By the mid-1980s I had been doing cross stitch and other forms of embroidery since I learned them at school (yes, they did used to teach these skills in school) several decades ago earlier, but I had never tried counted cross stitch. I was visiting family when my sister-in-law took me into a craft shop and I came out with a pattern, fabric and floss to create my first design, the one that appears at the top of this blog. Since then counted cross stitch has become one of my favorite types of embroidery.
As I worked through my first design, enjoying every stitch, I thought about how relaxing it was, and how the stitching process teaches patience. You want to be sure you produce your best work so you take the time to make sure you are stitching in the right place. You count and count again, over and over, yet somehow it is not a tedious process although it sounds tedious!
Over the years I’ve spoken with stitchers who, although not noted for their patience found that doing counted cross stitch taught them to be patient, and if you make a mistake, well, it’s often possible to “adjust” neighbouring stitches to avoid unpicking your work. And they confirmed what I suspected, that doing counted cross stitch, and presumably other kinds of stitching, did, indeed, teach them patience.
Vivienne
