Cross Mondays Week #1

I've missed doing Knitting Fridays, I guess I have missed working on a project but I have also missed having a weekly post to write where I could just say a little bit about what I have been up to that week without worrying if it could be a whole post on its own.

So what's with Cross Mondays?  I love cross-stitch.  It was the first craft that I discovered for myself at 13, it doesn't require too much skill (it really is just stitching crosses) so I didn't need to be taught, and the patterns are all coded and are like little puzzles which appealed to me.  I remember doing lots of teddy-bears at that age but lots of cross-stitch is a bit cutezie  and old ladyish and I slowly stopped doing them.

Along came my first niece in 2003, and I stitched a large Victorian sampler for her baptism.  My parents celebrated their Ruby Anniversary in 2005 and again a Victorian sampler was stitched.  Then my nephew appeared in 2006 and I stitched again, this time a Noah's Ark as I wasn't sure he'd be so keen on the Victorian samplers as he grew!  Niece number 2 came along in 2009 and another Victorian sampler was stitched.

Little Owl arrived in 2012, and I haven't stitched.  The reason is that my Mum thought she might have a go.  So I gave her a year to get started, the whole of 2013!  Nothing happened.  It's not a surprise.  My Mum is a great knitter but she really doesn't like sewing.  She has many knitting projects that have been sat waiting to be sewn together for years.  Things she was making for me as a child.  

I knew Little Owl's cross stitch was going to be mine to do.  But by waiting a year it has taken off the pressure.  Every now and again, I would browse the internet and add to my Pinterest board, knowing that a decision wouldn't need to be made yet.

As the end of 2013 approached, I started to get excited about the prospect of stitching again.  I kept looking but I couldn't find 'the one'.  There was one I really liked, but it didn't have the space to write Little Owl's name or date of birth.  There was some that did, but I didn't like them nearly as much.

Really, I had made up my mind.  So last week when I visited the Knitting and Stitching Show I was really looking for the Historical Sampler Company as it was their Pot Sampler that I had fallen in love with.

The lovely ladies on the stand not only gave me advice on how to extend the pattern but said they would send me a kit with a bigger piece of fabric so that there was space for my design. That was on Sunday, and I had my kit by Wednesday!

And I got started straight away!