Comfort stitching

For me it's been a Dolly Mama that I'm doing for a friend and that's taking forever and a very few lines on a stamped cross stitch quilt top (actually an afghan size) that I started long, long ago.

Lucille

Same - surface work, largely in satin/long-short embroidery. I like to find really complex designs I can just fill in - if you have a young girl, think along the line of Lisa Frank. I have a wonderful piece at home of a jungle scene that is just that that came in some knock off brand coloring kit when my kids were young - I've always wanted to find another!

Mine is currently a Stitch N Zip kit of roses. Essentially needlepoint with 6 strands of floss. But it's mindless and it's in my purse and I can work on it when other things tax my brain. (Was intended to be a case for my Nintendo DS Lite, but I went and bought one before flying last summer. Now I don't know what I'll do with it.)

Donna in Virginia

What a fun topic! I bet we all get lots of new ideas.

I do geometrics. The repetition is soothing, especially if I can work with Watercolors. Currently it is the Season Quilts series by Nancy's Needles. Luscious colors, nice patterns, and easy on the brain.

Pat in Illinois

One of the effects of CFS is that there are times that your brain just shuts down. I discovered that I can crochet granny squares from muscle memory. So, I buy and bag yarn in baby afghan quantities, and when I'm in one of those brain-dead modes, I just go round and round until I run out of yarn, and that's when I know it's the right size.

Eventually, I noticed that socks and sweaters-in-the-round are pretty mindless, too. So, I'll do the ribbing while I'm alert, and then can go around in circles when I don't have two functioning brain cells to rub together. OK, that sometimes results in having to frog a bit when I can think well enough to read the tape measure, but it gives my hands something to do. Then set it aside till I'm functional again to deal with the shaping.

As Donna mentions, I've also rediscovered printed needlepoint for those days. I scored a $30 kit for $6 from the clearance bin over the winter; it's an autumn scene, so as long as I don't use the orange yarn for the sky, I don't have to be too worried about what color goes where; using the wrong shade of orange for a patch of leaves won't matter.

And, the really good news is ... since buying it, I have not had to work on it, because I haven't had a day THAT bad. I've had to do simpler CCS that wasn't too mentally taxing, but I have, nonetheless, been able to think well enough to translate a chart to fabric. :)

I knit because it is very portable and I can do it with out looking. Scarves can just fly off my needles.

I'm with Cheryl and Karen C - I crochet, because I can do that without thinking.

Sometimes I spend the first part of the evening cross-stitching, and when my eyes start drooping or I'm seeing double, if I'm not quite ready to go to bed because I want to watch the news, I can usually crochet for another 15 minutes or half an hour.

sue

Comfort Stitching This reminds me of a bad Montana ice storm DH and I were driving in a couple of years ago. We slid off the Interstate and landed in the snow upside down. We were okay, sturdy Texans that we are, but it was goodbye to our pretty white Ford Explorer. Besides our truck being totaled, I developed a bad case of being scared to drive or even ride in a vehicle. I sought the comfort of cross-stitching a Bible verse. It made me feel better and a little braver. The verse was, John 14:27. "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." I later gave it away to a friend who was moving to South Dakota and was a little scared about how it would turn out for her. I told her that if she ever found someone who needed it more than she did then she had my permission to pass it on. I may have told this story here before but to me that was definitely comfort stitching. aeromom

I knit and crochet all the time , it is a part of my life like eating and sleeping ,, it is a comfort of sorts ,, but not THE COMFORT mirjam

That is a great story.

Cheryl

I haven't picked up a needle (except to mend the seam in a nightgown) in months. I am back in the hospital again, came in Monday, as I caught a little chill two weeks ago and it went straight to my lungs. I guess I never really recovered from the pneumonia I had in June. I keep on reading the boards in the hope of having lots of ideas once I am fit again.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Take care of yourself and this time, get healthy all the way!

Sorry to hear you've been so ill Mary. Get well soon!

Stitching just doesn't appeal to me when I'm sick. I do, however, enjoy looking at magazines and patterns. I usually put a big stack by the bed with a pad of stickies to mark patterns or recipes I'd like to try when I'm better. I very seldom follow up and make anything, but that isn't the point.

Gridding is good for low energy days. So is straight, uncomplicated knitting. My brain cells don't want to do anything when I'm sick or depressed.

Dora

Love this topic, I'm just now getting back to stitching after about 2 years away...short story is two cross country moves in 18 months...I was barely able to find my socks let alone my stitching supplies. But I'm feeling a little settled now that we've been in NC for 4 months. Got my supplies out of storage but I am finding it difficult to adjust my eyes to the 28 ct lugana I was working on. So to get the "feel" back, I'm doing a set of Christmas ornaments for my sisters-in-law and new nieces--in-law. Nice simple little sheep on 14 ct. with some colonial knots for the wreath around their necks. Doing 7 of them as a set is very repetitious but just what I need right now. That said I've already been to my LNS for fibers for my next project.

Millie

I had one year where I moved house twice and moved office twice (my last days with the first company were spent moving them). I learned that you pack a box with crucial stuff that goes on your lap in the car (instant coffee, instant oatmeal, can opener, sheets, shampoo, towel, 2 each spoon/mug/bowl). I always put a little stitching project in there.

Cell phones sometimes are quirky in a new location and it becomes your lifeline to the rest of the world.

Lucille

True. I also didn't mention the clean underwear and toothbrushes. :)

On the subject of phones ... our office switchboard used to go down when the power went out, but the computer modem still worked (it didn't go through the electronic switchboard). We stashed a cheap phone in the file cabinet so that we could, in an emergency, plug it into the phone jack for the modem, and call Main Office to tell them what was going on, so that they would not panic when they couldn't reach us by either phone or fax.

Then we'd call my house and see if the answering machine picked up. If it did, that meant the lights were on here, and we could continue working from my dining room. If it didn't, we'd see if my boss's answering machine picked up, and continue operations from his place.

Hi! I dare to say that in my case the comfort stitching is pre-painted Aida (yes, Aida!) or Penelope canvas without any strict timeline. A few days ago I had to finish a canvas in one night - literally! And it took all night to finish it! Literally, all night! I thought it was a matter of a few hours and that I could sleep, but I couldn't sleep at all that night. Oh well...at least I got my promise fulfilled. But the price I am paying now is that I'm stuck with knitting and I make my traveling needlepoint project only when I am waiting for someone or something to happen. Maybe my desire to stitch more than that will come back one day. Best: Pirjo