Mar 18, 2010

An anniversary, cows, pattern snobs, and a stitching retreat

Yesterday was my second blog anniversary.  To celebrate, next week I'll be giving away a few things - stay tuned.

Emma ran outside and began barking her head off right after breakfast.  Upon investigation, I discovered the cows were in our yard yet again.  Whee.  When they saw me, they took off down the driveway toward the road.  The sheriff has been notified, but who knows where they'll be by the time he arrives.

This morning, while perusing cross stitch message boards, I discovered just how far pattern snobbishness can go.  You've all heard of pattern snobs (or you may be one yourself).  They say things like, "I won't buy a pattern unless it has a real photo of the stitched piece on the cover."  Or, "I won't buy a pattern unless it is in black and white print."  Or how about, "I won't buy a pattern unless it is in leaflet form - no silly chart packs in plastic for me!"  Fine.  Whatever melts your butter.
I ran across the post of a woman complaining about the paper the chart was printed on.  It wasn't heavy enough for her as it "...appeared to be only the thickness of copy paper."  And the photo of the chart wasn't of good quality as it was computer generated and printed on paper and was not a real photo.  And the floss key was printed on a separate piece of paper from the chart which was printed on two sheets of paper.  The lady was miffed that she'd have to tape the two chart pages together.  And with the key on a separate page, she'd have TWO pages in her lap while stitching unless she copied the key onto the pattern by hand.  
Okay, all these problems can be valid depending on your stitching set up.  Frankly, for me, if I like the pattern then I'll find a way to stitch it.  I have a printer/copier here at the house that I can copy or enlarge patterns as I need to for a working copy to stitch from .  And I have been known to tape a key on the bottom of a chart I've cut and taped together as needed. 
If I like the pattern, I'll buy it and stitch it no matter how it is printed or its price (within reason).  I'm stubborn this way.  While I don't particularly care for colored patterns, I have stitched from them.  The only thing that ruffles my feathers is a chart with a lot of errors.
Tomorrow, I'm getting up at o'dark-thirty to drive to Austin to meet up with Mary; we're heading off on a stitching retreat!  We'll meet up with Cindy and Dorothy at the retreat.  Whee-e-o!!  A whole weekend of nothing but stitching!  I'll post all about it on Monday.

4 comments:

Rachel S-H said...

Some people don't want to think outside the box to make it work.

I don't mind multi-page charts. I don't mind thin paper. I don't mind much of anything. I'm OK on errors, even, unless there's a lot of them.

If a designer prints on copy paper, and that keeps a chart affordable, so be it!

Monsoon said...

I have honestly never heard of/ nor encountered a pattern snob. I always thought people should be happen they have the means to get the pattern to start with. Are there really people out there who have nothing better to do? wow. None of my stitching buds, and i guess i avoid the right forums;)

Monsoon said...

happy i mean, not happen

Bette said...

Amen, sister. I find no matter what a designer does, there will always be someone who is unhappy and makes it known to everyone. Me, if I like a design, I'll stitch it no matter what I have to do to the chart.