Cheating and built in obsolescence

So I’ve decided to cheat on knitting.

It’s not unusual that I’ll cheat on projects with other projects, in fact, I’m pretty much a project hussy.  I’ve strung some projects on for years. But it’s rare that I’ve tried a new craft. So what have I tried?

Cross stitch.

Cross stitch, of all things. I mean, cross stitch. Possibly the most pointless of all crafts.  Let’s do a quick summary of common crafts and their uses:

Knitting – clothes, blankets, all manner of accessories

Crochet – likewise.

Weaving – cloth to wrap your body in

Tatting – embellish whatever the hell you want.

But cross stitch? Give me a break. When I ask someone what they do with their finished cross stitch they generally look a bit guilty and mumble something about framing it some point in the future. When pressed, pretty much everyone admits to shoving the end product into a drawer, ultimately obsolete.

So why on a earth did I pick up two cross stitch sets at the Spring Knitting and Stitching Craft Show with my mum on Friday? And why has it only been a week and I’m a third of the way through my first kit? MADNESS!! So, like my knitting, and now cross stitch, apparently, let me unpick the reasons why I really really fricking like cross stitch:

1. Novelty – this is something new and I have long harboured short lived addictions to new shiny things. I mentioned I have two kits; we’ll see if kit two ever gets out of the packaging.

2. Theme – it’s a yarn / knitting themed cross stitch. Goddamn it, I couldn’t resist.

3. New skill – ok so it’s hardly rocket science but it’s nice doing something new. And, who knows, I might be able to cross stitch stuff that I’m going to use!

Which brings me onto my final point. Cross stitch, as lovely as it is, is ultimately useless. As I said above, most of my friends’ beautiful cross stitch sits in a drawer. I’ve actually finished the one pictured below and where is it?

On a shelf. I turned to the webs for inspiration however googling for things to do with finished cross stitch produces a painfully short list.

The best one I found was this one. It’s for a lovely tote bag that I’d use for, gee, um, probably knitting projects and stash. Something original like that.

The second one? That’s going on my wall.