pretty much every life event her children (all six of them) and grandchildren (almost 30 born before she passed away) celebrated: birth, special birthdays, weddings.  She was really gifted at letting her grand kids know she thought about them often.

Some projects I've got from my grandma

Grandma Fisher passed away when I was 15 and one of my greatest regrets in life is that I didn't get to know her better while she was around.  Grandma had rheumatoid arthritis for much of her adult life and as she got older dealt with repeated bouts of pneumonia.  My sister was really close to Grandma, they seemed to have many common interests, among them was a passion for "The Price Is Right."  I was afraid Grandma just might die at any moment and aside from cross-stitching I didn't think we had much in common.  I mistakenly thought that if I got to know her too well I'd be much too sad when she passed away; I know, it's ridiculous, everyone is really sad when their grandparent passes.  When she died I was particularly distraught that she might not have known how much I loved her.  Who knows how I ended up with all my grandma's cross-stitch thread and patterns (I think Liz got a rabbit fur coat; there were also some original joints that had been replaced up for grabs), but it's an awesome reminder of a connection I shared with my grandma.

Grandma and Grandpa Fisher

When I sit down to start a new project I get to go through the four boxes of thread I was left with.  I love all the colors (so many options, so vibrant), but I also enjoy noticing the carefully labelled sections that came from my Grandma.  As I finish each skein of yarn I find the cardboard holders she taped over to make sure the thread was transferred smoothly.  It gets me a little teary eyed, to tell the truth, while I sit and feel some kinship with a relative I haven't seen in 15 years.  I like to imagine that my grandma felt the similar joys in zoning out to focus on a project and finally finishing something that I feel.  When I spend an afternoon stitching and watching "Sherlock" I can imagine that she felt a similar level of joy hanging out with my grandpa and putting together something beautiful.  It would be awesome to sit down for a talk now so I could thank my grandma for all that she taught me, it's so nice to have a sit-still type hobby.  Finding that potential commonality has been a blessing, but it's really difficult to describe.

Carefully labelled cross-stitch thread I inherited from my grandma

As I work through a cross-stitch project I remember all the things my grandma taught me about stitching: start in the middle, starting and finishing a thread without knots, remembering to make the back look as good as the front.  I like to sit back and watch a little TV, marveling at how Grandma was able to complete large, ornate patterns when her hands must have hurt due to the arthritis.  Stitching is also a good time to contemplate what a great family I've got.

The big project

 Cross-stitching is a good time to be methodical.  The back of a project should look as neat as the front, so you shouldn't be dodging all over the place.  Pacing is important, going too fast or forgetting where you were inevitably leads to knots (which have to be untied or the back won't look good).  And it requires some focus to keep count of where you are.  I think cross-stitching is the perfect way to simultaneously keep my brain running while decompressing from the day's activities.  Plus it's the only craft that I have any skill at and it's nice to feel like I'm good at doing stuff.

Unfortunately, this craft I enjoy so much has left me with a number of Precious Moments scenes I don't have any intention of framing and hanging

So there you have it, I love cross-stitching.  It's an important family connection and lots of good fun.  Call me domestic if you will, I'm no longer ashamed.  However, I am still left with a number of silly, completed cross-stitch projects.  I'm not sure why, but I don't enjoy Precious Moments pictures, despite having stitched several (I think it's the eyes, sad looking babies doing grown up thing, something's wrong).  I've got lots of beach themed cross-stitch projects too that I feel just don't match the vibe of my decorating scheme (they're far too polished to sit along with the pictures of wetlands I've taped to my walls).  While I'm on the subject of it, I highly recommend those of you reading from the Logan area take up cross-stitching because the selection of patterns at the craft store is stupidly small, maybe if we pool our collective interest they'll stock up on patterns for more than just tea towels.

More ocean scenes... More things I probably won't hang up