It wasn't the stitching, it was designing the infernal things. Well that was what I called them at the time, now they come out every Christmas, so they must have found a way into my heart somewhere along the line. :) Like Jane I had to do the designing on graph paper as I didn't have a computer much less a cross stitching program. Not that I spent as much as Jane did on her first set-up.
My first PC cost me just short of £1000, 4MB RAM and 350MB hard drive. I've more than that as GB on my new lappy, and at much less than half the price. The cross stitch program was about £40, but when I moved over to the Professional version it was over £400. My first HP printer cost me over £400 too, though I did buy that on tick, or credit if you prefer. :) My present five/six year old printer cost me about £50, and the cross stitch program was less than £25. Oh and even the printer cartridges for my present HP are cheaper than they were for my first printer, and I have discovered how to refill the things, so I save even more money. :) T'Internet is much cheaper than it was way back at the turn of the century too. I used to pay per minute, won't say what my phone bills were, but considerably more than they are now, including the cost of paying Virgin for t'Internet and calls, while still paying BT for the landline.
Roz