Every time I have sat down at the computer for the past week and a bit I couldnt think of what to write about.  I have had so many ideas running through my head that nothing has come out on paper or on the computer and it is a frustrating feeling.  Getting ahead of myself, getting excited about something that mayn’t happen, studying for my class and adding more information to whats already swimming around in there…wow.  It doesnt help that J is gone fishing and that the weather is icky so Sisu and I are pretty much stuck in the house.  Now, thats not entirely true because we do go for at least 3 walkies a day, but it sure feels like its true sometimes!  The good things about being “stuck” in the house are the knitting and the movies!

Movies:  Rent/borrow Stardust.   I got it from the library and I have watched it 3 times already.  Yup, 3.  Its like Princess Bride in and adventure/love story/fantasy sort of way but, of course, its different.  I just love it and will probably own in one day, I just loved it that much.  Robert DeNiro makes this movie fantastic and a must see and Claire Danes, Charlie Cox and Michelle Pfeiffer really grab you from the very start of the film.  The narrator is Ian McKellen, the king is Peter O’Toole and the guard, who has a sadly small role, is the funny and fantastic David Kelly.  I cant rave about this film enough or recommend it higher either.

Knitting:  I am almost done with the left front of my Ribby Cardi and I am still loving it.  I am realising now though that since I am living here in Pelican, getting a zipper that matches and fits right may be a bit difficult.  I will have to call on Grumperinas blog to show me not only HOW to put in the darn thing again but where to get a good zipper!  I put a zipper into my Mariah cardigan but that was a while ago and I need a little refresher!   Darn my not thinking about using buttons instead but really, this is not a button-y sweater at all!

I finished my pair of Simple Cherry Blossom socks and they are perfect.  Both of them.  Except that some how, I have a whole bunch of yarn leftover after making the second.  Dont ask me how the heck this happened, it just did.  I was so careful to count the strands when it was in a skein and continued to count as I wound it into a ball and they looked the same size (I didnt have a scale to weigh them) but I have at least the same amount of leftovers having both done as I did with the first!  One of two things will come from this: 1)I will have to weigh the 2 balls of Pickle before I start knitting them and I will have to be sure to add calf shaping because they will be significantly longer than the cherry blossom pair or 2) I will make 2 pairs of shorter socks.  I’m rooting for #1 but God only knows what happened before and if it will happen again!

Remember me telling you about the Malabrigo in Juneau?  Here is a teaser picture and the rest are on my Flickr.  I cant rave enough about the beauty of these colours, the softness of the wool and just the all around brilliance of this yarn.  Go fondle so when you have the chance and just see if it doesnt jump into your shopping cart!

Basics of Rewarding a Knitting Fisher:

I’m a knitter.  Ok, so that is a very “Duh!” comment but its true and needed to be stated so the rest of the post makes sense.

I’m not a clothes person or a shoe girl, I have enough of each.  I dont like a lot of smelly things like perfume and bath stuff is, sadly, mostly unusable because I dont have a tub to enjoy bubbles in.  Owning movies doesnt hold appeal to me (I think I have 10 DVD’s and those are ones I have watched so many times I have them memorised), especially with Netflix.  I’m not a computer nerd, gear junkie or a fanatic about anything other than the following three things.

What I do like is good food, books and yarn.  I love to cook and eat and not cooking and eating.  My favourite restaurant while in college was the one that let you grill your own steak and had a salad bar.  I make dinner every night and we rarely eat the exact same meal twice in a month with the exception of Korean style curry which both J and I love.  Here in Pelican though I have no place to eat out so that treat is out of the question.  J can cook but I, and he, would rather I do it.   Getting good ingredients is a challenge with spotty plane service due to poor weather so being exotic with my cooking is also a challenge.  Unfortunately, you are never supposed to use food as a reward for any kind of good behavior so that option is out.

Books are a passion but they can be heavy and unless I really, really love them, I try not to buy any.  I dont want to take up the space in my suitcase of “stuffs” and besides, there is a library less than 750′ down the boardwalk.  There are also other voracious readers in this town (you kind of have to be), and they are more than willing to share their much loved, just read once books with you, provided that you bring them back.  I have no problem with this arrangement and have yet to a) not return a book and b) find and read something that I can live without owning.  So books are now out.

