Is It Really A Savings If .......

If you never receive your purchase. I have never publicly complained about a business online. Not many understand better than I, that at the most inconvenient moment, life will jump up and bite me in the ass. Best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

On April 20 I ordered from Little Barn, they were cheapest for what I wanted. I had hopes it might come in around my birthday, ten days later. I would still be waiting. Actually, I waited til May 8th, left a message on their answering machine. Waited longer until May 15th, a lady answered the phone and said she had no clue about my order as all she did was run this here machine. She took my information and said the boss man would contact me by the next morning.

Hadn't heard anything by the next afternoon, so I called again. Same lady answered and asked me to give her a few days. Monday, May 19, she calls back in the morning, tells me there were two tracking numbers listed for my order, and they tried to track it down. The same thing happened to another lady. Hmmmm, then tells me the 32/2 silk yarn I ordered had been sold out for awhile. They hadn't gotten any from India for awhile due to all the bad weather, hurricanes??? It's listed for sale on their website as of today.

She explained that their postal workers weren't government workers, but contract employees, very unreliable. They would reship my order on Wednesday by Priority Mail. If the first order should happen to show, keep it, but do the honest thing and pay for it, or send it back. I asked if credit card will be credited for the missing yarn. Yes, yes, we will.

Still haven't received my order, nor has the credit card been credited. I have plenty of patience, but this ridiculous, so it's now in dispute with credit card company. There is a thread on Ravelry in the spinning knitters group, I've counted eight other customers with similar problems. Of course, there are also those loyal customers who come by to defend their favorite fiber supplier. If you are reading this, and have had good luck with them, yay for you. I however have $90.00 and 1 1/2 lbs of fiber floating around in cyberspace.

Last week, I ordered from WEBS and Paradise Fibers. WEBS yarn showed up yesterday, and UPS tracking says my fiber should be here tomorrow. I had to order more fiber and yarn than originally to get discounts, and spent more money, but I'm going to have my stuff.

Last week I started babysitting the granddaughter two days a week. She's much bigger now.

That would be more peaceful looking if it weren't my stitching spot.

On the knitting front, I'm knitting with porcupines. Stor Rund Dug with hand dyed 30/2 silk on seven #0000 needles. The picture shown looks harder than the pattern actually is to knit. A small portion of the hank took up more dye than the rest of skein, and therefore a bit darker. I was a bit concerned at first, but I'm kinda liking the various striated effect. It's kinda like the striations in a tree trunk. Very hexagonal....



It's been so hot this past week in Western NY. I took these pictures the few times I woke from my heat induced coma.

It's The Small Things

This time of year always has me a bit down. Besides, high humidity causing major stiffness, I miss having a patio or deck garden. I have to live vicariously through others blog pictures. Which isn't really the same as being able to step outside to watch your own plants grow and bloom. Besides you can't smell picture, sometimes that can a be good, being the internet. Finding that new blossom that wasn't there the day before is somewhat of a thrill for me.

Today, my mom and I went shopping for plants her garden. Pulling into the parking lot, two rose bushes deep in the display stood out and called to me. Really, wishing I had a patio now, as I used to grow Tea Roses in big pots. They were on sale, so I bought them for her, begging can I come I visit with them occasionally.



There are two rose bushes here. The bottom left is more of a peach/apricot color, I didn't get a chance to look at the card for the name.



Broadway Rose. It was hard to get a decent photo of with one that had lots of yellow as the sun was shining directly over my shoulder.

Obligatory needlework err knitting picture. I made this doily a year or so ago, give or take a few months. Just now, finally getting around to blocking it. It's from Marriane Kinzel's books, 2/30 silk on 0000 knitting needles. I gave this to my mother for Mother's Day. She was quite surprised that it was knitted, more astonished when she saw the steel toothpicks I used.

It is the family joke, that while I was hanging out in the womb, I happened on the creative domestic gene not in use, and snatched up the whole thing for myself. When my mother feels creative she buys fabric with intention of making quilts. I think she likes to pick fabrics, and the finished product, it's the process in the middle, she doesn't have much patience for. While I enjoy the process, the longer the trip the better.




Obligatory Dammit picture.



It's always nice to have a best bun to lean on and hang out with.

Can I Dazzle You With Needlework Pics?

It's been so very long since I've even thought about this blog, much less considered posting. I feel I've busy accomplishing very little. So much has happened this past year. For starters, my mother had a heart attack on January 9, 2007, the day before the 8 year anniversary of my grandmother's death. Pretty scary. They took her down to surgery daily to wait for a quadruple bypass, only to have it canceled and rescheduled the next day. It was four days of going down in the morning and waiting then at 5pm cancel, reschedule. Finally, at 7pm that Friday night they did the surgery.

