Floss Daily

Day 38: One of my favorite needlearts is counted cross-stitch. When I first took it up...must have been half a century ago...I decided to collect all the DMC colors so that I wouldn't have to make a special trip to town when I wanted to start a project. It took a while to build up my stash, money being somewhat scarce, but I reached my goal. I filed them away in three fifteen-drawer cabinets, organizing them by number so they'd be easy to "look up." Just a few months later, DMC added another twenty colors, and one color family in particular crowded the drawer. I reorganized, and of course that meant I had to renumber the drawers as well. Somewhat smarter for the experience, I left some room in each drawer, but I failed to anticipate DMC's next move. They added a whole new series at the end of the numbering system a few years later, and I had to reorganize the collection once again. Later, when they came out with a variegated assortment, I bought a fourth cabinet expressly for "specialty" floss.

If the drawers still seem crowded, it's because I have inherited several floss collections from friends who have given up embroidery or came by them when mom passed away. I seem to have an abundance of red #321 for example, left over from a project I was commissioned to complete, and at least a dozen skeins of black because I enjoy doing blackwork. Any time I find myself at half a skein, I put the number on my shopping list and pick up a spare when I go to town.

Once the collection was complete, it was easy to maintain, only replacing colors when I run short or adding in skeins as new shades are released. You'd think with all that floss, I could match every color in the rainbow, but I often find myself wishing for a purple with just a little more blue, a green just a tad richer or more golden, a slightly warmer brown. You can never have enough color in your day.