Mack Attack

I have completed the main stitching on Miss Mary Mack. I had to do the head and hair in full cross stitches. When you are making a circle (like the face), half stitches just don't work. Now I have to order the tin pin. I know the design will fit across, but I might need some more stitching to get it to fit properly vertically. I was thinking of using either some stitches from the border or putting some silver buttons on it. Teeny-tiny silver buttons. But first I need the tin pin.

I've started stitching on the subway. I have now stitched on every main mode of transportation (plane, train, automobile, bus, and subway). I had been reading Laura Thatcher Ulrich's book The Age of Homespun on my commute (full report when I finish), but I was getting nauseated, which is no way to begin your day. Yesterday, I decided to bring along an ornament to work on. It's not easy to stitch on the bus and subway; there's a lack of space, and trying to keep purses and bags on your lap while you move your arms is no picnic. I'm working on Brown House Studio's Folk Art Topiary from the Just Cross Stitch 2004. It's one of the many ornaments I plan to make for family Christmas presents.

On the subway, a guy was surprised to see me stitching. He marvelled at my ability while the train was "rocking so much." Honestly, the subway doesn't rock as much as commuter rail does (it's warmer underground). I told him that I stitched while driving across country. "You weren't driving?" he jokingly asked. People are so witty.

Nighttime stitching is back to the Souvenir Sampler. My deadline is March 31.

Miss Mary Mack

Miss Mary Mack by La-D-Da stitched on Lakeside Linen "Vintage Nutmeg," 40 ct, with one strand of Kreinik Silk Mori in black. I am doing this as a stitchalong with Chelle and others.

I've never worked on a project and been so aware that the image I was stitching was evoking all sorts of specific thoughts. While I was stitching Miss Mary Mack --having restarted it, since you cannot do this over one with silk mori and stitch a full cross--I thought of so many things. The most obvious is the hand-clapping rhyme itself, Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack/All dressed in black black black. I thought of the girls I used to do those hand-clapping games with: Ashley, and Sue, and Pam, and well, Jessica was too cool to do them, but her too.

Then I remembered this thing on Zoom, "Soandso loves jam but hates jelly." It could have been Miss Mary Mack, but I don't think that's quite right. Children of the 70s? Chime in! It was in the Zoom book that I had, which is probably still in my parents' attic. Anyway, the "joke" was that the person hated one thing but loved something very similar. I can only remember the jam/jelly example. But you can't think of Zoom without remembering Bernadette. "I'm Bernadette!" Cue music, butterfly arms, butterfly arms. Remember that thing she used to do? She was so cool for someone named Bernadette.

Then I was thinking how much I hated it when people used to say "merry-mack" or "mary-mack" for the town I grew up in, Merrimack. The "i" is short, people, like in sick. I was so young to be so annoyed with people all the time (we moved out of Merrimack when I was 10). I know there are other Merrimac(k)s that are pronounced more like "merry" than "meri," but it irked me.

I kept thinking, too, how dense the silk was. I don't mean the actual number of stitches, more the color. It's a matte black and it seems like you can see the light being sucked out of the atmosphere and into that black. And for some reason, that reminded me of Victorian mourning. I think it's the long dress and unfashionable shoes she's wearing. It seems a little Victorian. All that black too.

Which reminded me of a Joyce Carol Oates novel I read. There was a character who was tall and old and dressed rather unfashionably and all in black, if I'm remembering right. I think it's Mysteries of Winterthurn. I can't remember precisely, but there may have been the suggestion that she murdered her child. That part may be confused. I'm not sure I finished the book.

And how could I not think of the Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey. "O is for Olive run through by an awl." That's the only one I can remember. But they're all so sick.

Then I started thinking about the hair. It's very Medusa-like. But then I confused Medea, the mother who fed her children to her husband, with Medusa, the gorgon. And I can't think of women killing their children without reminiscing about my dissertation.

And then it was time to go to bed.

Wherein They Convince Me

I showed the Souvenir Sampler with the too-dated colors to Sissy and the Dude. They liked it. They convinced me that my mother wouldn't like the heritage colors and I have chosen the precisely right, bright, colors. So I am sticking with it. I've done pretty well too. Pictures soon.

Today, I received La D Da's Miss Mary Mack pattern from Wyndham Needleworks with their recommended fabric, Lakeside Linens Vintage Nutmeg. This weekend, I saw that Wyndham had a sale and I saw a couple of patterns I would have liked to add to the stash. But my weekend internet access is well, stolen, and so, not secure enough for placing orders. And this morning the patterns I wanted were gone. Boo hoo. I should just go shopping in my stash.

I was supposed to do some finishing this weekend with Friends Gather, but I was still coughing and that, combined with the codeine, was giving me a wicked headache. Next weekend, the dude is playing in a chess tournament, so I'll have some quiet alone time wherein I can attack some of the projects on my to do list.