A witch's curse?

It must be! I started my Halloween Witch's checkerboard recently and just love this design. It is not for lack of enthusiasm most certainly but I am having major problems with this. I definitely think that I have a witch's curse placed on me. How else could I continually make mistakes counting the stitching?


First I recounted the witch three times before I found out that I did not make the mistake in counting the stitches but in having jumped two threads by mistake where her broom goes off diagonally. I went down over two instead of over one. Now I am very Dutch and find it very wasteful to frog this much overdyed thread. On top of that, I don't have more than one card of this thread. Yikes! So I considered stopping and turning her into something else with only a few stars and one Jack 'o lantern. I found a way to make this work keeping my mistake and knowing I will have to repeat this same mistake with the witch's sister on the other side. That is going to be fun...not! But I am up for this challenge or at least so I thought.

I then realized the Jack 'o lantern to the left of the witch (no you don't see it in the photo as it is no longer there) was falling on the wrong line. Again, I smacked myself in the head and thought how could I make such a stupid mistake again! So I did frog this one and started back up at the stars to get my count right. Well...guess what? It was right! I have the Jack 'o lantern to the right wrong. UUGH! Now I have to frog it and put the other one back in.

I cannot remember ever having so much trouble with a chart. But it is not this wonderful chart. I am certain I have a witch's curse. She is laughing at my reflection in her cauldron as she awaits Halloween. But if she does not leave me along soon, she will not have the checkerboard to play with on Halloween night!


I found this fabulous poem online today and just had to share it. It was written just a few years ago and I just loved it to accompany this post...

A Witch

"I’d never like to be a witch
Except on Halloween
To ride upon a bushy broom
Before a full moon’s gleam

A wart upon my crooked nose
I’d hold a big, black cat
And on my long and shaggy hair
There’d be a pointed hat

I’d drink no potions, no, just eat
Those gooey trick-or-treats
I’d get by stopping house to house
Astride my broom’s rough seat

And when the night is over
And morning streaks the sky
I’d leave my haunted mansion
And broom rides wild and high

Because:

I’d never like to be a witch
Except on Halloween
To ride upon a bushy broom
Before a full moon’s gleam"

Authors Den/Martha J. Robach