Whoo-hoo! Something new!

With 2 projects completed and off to the frame shop (which might be my new profession after I saw how much it was going to cost me), I wasted no time queuing up another project for Vi.  I picked Dimensions Cute Carolers Stocking.  It's a kit, which I hate, but there really aren't any choices for stocking that aren't kits.  As soon as I ripped into the packaging I was delighted to see that the colors were presorted and labeled.  That's awesome.  As anyone who has ever sorted cross stitch kit thread has experienced, thread sorting is like trying to identify cafeteria mystery meat. ( Is this the expresso brown thread or the very dark brown thread?)  It's a major pain.  So I happily wrapped the presorted thread onto my floss bobbins in record time.  That was the plus side.  But I quickly racked up some major cons to this kit.  First of all, the thread is all proprietary--so my design will match the original artwork as closely as possible the packaging says.  Um, let's call this what it is-- BULL.  They don't want you to be able to reuse the design without rebuying the kit.  And that kind of crap makes me want to march myself to the craft store, park it in the DMC thread aisle, and sit there comparing colors until I can identify substitutes for everything (which I will do and post results for later).  I paid $20 for this kit and let's be honest, the thread and fabric aren't even $5 of that.  So don't deny me the ability to reuse the pattern.  I mean I'm not doing it for profit, so I should be able to stitch it as many times as I want.  :P  Secondly, the actual pattern is tiny.  I'm not old and I don't need glasses.  But I'm probably going to have to take this and blow up the pattern to be able to read it.  Thirdly, the legend is not printed next to the pattern.  Instead it is on the back of one side of the pattern.  The back?  Do these people use patterns?  Every time I'm ready to change thread colors I have to hold my place marker in place and flip the pattern over to figure out what comes next.  That's a lot flipping when there are as many color changes as are in this design.