How did 14-count become the default?
Particularly for cross stitch cloth sold in larger retail chains? When I went looking for cloth in different colors (blue for my sea monsters), this was the only size I could get at Michael’s. I’m adjusting the template just fine but now I’m very curious about how these precedents are set. Any ideas?
EDIT: One day and several cups of coffee later, this strikes me as an extremely silly question that a decade of retail customer service experience should have answered for me (sales, you moron). Forgive the ginger munchkin. She hasn’t been at this creating characters from fancy colored floss business for very long. And we’re only three weeks into the academic year, so “stressed” is not quite the word for her current state of mind (it’s more like *stress*shellshock*cryingonthekitchenfloorwithabagofbagels*).
Black Mood Craft 
I remember a few years ago walking into Michael’s thinking I’d caught the cross stitch section in an inventory swap out or something…when I asked what happened to the cross stitch, the employee kind of brushed me off and said “we aren’t going to carry it because nobody really does it anymore.” So I guess what you’re seeing is the bare bones minimum that they are willing to do for us.
Well, damn. That sucks. I don’t enjoy having to go to online for some of this stuff — locally owned is best and Michael’s is just convenient and who on earth told them people aren’t doing cross stitch anymore? Looking at the number of patterns that are posted continuously online, it doesn’t look like it’s ready for the “lost art” bin yet.
I agree! That’s why I hardly ever shop there anymore. I have a local framer and use Nordic Needle for all my needlework obsessions, so I’m good. If you look at the number of blogs that pertain to nothing but cross stitch you can tell it’s hardly something nobody’s doing anymore.