All things fibery, well, I cant live without those.  I love yarn and roving, the patterns used to transform simple string into a garment or accessory, the tools used to make the strands of sheep fuzz into yarn and then turn the miles of yarn into said garments and accessories….everything.  I can justify buying any of it because a) it will turn into something eventually and replace a store bought something thus not taking up suitcase space, b) its entertainment AND function.  Who can say the same about going bowling or to the movies?  Heck, I can even take my knitting there if I want! and c) its pretty AND functional.  How many pairs of cute wool socks would be too many when you spend days in rubber boots?   How can you knock a beautiful wool hat if you can feasibly wear it from August to July, heck all year round here?  How many outdoors-y things are made for men and women are left with either very expensive or very drab/ugly warm/functional/poorly fitting clothes that were originally made for men?  In what other craft do you only need your own two hands, two needles and a mile of string to make something that is perfect for your own body?  Like I need to convince anyone who reads this blog of the passion which is knitting (well, maybe my sister and any other stray muggles that come around).  As a reward, this would be perfect.   But…

I’m on a sock yarn diet.  I have about 24 skeins of lovely sock yarn and I want to make something with each and every skein.  A pair of socks, from each and every skein.  While I love having them all to fondle and admire, I hate that they are sitting in a box.  I want them out and about and admired as the very cool pair of socks that I knit!  So no more sock yarn for a while…at least until I get 20 skeins out of the way.  I dont want to sell them (sacrilege!) or give them away (horror!) so my last option is to knit them up.  This I am OK with.  So no rewarding myself with sock yarn.

Sweater yarn is bought for the entire year already.  I am fully planning that Vail will take me a HUGE chunk of the year and though I have the back done for the Ribby Cardi, there are still the sleeves and both fronts to go.  I cast on for a EZ saddle shoulder seamless sweater and wow, does it take a while to get around 210 stitches.  This too will take a while and then the Simple Cardi will eventually get started, probably once I finish both the RC and the EZ-SSSS.   So no more sweater yarn is needed because I have no more time for sweaters until 2009, maybe 2010!  Needles?  Check, I have the Options and the Harmony DPN set.  Patterns?  Check, I have another year of IK

What is left for a girl to reward herself with?  Give me some help people!  I am making all these changes in my life that I want to stick with because I can already see good changes happening to me.  HELP!!!   I like to travel but is that a sane reward?  Maybe for a final reward but not for the steps along the way.  Just….HELP!

YAY!  Its up!  I do love knitty for both patterns and the articles but this issue really isnt in my top faves because of two things…Fit and function.  The sweaters for adults just dont appeal to me based on fit shown and the functionality of them as sweaters in a Winter issue of anything.  I dont want to cinch my short-sleeved scoop neck sweater, I dont want a lacy little sweater to wear over my black dress, if I had such a thing and I dont have a place to wear a beautifully cabled, bell sleeved I dont know is its a shrug but it looks like one to me or a sweater that flares out like a babydoll dress.  Dont get me wrong, I DO LIKE the patterns and they do have their place and, sadly, thats not on my body or in Pelican, AK.  Its cold here and I have no place to wear anything fancy.  That lacy sweater might have a place in the future but just not now.

HOWEVER…WOW on the sock patterns…all of them.  I will be knitting the pair with the whales tail pattern out of J.Knits Alaska and the kilt hose will be knit soon too but I just may have to buy the yarn for those   The kids sweater is beautiful and will be done soon too, if only to add to my future baby knitted things coffers!

I decided to become a dog mummy a long time ago.  I researched breeds, searched the shelters, scanned the sale/freebie ads and finally sent emails to people with the breed I wanted asking them about prides and pitfalls of their dogs breed.  Then I contacted breeders.  Lots of breeders.  Some I liked, some I didn’t, some liked me, most didn’t.  I now see the downside to living in a town that is built 9′ off the ground…no yard to appease some breeders.  The fact that the surrounding land is National Forest and it is 17 MILLION acres and all for the hiking and walking and camping didn’t seem to get much kudos. But then I found them and they had this little girl dog that she thought would be perfect for my lifestyle of boat, home, hiking and bears.  And she is.  I had the best service in the world from the breeder and I am so happy with Sisu and the joy that she has brought to my like already is immeasurable.  While I was waiting for her arrival, I set out to make the house puppy friendly and safe.  I wanted to buy some toys and the jingle and commercials rang in my head until Petsmart came thru.  I jumped on the computer and ordered a collar, leash, deodorizer and 4 different dog toys.  They shipped almost immediatly and I had my confirmation number and tracking and all was good with the world on Aug. 23.

