Project that has tried your patience the most

[Ally]

Just out of curiosity, what project have you done that you've completed/completing/threw to the back of your craft box that has made you think that maybe it's not worth the bother? Right now I'm getting annoyed at the Hogwarts crest pattern for using an unholy amount of black (two frickin' skeins for the first three page! And those pages aren't even stitched through!) but I've also given up on crochet projects because they were too small for me to navigate. So, what's irritated you?

[RedCloakLife]

I'm beginning to feel that anything "Monkey Island" related is cursed. I'm working with my husband to make a Monkey Island-themed music box that keeps getting put off, and I fought with a similarly themed cross stitch pattern for weeks before finding this board and someone wonderful to help me with it!

[lcockitt]

Probably a DMC kit where I messed up and did 3/4 stitches instead of half stitches as I was a noob and didn't understand the instructions! I decided to stop starting new projects and finish some old ones and took this one out... and then put it away again. I struggled working with the metallic threads, and it also has seed beads which are a nightmare to add! Oh, and I ran out of 939 - probably because I was doing 3/4 stitches. I keep thinking I should go back and complete it... but then something else grabs my attention.

Spoiler

Wizard.jpg (894.8 KiB) Viewed 4543 times

Clear seed beads don't show up too well... and the bottom left corner shows how the background would look if I'd done half stitches properly!

[CraftySasha]

I have a feeling that my current humongous project is going to be one that lasts my lifetime and will make me want to rip my hair out.

Storytime:
I found a neat looking cross stitch kit online that I fell in love with and started looking around price-wise to make sure I find the best price before I bought it. This kit was 6 meters long. Well, in my research, I unfortunately discovered that the entire project is actually 22 meters long, and this 6 meter long kit is just a small section of the whole thing. Of course, I then started looking around at prices to buy the entire thing (I can't help myself). I found where the best price would be, but decided to hold off until I could save up some moneys, since it would be more than I had available to me at the time. A couple weeks later, it went on sale from another seller, and I was able to get it $100 cheaper than I had seen anywhere else, so I went ahead and used a big chunk of my credit card since I was getting such a good deal.
I have started working on it, but this thing is huge! When working on it, I have a big bolt of aida on my lap that can get uncomfortable at times (and can get hot, too!). I need to find someone to design some kind of stand that I can use for this thing.
I'm almost done with page one! Only 278 more to go...

Google 22 meter cross stitch. You'll find it!

[Ally]

Just googled it CraftySasha! And I have to say... holy mother of God that is a big cross stitch! Beautiful, but wow, I don't even want to think about how long that would take to complete, though I'm impressed the woman in the picture managed it in three or so years. Here I was thinking the Epic Pokemon patterns were crazy! How many colours does it end up using?
Edit: Just found a site with the full kit for sale (God, I hope you got it at the sale price I'm seeing it as!) and they estimate it taking between 248-297 days to complete! What, do they think cross stitchers are wizards? I'm sure even your most proficient stitcher couldn't manage speeds like that!

[CraftySasha]

Total there are 49 colors. Lots of tans and greens.
There is no way I could ever finish this in 3 years. Not stitching it by myself. I would have to quit my job and work on this thing 12+ hours a day. I'm probably going to post pictures of my progress one page at a time on my blog. I'll have page one done soon!

I think I got a good price. I haven't been able to find the kit anywhere as cheap as I got it. Out of curiosity, though, how much were you seeing it for? Do you have a link?

[Ally]

I'm surprised there's only 49 colours. Sounds far more manageable though!
Here's the link I'm looking at: http://www.cphobby.com/classic-huge-chi ... tival.html

[CraftySasha]

Oh goodness! I actually got it for about 1/3 that price, so I am feeling much better. Whew!
Another thing that makes this much more manageable is that the grid and the design are precision printed on the cloth. Normally I don't like this as much, but once I have everything stitched, the printed part will wash off with water. This is a life-saver, too, since I don't have to look at the pattern every couple stitches.

[Ally]

Oh good! I was so worried for you when I saw all those kits on that site were half off! You must have gotten a really good deal on it!
I don't know that I'd want to tackle something so huge but from what you're describing it does seem... at least somewhat manageable! At least the colour count isn't too outrageous, and having the design printed on must help some. Out of curiosity, how much did the kit weigh when you got it? I can't imagine a bolt of fabric coming in too lightly!

[CraftySasha]

The whole package weighed about 32 pounds. It had the bolt of fabric, all the floss (tons of it!), about 30 needles, and 2 books containing the pattern.
The one thing I didn't like is that they had 2 floss palettes, but they were just laminated card. Those certainly won't hold up over the years it will take me for this project, so I bought some yarn sticks online to organize my floss. I love them, they are awesome!