Thursday, January 14, 2021

A Special Kind of Torture

This may come as a complete surprise to some of you, but I suffer a wee bit from OCD. Mind you, it only manifests itself in the most useless of ways....not, for example, when it comes to housekeeping, promptness, social correctness, etc. but in totally annoying and counterproductive ways: I may have a counter full of "projects" and what-not, but the spices in my cupboard are arranged alphabetically. And, well, I expect an equal degree of "perfectionism" when I stitch...including the chart design.  And that is how it came to be that I am in fits of frustration with my newest project.


It started with the "R"....

Three stitches on the bottom left here....

....but only two stitches on the bottom left here.

Ok...easy enough to "fix," and certainly a more-than-forgivable error.

But then came the g's....

Version 1 vs. Version 2:


But wait for it....yes, there's a third version too:


Letter "u" was also graced with three different versions (and two versions in the very same name!):


And then there's the letter "A":


Since these "A"s begin the names, one can't as easily just add or subtract from them without affecting the left margin of the piece....

Oh...and speaking of that left margin:


"George" and "Rebecca" are in one space from "Ann," "Margaret," and "Alice"
(so, I guess who cares if I added "feet" to Alice's "A" 😕) ... and "George Burroughs' name is the longest of all the names so, if anything, it should be not be indented.

And speaking of George's long name, why are there 4 spaces between his first and last name (especially since his last name almost touches the leaves next to it), but only two between Rebecca's first and last name?


 And why do others have 3? And one even has 5???

And why do these two "stalks" (or whatever they are) not line up??


Then there is this wonky space where it shouldn't be....




Not a big deal in and of itself, but it throws off the reference points/spacing of things all around it since it doesn't go across the entire chart.

And dear Ann Foster....


This piece is meant as a memorial to those hanged as witches in Salem in 1692.  Giles Cory was pressed to death, not hanged, but he is always included with the group since he was killed for being a witch during the hysteria.

But Ann??? Nope....she was neither hanged nor pressed.  Yes, she was accused of witchcraft and jailed for it...but she died in jail (as many did).  (Many accused witches remained in jail long after the witch hysteria ended and the hangings stopped because their families could not pay the fees charged by the jail for their keep.)  

But MIA is Martha Carrier....who was, indeed, hanged as a witch....on August 19, 1692...the same day as the two Georges and the two Johns were hanged.  She was the only woman hanged that particular day and now she has been edged out her rightful place in history.

Are you still with me here??

No, I haven't burned my work at the stake...but I have resigned myself to the fact that there are just too many inconsistencies to remedy.  I have ripped poor George's name out more times than he has been disinterred and reinterred.

I have made uniform the "R's" and the "A's," the "g's" and some of the "u's" (but not all).  I have lined things up on the left margin, but have not made consistent the spacing between names since I had already stitched a great deal of the stalks to the right before this bugged the crap out of me I noticed this. 

Most importantly, I have given Martha Carrier her rightful place on the list. (Sorry Ann.)

And I bet you thought when I said "special kind of torture" I was referring to the hangings...,






22 comments:

Prims By The Water said...

Knowing that your family member was among those hanged, I know this is very frustrating to you. Who designed this god awful piece of work? So glad you took the liberty to change it to what it should be. Hopefully you will be able to show us the entire piece once finished correctly. Janice

Olde Dame Holly said...

I am sorry but I had to laugh; your language, ire, and descriptions are all so droll!

Edgar said...

I'm right there with you... and will fix oddly placed, misplaced, missing, and remove extra stitches all the time. Most of the egregious errors I try to fix with a little recharting before I start, but usually don't see until I get there in the stitching process and have to fix sorta on the fly. This chart seems really filled with what come across as mistakes and not very well thought out for visually lining up......

Sandra said...

I don't think I suffer from OCD but these sort of things annoy me too. If I am stitching a band sampler for instance, I have to have each band centred and letters such as you describe have to be corrected. I don't know if it's just laziness on the part of the person charting it or if they think it will make the design look more prim, either way it's something that we can correct if we are aware of it from the start. Happy stitching.

Robin said...

Frustrating regardless of the chart.

acorn hollow said...

wow that is a lot of corrections. I think we all have things that bug them and let the rest go. I know I do but a pile of wool ready to tip over fine by me.
cathy

susan hemann said...

Oh my!! I would have given up and have been furious. Counted cross stitch is all about precision. And no it's not OCD.

