SBQ: About Chartpacks

This week's Stitching Blogger's Question is:

Do you like to buy "chartpacks" that include charms, buttons, and/or beads or do you prefer to gather all materials yourself?

I definitely like the option of a chartpack, but most of the time, everything is automatically bundled with the chart -- which means I don't have a real choice regarding the chartpack. If everything is bundled together, then I have to buy the chartpack if I want the chart.

Since I am just as much a pattern collector as I am a stitcher, I would prefer to spend my money on materials when I am actually ready to start a project, rather than to have my funds tied up during the pattern-collecting phase. For this same reason, the more expensive the items in a chartpack are, the more I want to be able to purchase them separately from the chart.

At the same time, I really appreciate the convenience of chartpacks. It's wonderful to have all the materials you need -- especially hard to find items -- made easily available to you. I also like being able to buy a chartpack that includes enough specialty floss to stitch a design (and enough extra that I'm not going to run short if I make a mistake; this is very important for a chartpack's materials to be truly useful), rather than having to pay for an entire skein of specialty floss.

For instance, Just Nan and Victoria Sampler are two designers who offer chartpacks separately from their charts, and whose chartpacks are also of excellent value because they contain numerous specialty fibers, beads, charms, and so on. I collect patterns from both of these designers -- but I buy the chartpacks when I need them (and keep my eyes open for news of certain patterns going out of print so that I can decide whether or not to pick up the chartpack before that happens). Because I know I can get them separately, I choose not to buy Just Nan or Victoria Sampler patterns from shops who automatically bundle these designers' charts with their chartpacks. (In this case, it's the shop who loses some business from me because they are neglecting to recognize that it's my prerogative to dictate how and when I spend my money.)

All that said, when a chartpack is in the under $10 range, I will generally go ahead and buy it. It's been my experience with chartpacks of this dollar value that I'm getting the items in the chartpack for $4 or less, that the $4 or so I pay for those items is cheaper than what I would pay if I bought the items separately myself, and that the chart and chartpack are probably not available separately. So because I see these chartpacks as a good value even if I don't get around to stitching those designs for a while (or, ahem, ever), I go ahead and buy them ... but I'd still appreciate the choice to buy only the chart in many cases.

Tags: Just Nan, Victoria Sampler, chartpack, chart pack, SBQ

Stitching Retreats (2/7/07 SBQ)

Today's SBQ, suggested by Danielle, is about stitching retreats:

Have you ever been to a stitching retreat?

I've been to several. My first stitching retreats were Heart of Cross Stitch and then the Creative Arts and Textiles Show (CATS) in 2000; I attended both in Pennsylvania because at the time, I lived in New Jersey. Unfortunately, 2000 was the last year for Heart of Cross Stitch.

But CATS, whose name has been changed to the Consumer Arts and Teaching Show, is still running, although sadly they've reduced the numbers and locations of the shows offered down to just one this year. However, CATS offers the largest market open directly to stitchers anywhere in the US so is well worth attending just to shop. It will be held September 27 - 29, 2007 at the Hershey Lodge & Convention Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. You'll find lots more information at the CATS website, which will be updated in the near future with 2007 information. Don't forget to sign up for their newsletter!

As mentioned in previous posts here on my blog, I've also attended other retreats/classes available through the Embroiderers' Guild of America (including opportunities to take classes with the most popular teaching-only designers such as Merry Cox and CA Wells) as well as online classes available through a number of different sources (Elegant Stitch, Swan Sampler Stitchers, Victoria Sampler, Just A Thought from Judy Odell).

Tags: SBQ, Heart of Cross Stitch, Creative Arts and Textiles Show, Consumer Arts and Teaching Show, CATS, HOCS, HOXS, Swan Sampler, Victoria Sampler, Elegant Stitch, Embroiderers' Guild of America, online classes, Merry Cox, CA Wells, Judy Odell, Just A Thought

Winter Hand Care (SBQ from 10/11/06)

Although I do have a few small stitching happy dances in for this year already, they are gifts I can't share with you just yet. <--- The current SBQ asks us to share any current happy dances for this year, but since I have to wait ... while it's still winter and might be helpful to someone, I'll answer an SBQ from last October regarding winter hand care (which was suggested by Lee, whose blog is Lake Stitcher).

As we all know, stitching in the winter can really be rough on the hands. What do you do to treat your hands well in the cold winter months? Do you have any suggestions for creams or soaps? Or perhaps a special regimen that you would like to share?

I've found that as I age, and probably due in part to effects of various health conditions and work environments, my skin has really changed over the past ten to fifteen years. Back in my mid-twenties, I swore by Gardener's Hand Repair, which is manufactured by Earth Therapeutics. I even used this as part of a regimen which eventually cured a very painful, extremely itchy, and exceedingly gross bout of psoriasis I endured for about nine months on the bottoms of my feet.

By my early thirties, though, the Gardener's Hand Repair just wasn't doing it for me anymore. By this time, I was working outdoors year-round for the United States Postal Service as both a substitute rural mail carrier and a city casual (which is basically a substitute city carrier). I usually managed to avoid sunburn, but wind burn was another story, especially during the colder months of the year. Additionally, fingerless gloves were a necessity for handling the mail, which meant my fingers were exposed to the absolute worst of the bitter winters. To top it all off, unless you spend your entire workday doing nothing else other than literally shuffling paper products like I was in this environment, you probably have no idea just how drying paper can be to one's skin. I tried everything I could find on the market at the time in an attempt to save my hands, but with very little luck. My hands didn't fully recover until I'd been away from that job for about a year.

Over the last year and a half or so, I've developed an entirely different skin care regimen which is working very well for me. For all my facial care needs, I use Bioelements products. For all over body care, I'll only use pure olive oil soap now (Olivia is one brand I like); this alone improved my dry hands and cuticles immensely. I also exfoliate my hands and cuticles once or twice a week as needed using OPI Skin Renewal Scrub. For hand lotion, I use A-Mantle (previously called Acid Mantle) by Doak Dermatologics. I also use A-Mantle immediately after shaving (legs and armpits) because it helps prevent itching. (And when I decided to use hair conditioner to replace the shaving cream I ran out of recently, I found my skin was even more soft and less itchy after shaving.)

My First SBQ = First 2007 SBQ

I'm going to start answering the Stitching Blogger's Question (SBQ). It will give me something to write about in between posts containing stitching-related pictures. ;>) Also, it will give me an opportunity to experiment with using categories and/or labels. I think I will also plan to answer older SBQs at the rate of a couple a week; perhaps someone will find my answers useful or of interest along the way, as I have found many times while reading other stitchers' answers to the SBQs.

My first SBQ question is:

Do you dream of running your own LNS/ONS? If so, tell us about your dream. If not, tell us about your cross stitch dream… maybe you dream of designing, dyeing your own floss or fabric, etc.

Hmmm. No, I don't think I dream of running my own LNS. I dream often of having everything available within the worldwide stitching market at my immediate disposal, LOL, but I'm afraid the upkeep of a shop that would meet my wishes as a stitcher would be far more work (and likely much less stitching time than I manage to find now) than I'd want to deal with as an owner. I think I'd be quite happy working full time as an employee at my dream LNS, though!

I wouldn't mind being a designer, but I have little to no talent for designing, and I prefer to dream about things I might actually be able to achieve someday ...

Therefore, I suppose (at least one of) my cross stitch dream(s) would be having enough time to stitch that I start running out of wall space to hang finished projects. Such a time is a long way off, so this is a dream which gives me plenty of room to grow.