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[personal profile] azdesertrose
Let me explain.

In November of 1997 I had to have surgery on my left knee; we weren't actually too sure what the hell was wrong until the orthopedic surgeon actually got in there to take a look, but I couldn't straighten my leg, nor could I flex it past a certain point. As it transpired, my patella-femoral syndrome problem (in which the kneecap moves to where it doesn't belong and erodes the cartilage inside the knee--
I'd been diagnosed with this several years earlier) had caused a tear in my cartilage, and the torn bit had gotten into where my kneecap is supposed to be on my left shin. So, Dr. Dalton cut out the offending bit of cartilage, but it took a while for the bruising around the torn spot to heal, and so I was more or less off my feet for a while.

And (insert gasp of shock) I got tired of reading. I, the bibliophile extraordinaire, got tired of reading.

So I went out and bought a large and complex cross-stitch kit, depicting a mother wolf with three pups, lounging in the snow, with some evergreen-ish trees in the background.

And I worked on it for a time, and then I got to where I could walk about again, and the wolves got to be something I worked on every once in a while. My friend Julie saw the pattern and wanted to copy it, so I loaned her the pattern page.

Which she managed to lose. (She'd just adopted a baby and fairly recently moved into a new house, so it's not completely heinous that she lost my pattern.)

Leaving me with a half-completed project.

A while back, I looked about online and found out that I could order another copy of the pattern from the company that produced it.

Which I promptly forgot about, in the swirl and ruckus of life.

So, now, that I have a fairish amount of time on my hands, I went back to my cross-stitch stuff. I found a pattern that inspired me to want to work on my stitching again, but I want to finish my half-completed projects before I start any new ones.

I'm almost finished with the little one of the three butterflies; I only have the backstitching and the French knots to finish it, then I can wash it and frame it and do something with it. I bought it to make a gift of it to someone who is no longer in my life, so if anyone wants a cross-stitched picture of three butterflies, measuring probably about 5x7 inches, let me know.

But after I've finished the butterflies, I will have nothing left in my cross-stitch box except the wolves.

For which I have no pattern and therefore cannot finish.

And the company that produced it has discontinued the pattern, so I can't order it from them.

In desperation, I Googled the silly thing. And lo and behold, on Ebay, someone was selling the entire kit (which I don't particularly need, but if that's what I have to do to get the pattern, so be it). So I bought it, and it should arrive some time this week.

And then, I thought of my parents' difficulties in getting me one of the things I requested for Christmas, a copy of the movie "Shadowlands" on DVD. It is apparently no longer in print, and you can get it on Amazon, for $35 or so, but it's silly to spend that much on one DVD. If it were one of the extended edition LOTR DVD sets, $35 is not at all ridiculous. But for one DVD of one movie, it's just silly.

So I searched Ebay for it. And lo and behold I found it.

Still sealed.

For $5.99 plus shipping.

I phoned my mother and told her this, and she gave me her credit card number and told me to order it and put it on her card.

So, it too should arrive some time this week or perhaps early next.

Huzzah! Yay for finishing decade-old (or almost) projects, and yay for finding my beloved film on DVD!

Date: 2006-02-05 08:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] myrrhdusa.livejournal.com
Yay!

I have or had (not sure if I pitched it last Spring) a half-done cross stitch of wild animals and ferns. It was a lovely pattern, but I've been carryi8ng it around for ten years or so, and now the aida is too small for my old eyes to bother dealing with. Maybe I should go and see if it's still around, since now I've gotten used to working with reading glasses on.

Date: 2006-02-05 09:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azdesertrose.livejournal.com
My eyes don't like working with it for long periods of time either, and I'm due for a new eyeglasses prescription. However, I swore I'd finish the projects I've got before I start any new ones, and finish them I will. *grin*
From: [identity profile] gothicvampyr13.livejournal.com
I'll take the butterflies, if I ever happen to see you again. lol.

Also, I'm a newbie to cross-stitch, so I have a little question. What are the french knot's for, and whatnot? I have a couple of these little beginner kits, and it has a picture of how to do a french knot (which I still don't get), but not what you're supposed to do with it. Just wondering.
From: [identity profile] azdesertrose.livejournal.com
French knots make big dots, basically. On the butterflies, it makes the ends of the antennae, and dots on the butterflies' wings. In the wolf pattern, they're used to define the wolves' pupils.

It sort of depends on the exact pattern what function the French knots serve. They're also easier than they look.

We should get together and have a stitch 'n' bitch. *grin*
From: [identity profile] azdesertrose.livejournal.com
Do you have my phone number?

My email address is my Yahoo! ID (look at my LJ user profile) with yahoo dot com stuck on the end.

Email me, and I'll email you my phone number so we can make arrangements.

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