Worst of all is the inaccurate history.

You must have the patience of a saint to finish it.

Shrimpton and Perfect said...

Bloomin eck it's enough to drive you off your noddle. Really exasperating for many reasons. If you manage to get it finished to your standards it will be a wonderful piece and so well thought through by you that it will mean something. Good luck with it, remember to breathe......
Jean
x

Julia said...

I can't say that I'm OCD but this kind of stuff would drive me mad enough to contact the pattern manufacturer and complain big time. After all, there's so much work and time going into stitching this piece that it should be done well.

If they use a computer to prepare these patterns, it should be easy to fix before they are put on the market. I hope that you can find a solution. It's such a nice piece.
Hugs, Julia

Saundra said...

I wouldn't buy another pattern from that person EVER again. Damn glad I'm not a cross stitcher!!!!!! Now don't you think hooking is a little more enjoyable than that piece of crap you're working on right now? Pull out that beautiest beast and finish him.

marly said...

I'm impressed about the spices.

Maybe an attempt to appear as a reproduction? But the same letter within the same name would probably be... the same. I think they are more intentional to appear early than errors. Totally understand your frustration though, and changing to become acceptable to the OCD eye is necessary.

Dicky Bird said...

You had me at "OCD" but, as it goes, you lost me with patterns...ahahhaa...

Jean Bee said...

Oh wow...at first I thought you were designing the pattern...but you purchased it! I can't believe someone would sell a pattern like that. I don't get much stitching done..I'm more of a collector of patterns...but now I'll start looking at them more closely for sure! I'd never heard of pressing someone to death...until I saw the terrorists in D C last week trying to do it.

JustGail said...

I can see the letter differences if, as Marly said, an attempt to appear like a reproduction of something. Especially if it were to try and reproduce handwriting. But the font looks more like typewriter, so that should be consistent. Hand printing perhaps? But I so agree, leaving off Martha Carrier and including Ann Foster is not cool!

I did find an image on line, and it looks like whoever stitched that one corrected all the letter and alignment things you noted, but not Ann vs. Martha.

I'm working on a Statue of Liberty, and I had to redo the hand holding the torch a bit, and will be reworking the hand holding the tablet. As charted, some of those fingers just look too odd.

Wendy @ Ravenwood Whimzies said...

Cannot believe the inconsistency! That would drive me crazy too...and gee...you pay good money for patterns, you expect them to be done correctly.

Ms Peppercorn said...

I have recently returned to cross stitching and I am being constantly reminded of how stupid I can be about the simple task of counting squares. I ask myself why I would think that looking through a magnifying light to try and pierce nearly microscopic holes in unevenly woven linen with floss that tangle if you breathe on it would be relaxing? So I feel your pain if the chart is adding to the bedlam. I have done an SAL with that artist and I’m thinking that she is less concerned with lettering and spacing than she is with getting the overall design to express her creative essence. But then adding your changes to make the piece suit you is something she would encourage. Again, Love your posts.

WoolenSails said...

I am the same way, I call it making life easier and more productive, being organized is just smart.
I know when things are not working and I get frustrated, it is easier to put it aside and step back and then I can come back and be more focused.

Debbie

Jennie in GA said...

Think I would have just tossed that one. Kudos for your persistence.

Rugs and Pugs said...

That would make me crazy, too.
NO WAY do you want to stitch the Marine Sampler that I did with all the errors. It would surely push you over the edge.

yaya said...

I don't do cross-stitch..or rug hooking...or just plain sewing. Anytime I try something artsy I have to call it arts and crap. However, I applaud your creativity and desire to give honor to those wrongly accused. I hope the end result will be good or at least not bug you! You're not OCD... except for that alphabet spice thing!😘

Jan Hebert said...

I love Ms Peppercorn's gracious explanation of the artist's intent. I agree though that it was an error to not include poor Martha in the list! Jan in MA

Kay G. said...

OCD? I must have it too then because all that you said would annoy me too. I am so fascinated with history, have you always known this about your ancestor being one of those executed in Salem? I just found out a story of an ancestor who was "transported" to America for stealing a petticoat in London. If you returned within 7 years, it was the death penalty. He did so, and was hanged at Tyburn Tree. He left behind a wife, heavily pregnant who visited him every day in prison. That gives me chills! If that baby had not been born...who would I be? So, pretty interesting to me.