I have had a trying couple of weeks. After processing 500+ high school transcripts in three days, I was actually having nightmares about them. Doing repetitive work like that really burns me out. And just when I thought I was done, more would arrive. Blah.

I can't blame that brain deaded-ness for the counting mistakes I made in the last two projects I've worked on, though. Seeing how I made both those errors during the previous rotation three months ago. I will get to the sheer horridness of that in a minute.

First I want to share the three projects prior to the plague of frogs. Sky in Pirate and Mermaid. More sky in Martyr's. And for a change of pace, water in Jewel of the Sea. And that is where my little amphibian problem began. For some reason I started using 931 for the "9" symbol, rather than the 318 the "9" actually represents. Fortunately, I only did it a couple of times before I came to my senses and realized the thread was much too dark for that particular section. When checking to make sure I was actually using 931 I discovered that I wasn't supposed to be using 931 at all. At least frogging it wasn't too hard since the erroneous x's where easy to spot.

Ah, but my troubles only began there. I was happily stitching along on Dragon Skies, finishing up her head and moving on to her wings. And that is when I discovered that I was three stitches too low! Ack! So I ripped and ripped (not an easy task with over one stitching on opalescent fabric). I was up until 3:00 a.m. and my fingers were numb but I got it all out with little damage to the fabric. I continued on the next day, counting twice from two reference points. And am happy to report I did it right this time. And I'm happier with the way her mouth turned out the second time, so I guess that's a positive note. Isn't she pretty?

Then I moved on to the Days of Advent Sampler. I had a very hard time converting the greens, since there are three separate groups and they have to interact with each other. I ended up stitching and re-stitching the bottom portion of the Adam and Eve block, trying out different combos. I finally decided to use the NPIs for the two darker greens and am now satisfied with my choices. I finished up the grassy knoll and moved back up to the clouds and tree. And discovered that I had started the purple butterfly three stitches too low, thus throwing off everything below it. I really have to wonder what the heck is going on with this! Perhaps I have been cursed and am doomed to start everything three stitches below where it's supposed to be?

But it's even worse than that. I decide to move on to the Noah block and leave the frogging for another time and discovered that everything below the clouds, sun, and moon is a stitch to the right. I throw my hands up in defeat and rip out most of the Adam and Eve block. And start again, counting twice from two reference points. I think it's okay now. I hope it's okay now. I'm hoping to finish the block tonight. Despite have to frog this one multiple times, I'm really enjoying stitching it. And here I had thought I'd gotten over my mascochistic tendencies!

Tomorrow I'm going to pick up Cirques des Cercles. Which should be a nice and easy stitch, seeing how it's all one color and everything is pretty close together. If I find out one of those circles is three stitches too low, though, I might have to seriously re-evaluate my interest in this hobby.