This is Chunky. It’s a counted cross stitch kit which I purchased way back in 1989/1990. From memory, I think it was a DMC kit called Fluffy Kitten and is possibly on 18hpi Aida. It took months and months to complete. Well, more like years really because I was a bit disappointed with it. It finally got framed in 1994.
It was the first counted cross stitch project that I had ever attempted. And yes, I made mistakes right from the start, hence the disappointment. Unfortunately, I didn’t know I had got it wrong until half of the face had been pretty much completed. There was no way I was going to unpick any of it at that stage!
My first mistake was not really understanding what was meant by two strands of the fabric. My second was not realising that the threads can be separated into 6 individual strands and when the chart said use one strand it didn’t mean a whole thread of all 6 strands.
These two seemingly trivial errors led to two unavoidable facts. The finished article is about twice the size that it should have been, chunkier in the face than it should have been and I started to run out of threads and space on the fabric.
I had already put a fair bit of time and energy into this so binning it wasn’t an option. Instead, I bought more threads in colours which were as close a match as possible and used one strand of old and new together. When the old finally ran out, I switched to two strands of the new colours. This has led to the feet having a fluffier appearance than the rest of him. I also had to miss whole rows of stitches out and mingle a few lines together to keep the shape, particularly with the ears and the legs.
So all in all, it could have been a bit of a disaster. However, it did teach me something. Never give up. Mistakes are just things which didn’t go according to plan and can be rectified. You might not be able to fix it so you can go back to your original plan but, they can be turned around to be a positive change. Resolving mistakes might even lead to something being a lot better than expected. Overall, I’m happy with Chunky. He's my monster cat. He isn’t perfect, but then neither am I.
This is the one I am working on at the minute. It’s called Born Free and is part of DMC’s Pollyanna Pickering collection. It’s on 28hpi evenweave and is currently on track to be the right texture and size. ☺
There are some small unintentional deviations from the chart in there. These are just my way of adding a personal touch!
Bye for Now
Olly
It was the first counted cross stitch project that I had ever attempted. And yes, I made mistakes right from the start, hence the disappointment. Unfortunately, I didn’t know I had got it wrong until half of the face had been pretty much completed. There was no way I was going to unpick any of it at that stage!
My first mistake was not really understanding what was meant by two strands of the fabric. My second was not realising that the threads can be separated into 6 individual strands and when the chart said use one strand it didn’t mean a whole thread of all 6 strands.
I had already put a fair bit of time and energy into this so binning it wasn’t an option. Instead, I bought more threads in colours which were as close a match as possible and used one strand of old and new together. When the old finally ran out, I switched to two strands of the new colours. This has led to the feet having a fluffier appearance than the rest of him. I also had to miss whole rows of stitches out and mingle a few lines together to keep the shape, particularly with the ears and the legs.
So all in all, it could have been a bit of a disaster. However, it did teach me something. Never give up. Mistakes are just things which didn’t go according to plan and can be rectified. You might not be able to fix it so you can go back to your original plan but, they can be turned around to be a positive change. Resolving mistakes might even lead to something being a lot better than expected. Overall, I’m happy with Chunky. He's my monster cat. He isn’t perfect, but then neither am I.
This is the one I am working on at the minute. It’s called Born Free and is part of DMC’s Pollyanna Pickering collection. It’s on 28hpi evenweave and is currently on track to be the right texture and size. ☺
There are some small unintentional deviations from the chart in there. These are just my way of adding a personal touch!
Olly
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