Sometimes Needlepoint Saves Me

I've had a bunch of stressful days. Nothing serious, just all website related.

Indeed all website related, and yesterday afternoon I spent most of my classtime very near tears.
I left class feeling frustrated, disappointed and directionless, as I face starting over yet again and learning another program for my website.

It will be my third one.

The first one was terrible. No, that's not fair to say; it was a great program but it is for people who live well in a box.
It forced me to line up everything in a tidy fashion. I know, I know, everything about web design is better when the elements are all lined up. But one can't go against one's grain and I was unhappy with everything I did in that program.

So I left it.

Then last summer along came a new program that was everything I wanted. I followed its progress and I played around with it from time to time, then In the last 3 months I began work on it in earnest.

I've worked nearly daily on it and I was so excited, I got exactly what I wanted, all on my own, no templates, no lined-up boxes, no unalterable padding and margins, etc.

And then it all came crumbling down around me. The program is in beta. Now in beta 6. It was supposed to come into general release in 'Early 2012'. I've followed its progress and my guess is, it will come into general release way too late for me. So with colossal disappointment I made up my mind I have to change programs yet again.

Now I've found a program which looks great. The tech support is unreal! I asked a question yesterday morning and had an answer back, as promised, in less than an hour. Remember, I was asking on Sunday morning. Amazing! Friendly, to-the-point and helpful. I took a short course as an overview and it looks very much easier than the other two programs I tackled. The company is large, ergo it's going to be around for a while, what's not to like.

Only one pretty hefty disappointment: it is totally template-based.

So here I am again, back to little boxes, all lined up in a row.

I guess the web world is so strongly in favor of little boxes all in a row that I can't fight it any longer. There simply isn't time.

So I came home yesterday from class very disappointed. I took a deep breath and picked up my needle, and it all came flooding back why I love needlework so much. I have some canvas, I have some thread, I can do anything I want. It's personal and up to me and there aren't any boxes and I learned long ago in my needlework career not to pay any attention to The Rules. I chilled and relaxed and left it all behind in the company of my needle.

A nice end to a frustrating couple of days and a reminder what an important role my needlework plays in my life.

This morning, the beginning of a new day, I see more options. What I may well do is move iWeb (my present website) to a new host and simply wait for the program I like. I still have nearly 3 months to decide. And I will learn the new program too, just in case I can come up with something I like.

Meanwhile, 12 Stitches a Day. Every day. My daily reminder that at least a part of my world belongs totally to me.

Gay Ann