She had many complications after she came home. Incisions becoming infected, then opening, very slow healing. My daughter left for the army the day Mom had her heart attack. A few weeks into basic training and she injured her feet and had to wait months for discharge. Apparently, the boots she was fitted with caused tarsal tunnel. She had surgery on the worst foot this past March and will have the second one in August.

Much stress didn't help me with my sciatic nerve pain. Much has happened with that, and I might write about it at another time. That's just a brief synopses of while I was missing.

On to the needlework pictures I promised. I did finish Venetian Mask in the beginning of December, 2007. For a Christmas present to myself, I framed it and Duane hung it on the wall just above the TV. Every time I look up from my chair, I can see it. (click on picture for a bigger size)




My youngest son was supposed graduate high school this year. Then beginning of last month, he said it wouldn't be until next year. I wanted to do something special for him. So, I started HAED's Wolf Mistress. It's 186,200 stitches!!! I calculated how many stitches I would have to stitch, daily, weekly and monthly to have it finished in a year. Now, I find out he's graduating next month. Sigh, no way I'll have it finished that quick.

Here's where I was as of 5/5/08 and as of 5/15/08.


My weekend project since the beginning of April this year has been Silver Lining's Broadway Rose. Here is where I am before I get started with this weekends progress.



Sadly, there hasn't been much knitting recently. I did quite a bit of lace knitting over last summer, but haven't taken pictures yet. Something to look forward to.

As I said, the stress of the past year has my sciatica really bad. Unfortunately, in the throes of pain and frustration I threw my spinning wheel in a corner. Bad mistake, I lost so much strength and muscle tissue in my legs. I really should have spun even for a few minutes every couple days. Sunday, I dragged it out and oiled it up. My hands knew what to do right away, even my legs knew what to do, however they didn't last long. After ten minutes, I felt like I had been on very long hike up hill. I am persisting and make sure to spin every day, even for a few minutes.

Finally, we have a new addition to the family. Last August, we stopped in the pet store, and I fell in love with this cute little bunny. He was rocking and rolling, running from side to side of his cage and kicking his heels up. It was anniversary of Elvis death, so we named him Elvis. Lexie has been pining for a companion for quite a long while, so we thought, why not? Wily bugger was really Dammit just doing an Elvis impersonation. Here is little Dammit and Lexie.



The pet store said he was a Havana, but after some research I found out he's really an English Spot. Which goes a long way to explain some things. First of all, he's a loyal Led Zeppelin fan. There aren't words expressive enough to express his devotion for Zeppelin. Only Lexie and green leaf lettuce rate a tad higher. Now, I bet you're wondering how we figured this out.

The first week, we kept him in his cage to get accustomed to the place and other residents. Lexie was beside herself, when she first noticed what was in the cage. She sat beside it constantly peering in. Then came the day we let him out for a short time. At first, he didn't seem to like her very much. But, once the choice became clear, it was either her or five cats, his devotion to Lexie was set.

He became Dammit when his fetish or appetite for carpet couldn't be discouraged. It only took a couple days of squirting Lexie with the water bottle to discourage her from plucking at the carpet. Dammit became Dammit when he went through several gallons of squirtings. The carpet here was trash when we moved in five years ago. They would need to replace it at any rate. However, when we do move, yeah, I guess I will have laminate any carpets with plastic. This is how we found out he is a fan of Zeppelin.

On Saturdays at noon, the local radio station plays an hour of Zeppelin, which I had started to listen to. The second week, I noticed the bunnies would come out and sit near the speaker. Only during the commercials did Dammit chomp. After the show, I went through Duane massive cd collection and found his Zeppelin cds. Most peaceful afternoon I had with Dammit. Little bugger sat happily by the speaker with no interruptions other waiting for me to change cds. I have other Dammit loves Zeppelin stories but will save them for other postings.

Here's Dammit and Lexie today.


Notice, I have some plastic down and he only made new spots. Zeppelin 24 x 7 and the neighbors would cut my electric line.

BTW, we have other Zeppelin fans in the house. I'll leave you with pictures of Bootsie and Tennessee watching the TSRTS dvd of Jimmy Page's solo.

Just Not A Good Day

This hasn't been a good day on the pain front, so I really don't feel like posting today. But, in the spirit of NaBloPoMo, I'll give this short post.

Where I'll try to entertain you with this picture of cute kid and super cute bunny. The bunny gets a super for allowing the cute kid to pet her.

