Wrestling With Mermaids

I should have known.

In the wee pre-dawn hours this morning, with my eyes finally blurred with sleep, I leaned over and looked up at the clock: 2:45 a.m.

Yikes.

 That's late even for an insomniac like me.

I rubbed my eyes and shook my head.

I should have known.

{"A Mermaid's Longing"}

Mermaids are nothing but trouble.

Oh, yes....they live up to their legendary reputations of alluring beauty and temptation, but trouble nonetheless.

As a general rule, mermaids (and mermen for that matter) were, historically considered dangerous to man.  Their siren songs have lured many a hapless sailor to his death.  If offended, a mermaid could throw a heck of a temper tantrum (rivaling me in my toddler years):  wreaking havoc in the the form of floods, storms and other disasters.  Their gifts, though beguiling, usually brought misfortune.

{"A Sailor's Delight" by William Holbrook Beard c. 1891}

To see a mermaid on a voyage was an omen of shipwreck.

And when I was enticed to stitch The Mermaid of Salem Bay, I was surely headed for a shipwreck.

Mermaids are not typically my "thing," but how could I resist? This beautiful selkie is called "The Mermaid of Salem Bay" for crying out loud.  (Did I say that already?)  And I have been looking for a few nautical/coastal-ish things for the lake house. How more apropos could it get? How much more of an omen did I need?

But I should have known.

Nothing good can come from a witch of the sea.

It started with this: 

{Sorry for the blurriness, but hey...I'm going on very little sleep here....}

The design is from one of my very favorite (and very trusted) Italian designers, so I assumed the "1 on 2" was just a lingual faux pas and it really meant to be 1 over 2.  

But....1 over 2 on 30 count???

Nonetheless, I dove in.  (Get it, "DOVE" in??)

After a few nights of stitching, I really began to question my assumption as I did not like the coverage of the floss.  So I broke down and messaged the designer.  

She immediately replied and begged my forgiveness and stated the model had actually been stitched 2 over 2.

So...the frogging began.  (Notice a watery theme here??)

An entire stitching night of freakin' frogging.

And then I started over.

I liked the coverage better....BUT, soon ran out of the skein of floss I had started with from my stash for the green portions of her tail: Gentle Arts "Mountain Mist."

NP...I went to my LSN and bought more....

Except that it wasn't the same green....even with all the variations in the variegation, the tones were off....completely off.

So...I ordered more skeins of the floss online...from several different sources...only to encounter even MORE variations, none of which were the same as my original skein.

Heck...I threw caution overboard (ok...I won't say it...) and forged on.

 BUT, after many nights stitching, I began to be dissatisfied with all of the colors of the piece.  They looked (at least to me) NOTHING like the model...and it was the sultry siren of the model after all that had lured me into this. However, I was stitching on a specialty linen that cost a pretty lira...ummm...euro...and could not risk ruining it by ripping everything out.

Besides, I don't have one of those slick lift n' snip things that some stitchers have. 😉

Then I got to the 1/4 ~ 1/2 ~ 3/4 stitches. 

I have been stitching for a long, long, time...and have done complicated specialty stitches in my day...even was proficient at Hardanger...but I have never quite figured out how one knows by the symbols given if something is a "1/4" stitch, a "1/2" stitch or a "3/4" stitch. 

And...why...WHY...would you have two little "x"s representing one in a single square like this...where no backstitching even goes?  

Someone enlighten me please??  I get it when you're sharing a "square" between two different colors...or when you are trying to add definition and shape...but hmmm...I think I missed a memo somewhere along the line.

And then last night (a/k/a this morning to some of you), this happened:

Me thinks my eyes must be permanently damaged because I cannot rightly discern any true difference between the symbol used for the "Freedom" and the one for the"Blueberry" backstitching on the legend.

Sometimes if the siren sings loud enough, the symbol for "Blueberry" looks a smidgeon thicker and/or darker than the one for "Freedom," then I look away from the legend to the actual pattern and those dark lines look all the same.

I should have known: If you wrestle with a mermaid, you're not going to win.

(Anyone in need of any Mountain Mist floss??)