Day 313: Ages ago, a senior friend who was downsizing her crafts stash invited me to take anything I thought I could use. Among the items I selected were several cross-stitch kits, which by now must surely qualify as "vintage," having come down through her hands so far back that she couldn't recall where or when she had purchased them. Most of us crafty types have a few of those hanging around in our closets and trunks, even me. Most of what I took from her has either been worked or passed on, but I had saved this one back "for special." It consists of twelve individual motifs of birds, most in nests or nesting boxes, with two in flight, and is worked on 18-count Aida. The pattern is printed in three colours: black, red and blue. It is very difficult to read in the original, so I had each motif enlarged. Even so, the detail is so fine that I occasionally miss a stitch and have to add it when I notice its absence, an oversight which may cause problems later on if I run short of a colour. That's why I seldom work on kits. The manufacturers seldom seem to take into account that each missed stitch will have a "tail" at either end, consuming more thread than they may have included. Nor do they allow for errors, but thankfully, I make very few of those, or catch them early enough that I can salvage the thread without too much wear on it as it is withdrawn from the canvas. At least with individual motifs, if I run short of a certain colour, I'll be able to substitute something I have on hand, although in this case, not all the threads can be approximated with DMC. A certain amount of thinking ahead is needed here.