Its 9/15.  I have no Petsmart box to share with Sisu.

I called and at first, their CS number didnt work from Alaska.  So I called the headquarters phone number which I had to hunt down online.  So then I got transferred in circles.  Then I got to speak to 3 different people in the span of 24 hours who all told me that they couldnt transfer my call to the WEB CS which is different from the STORE CS but they would send a message right away.  Then, 18 hours later I talked to someone who said “Of Course I can do that for you!”  I thanked her profusely.

But then I talked to web CS who said they cant do anything and wont do anything until 10 full business days had passed.  Because of Labor Day (which I worked) and the weekends, I was speaking to him on the 10th day and that didnt count and considering that it was Friday, I would have to wait until Monday to phone in again.  That is, if your box isnt there Ma’am.  I’ll call on Monday.

Which I did.  And got an equally unhelpful guy who said that he would send my complaint to IT and to Tracking who would get on it right away.  But that means 2-3 business days.

So I called again on Thursday and got someone who said he would get started my paperwork to claim that I never received my box, which, BTW, the PO says doesnt exist.  But they still have to try to track it and someone will call you TONIGHT with that information Ma’am.  Tonight?  Yes Ma’am, I am taking it to the head of the line right now. Ok, great.

No call came for 28 hours.  So I called them.  I was so tired of the run around crap that I was given that I told the girl that I wanted a refund NOW and no, I was not going to wait for tech support nor tracking to get back to me.  I actually said”screw waiting for tracking because no one has gotten back to me from supervisors to tracking and I am sick of it”  I wasnt mad anymore, just resigned.  My items were charged to my card back in August and I wanted either money or the items and since I wasnt getting the items, I wanted my money back.

So she went to talk to her supervisor.  Who said that she had authorization to create a whole new order, not charge me for it and send it out speedy delivery.  She was bright, apologetic, so very helpful and we even chatted a but about Alaska while waiting for the system to let her work.  Together we worked to get the items from the old list/old system onto the new list/new system because none of the old numbers matched the new ones and the website was reorganized so nothing was where I left it.  We got everything though, thru teamwork and my new box is on its way.

This is the difference between good customer service and bad.  The first guy, who didnt take any notice of my worry and brushed it off as an overeager customer made the 1st mistake and sadly this was passed on and repeated to the next and the next people until I was at the end of my rope and demanding my money back.  And then this fantastic person did all in her power to make me happy and a repeat customer.  Thank you Amber.  You made my day and increased the possibility from zero to if-it-was-the-last-place-open-on-earth-and-Sisu-was-starving that I would ever shop there again.

Thru observation, I have realised that life is so much better when you focus on the good things. For instance, I noticed that Sisu is now 1 week older so now I can tell people that she is 11 not 10 and she is actually almost 12…a whole 3 months!

I noticed that my order from Knitpicks changed from pending to shipped (!!!) so I should have my new needles and yarn for my hats on Saturday or Monday. I cant wait for those Options needles. I really want to cast on for the Rogue but have to wait for the smaller needles (Yes, I have decided to sallyforth with my gauge too big, I will just do the smaller size.)

I noticed that my Loopy Ewe order shipped too and that should be here first (Friday hopefully!) I cant wait to show it off to you all, there is some really, really pretty yarns in there. Of course, I mean, would Sheri carry icky yarns? No way.

I noticed that it was Wednesday yesterday and that means Stitch N Bitch with some of my friends. It was fantastic and we had a great time together and made new friends (new to the neighborhood). I love going because of all these older women there, I have the most experiance and I love being asked for help or my opinion. Its a good thing for me, I like helping.

I noticed that my rain coat doent leak and considering the amount of rain we have had over the past 3 days, that is such a good thing, you cant even imagine. Unless you live in a place where it could and has rained for 3 days (or more) straight, you can only imagine.

I noticed that using Lush products again do two things to me. A) Increased my shower time and B)reminds me of why I was so addicted and bought more of than then yarn. My experiance can be likened to an alcoholic going into a bar and getting that first whiff. With my first scent of the items that my Mum sent me (I had leftovers that I couldnt pack on my trip from Seattle to Sitka), it brought back memories and on using them in the shower…Oh.My.Gosh. I was back on the website as soon as I recovered from the experiance. The downside of Lush is that they think it necessary to charge such extreme shipping that I can never order from their US site whilst living in Alaska. Its thru the roof and I can honestly ship from the UK for less. Now that is obscene. Oh but the goodies that I crave from them…it would almost be worth it. The upside is that there is one in Bellevue, WA and one at a mall near my Mum and I think that if I beg and plead pretty hard, I may convince her to drive down to that fancy-pants mall that we always go to admire the Christmas decorations to go shopping for me It would still cost less, adding in fuel and USPS shipping.

