Stitching when You’re Sick

UPDATE MAY 2016: I’m getting over the flu. Not only do I have the flu, so does everyone in my household except the cats. Although recovering, I am definitely too sick to stitch.

I had great hopes yesterday that I could stitch and even picked projects to do, but no go, my hands ache too much.

Since I’ve been getting better every day I’m hoping new posts will be back tomorrow.

Herewith the post:
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In theory having to stay home sick sounds like a great idea, all that time to stitch, but in reality, even if it’s just a bad cold, often your current needlepoint project seems too hard to do.

Just like having a car project, it’s good to have a “stressless” needlepoint project you can do when you want to stitch but don’t want to think.

Your stressless needlepoint should be something small enough that you can feel as if you are making progress on it. That’s good positive reinforcement.

It should not use stitches you don’t know really well. The last thing you want is to mess up the piece by reading the diagram wrong with you foggy brain (I do this often, so I know).

It should use threads you find easy to use with needles big enough not to make stitching stressful. That will make your hands hurt and not be relaxing.

If it’s a painted canvas, it should either be stitch painted or have clear lines. You don’t want to think remember. A good alternative is Bargello with a pattern line stitched. The stitch is always the same and and once the pattern is established, you just follow the line.

Sometimes even the easiest stitching is too hard. That’s when I look at book and think of great new projects. I also like to look at my stitch dictionaries and find interesting stitches and think of where I can use them.

This way we enjoy our needlepoint, even when we think our heads will burst from our colds.