For you fiberly types, I'll give you this picture to try to figure out the pattern used. Not too easy with that patterned sheet underneath.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a qoute from my favorite show Grey's Anatomy to think about. "Sometimes, we can't see something is wrong by looking them. They could look perfectly fine on the outside, while on the inside tells a whole different story."

Our Very Own CindyLou Who

Just another quick post again. Here is our very own CindyLou Who. Though her name isn't really CindyLou. I was graced with a rare overnight visit.



She found a small box from a recent delivery. Of course, I had to jump up with the camera.



Bootsie, the eternal four year child with fur, couldn't be out done, and jumped immediately into her own box house.

Just Blather I Guess

The puttins are upset they're picture wasn't posted on Halloween. They're the youngest of the five, born the day before my birthday, 2003. I was tricked into taking them at five weeks old, by a co-worker, back when I worked at the pizza shop. We are glad to have them, as they have been hours of entertainment.

I've had the pleasure of company of tons of cats, but these are two are far from the norm in antics and intelligence. Duane says, We're lucky they don't have working thumbs and a prehensile tail. When the they walk into a room together all I can think of is the two Siamese cats from Lady and The Tramp. They have the attitudes of those looking to cause some serious trouble then act very innocent when caught.

Bootsie(rear) however is far more nefarious, and doesn't really care about getting caught. Aka, Bootszilla, and Trotsky, she has a habit of trotting about like a horse.

Tennesee (front) is far more dainty, a Pop's only girl. At first, it was only her Pop, but is starting to allow me as well, to pet her, but only on our/their bed. Aka, Poopy Tail or Poopy due to an accident in the litter box when she was very tiny.

I signed up for NaBloPoMo, a post a day for the month of November. I certainly have plenty for blog fodder content with just WIP's. I'm betting I could post a new WIP a day for a couple months with what is just lying about, and not starting anything new. It will hopefully, get me in the habit of posting regularly. Even on my worst days, I could post a new pic with a blurb.

I really hate trying to think of a title for each post. That's pretty much my biggest problem with posting sometimes. Any tips, hints on coming up with titles for posts?

It's A Too Long, Hard Summer

That was a long Blog vacation, six months, I wonder if that's a record. I don't think the ones that have yet to return count towards that, a record, if there is one.

It's been a very long, and hard summer that decided to add an extra six weeks past Labor Day for me. My DD (23 yrs old) decided to start speaking to me again, after not speaking since last October. She did the one thing I find totally unacceptable and I let her know how I angry I was. Thus, she stopped talking to me personally and sent messages through her soon-to-be ex-H.

The beginning of last April, I said enough is enough and told him if she has something to say to to me, my phone number hasn't changed. I think I made a mistake. So, she called, then she came over, then she started visiting daily. By the end of May, she told me she was going to have to move out of where she was staying and no place to go. Thus, was the start to very long summer.

This apartment is way too small for Duane (DSO), myself, 5 cats, a rabbit and all our stuff (mostly it's the stuff) as it is. DD told us she was ready to get her life back together, she just needed some help. The problem starts with she can see how little space we have, and we didn't know how much stuff she had, but she did. Dumped it all in the middle of my living room on Memorial Day. I had to quickly consolidate and find spaces for her stuff, some of them were temporary spaces. She doesn't understand that word and her stuff is still in some of those spots.

We do have a second bedroom, Duane and I share it, for his music equipment, my dyeing and winding station plus storage. We had planned on moving the computer in there from the dining room, just not that soon or as fast. Here starts living Hell on wheels for me.

She asks where she can put her computer. (It hasn't moved in yet.) We say we'll move ours and she can use that space. Well, how soon can you do that? she asked. This is when my computer coughs up a hairball and dies. To make a long story shorter, we ended up using the money on the credit card to marry both our dead computers into one living, working computer. This was the cc I was going to use to buy lace wt. silk to dye and sell.

During the time the two computers were being assimilated, my mother brought us a computer they had sitting out in the warehouse that hadn't been used for months. This one is a bit older than the other two, but at least running. As far as working, the previous operator didn't know a thing about computers and set wonky security options and goodness knows what else.

When Duane set Outlook to receive our e-mails a couple days later the computer decided Outlook was evil and won't let us use it. The printer and the hard drive must have arguments at night because there are some days they just won't recognize each other. They're both HP so I don't know what they're problem is.

Anyway, the actions, decisions, etc. that put my DD in her position, is still the same and seemingly awakening some very nasty bad karma from past lives or something, around here. It's always something screwing up, right down to dyes suddenly not bonding with thread. You know little stuff that shouldn't go wonky. I feel like I'm living in some double episode, movie version of the Twilight Zone.

She hasn't kept any of her agreement when she first moved in. Her actions are of someone her wants the responsibilities of a 13 yr old and with privileges of a 20-something. The only place we have for her is our couch. Who would want to live like that? I thought she would only be here for a very short time and want to get her own apartment. She only helps out with stuff when she wants something from me.

Duane wants our old life back, as do I. As, forty-somethings we're no longer into the fast paced lifestyle of some twenty-somethings. But, how to quick your daughter to the curb, even if she deserves it? Even if she turned her back on her child/children.

My health is getting worse. I did find a medicine that helped with the nerve pain, finally. But, it came with nasty side effects of increased anxiety and agitation. Like I needed to be chemically increased with the above going on.

I didn't list any new items to ebay all summer, I wanted sort everything out before I did. The end of August I thought I was set to go. Except I hadn't planned on the next glitch on the horizon. My Dr. decided to change my meds a few days after I listed. Said it would be ok, that the new meds had very mild temporary side effects, and there shouldn't be any effects of discontinuing the old as I was on the lowest dose.

Ha, ha, ha, not when you factor in strange karma. I've been so sick since Labor Day weekend. The first few weeks were drowsiness, severe fatigue, and ad nausea um added with major sciatic nerve pain. I had to increase the dosage every two weeks until I was therapeutic levels. Well, by the sixth week, I finally had pain relief but I was virtually comatose. I would sleep for exactly one hour, then my dream would end and I would wake up like leaving a movie a theatre. I would then sit up for an hour but be like a narcoleptic.

I would try to fill orders and get others things done at the few periods I could concentrate, but by then it was like a house on fire, how do you prioritize when everything needs to be done weeks ago. Well, I gave up on that treatment, it took two weeks for it leave system enough to concentrate. That was two weeks ago from now. The pain is horrendous levels, so now, I'm alert enough to be aware of not accomplishing crap.

I researched St. John's Wort and found that it was used for nerve pain back before pharmaceutical companies. So, I'm trying that while waiting for the paper trail to be complete so I can get acupuncture treatments. If that doesn't work, then it's either a spinal block or a long letter to the Mayo Clinic.

I did do much spinning and knitting over the summer. It was great meditation for increased tension when the karma would get just too weird to acknowledge. Next posts I will have many pictures and projects to show. Hint: One is a shawl from A Gathering of Lace done in gossamer weight cashmere silk.

To Heck With A Title

Really? Um, somebody is in a bit a mood, now aren't we? Yeah, I am. I've been in the worse funk all week. Lowest of lows. So, Friday, I take take three hours and write a post about it and how I'm going to try to pull myself out of it. (I didn't write for three straight hours, I left to do other things and came back. Back and forth) Only when I finished and tried to post, the internet connection fell off the face of the earth taking my post with it.

It gets worse. I go to calm down and work on my shawl, only to find a huge whonking error I did at 2am the night before. So, while I'm trying to fix it, stitches are falling off the needles, next thing you know, I'm ripping out the whole lace border. Take a deep breath and head to the shower. Only, Psycho Cat Ewok just left steaming pile of crap in the tub. By then I was screaming incoherently, with tears streaming down my face. Poor DSO was running from computer to tub, trying to fix everything for me. Except for shawl, that was beyond his capabilities.

I got myself into a bad rut. Staying up later and later every night trying to get stuff dyed, then sleeping to late in the morning. Then feeling guilty not getting much done during the day so I would stay up later. Round and round I went, til I burned right out. I'm a little better now.

On to knitting content. The shawl was almost done. I have a crappy picture of it pre-rip out. The pattern I feel calls for too much yarn. I think it can be done with three skeins, with some left over. Because I'm short, 5' probably. I was 5'1 1/2" pre disc injury, but with two in the process of collapsing, that 1 1/2" is probably long gone.

The pattern states the longest section will 30" when finished. We measured, and that comes between mid thigh and knee. Not wanting to look like I was being swallowed by the shawl, I used one size smaller needles for the body.

First skein knitted 144 rows, second skein about 75, so I figured the third skein would knit about 37. I added three extra repeats to the main pattern, because the smaller needles was making it a little too short. Also, I hadn't even finished the second skein at that point. The lace border is about 20 rows and then another 20 rows of plain garter stitch.

I have to show you this. This was more fun than a swatch should be. I dyed it to resemble Koigu KPPM 405. That's a color that every time I tried to buy some, it's all sold out. So, I made one for me and one to sell on eBay, and another turned out too dark and it will be for sale as well. (click for bigger)

If it doesn't sell in auction, it's going to take a walk over to my stash bin, rather that being relisted in the store. That's all I'm saying. LOL

Knit on. I'm going to go continue trying to de-funk myself.