If you have never experianced Lush, let me give you some info. They are animal friendly and use no animal testing at all. Most of their products are vegetarian and many are vegan friendly too. The focus is on Fresh items and most products have an expiration date and could possibly go off if not used up in time. I have never had a problem with them being bad but their customer service is awesome if you have a problem. I once had a bottle of shower gel explode all over my order and they not only replaced the bottle that spilled but most of the items in the order too because the butcher paper they were wrapped in was soaked too. I know of people who have had mold on a soap and it was replaced with a bigger cutting. They make their soap like cheese; a big wheel most of the time, sometimes a shape, rarely a block and holy cow, the scents that they use…All natural with very few chemicals ever.

Solid Shampoo bars are one of my staples and I swear that it was the switch from commercial shampoo to this solid, largely chemical free Lush brand that stopped my head from itching and got rid of my dandruff permanently. I stopped using for a while and switched to Pert (because I am cheap and wanted to conserve my last bar) and they came back almost right away. There is nothing better and I have never had a bar run out before 2 months of use. You lather it in your hands like a bar of soap and then run your hands thru your hair (for short hair) or rub the bar on your head and on your hair (if its long). My hair is past my shoulder a good 4″ and I still have enough if I lather in my hands. A little bit goes a long way. I love Tricomainia is a staple for me because I like the smell that it leaves in my hair…a sunny coconutty warm smell. Reincarnate too because it reminds me of Singapore with its green, henna-y smell. Makes my hair shiny and bright too.

I could go on and on about Lush products. The Bubble bars are so nice, way nicer than the bath bombs I think. Hair Hennas just make your hair shiny and glow and so good smelling (they dye it too!) T for toes saved my life and lots of shoes and Silky Underwear make me happy to powder myself Go check it out!

Today, some people are blessed with warm weather, some with cool. Some will have cause to wear their swimsuits, others a freshly knit hat. Sadly, I am in the woolen hat direction. As Maddie pointed out, DC was F*****g hot yesterday and as I will point out, I was wearing jeans, T-shirt and a rain coat. When I went out later, I wore my Fake Isle hat and *gasp* no coat. Mainly because it stopped raining but the rain had cooled off our only 55-60 F weather and added a breeze (of course) of cold air coming off the mountains that stillhave snow! Yes Virginia, it is cold enough here in SE Alaska to still wear a wool hat but gosh, I would love to get warm all the way thru in DC. Granted, I would probably be in the air conditioned museums all the time but whatever.

Before I left Sitka I was in the market for a new knitting workbook/planner. I wanted a moleskine grid book but the only store that stocks them was out and had none on order. I wasnt about to order online and pay not only the high price but the psycho shipping as well so I just shrugged it off and went about my merry way to Ben Franklin to look for shrinky dink plastic. No dice at BF for the plastic but I got lucky in another way. I love having larger books to write in over having a smaller journal and when I get to make a choice, I will normally go with the larger even though it wont fit in smaller bags. I was looking at coloured pencils and happened to drop the cool box I was holding and it landed on these packs of graph paper. 8.5″x11″ graph paper. $2.49 for a pack of 4, 20 sheet booklets. $1.49 for a small 1/2″ neon green binder and less than $5 later, I have a knitting workbook/planner that I am in love with. Check the Flickr for more pics too.

Review: Knitscene Fall 07
Pros:
Now, I had heard, I think on Lime and Violet, that Knitscene was for the “younger” hipper generation. I have never fit in to that group, even now as I am still in that age range. I usually dislike the obnoxious coloured, close-fit, way too baggy, low-slung, cleavage bareing, useless unless sitting still for pictures “style” that is now. BUT…I loved this issue. With only 7 patterns that I wouldnt make (out of 26) and 2 of those being crochet which I dont know how to do, I can wholly see myself making almost everything else from this issue. IMHO, no truely obnoxious colours were used for the samples and, on the whole, they are functional and really day-to-day wearable/useable, even the things that I wouldnt make for myself/loved ones. The ‘cactus blossom’ will probably be first because I am on a fair isle kick and I would love to have a sweater like that. The ’seaweed sweater’, though with a huge open weave, would be so nice as just something to pull over for just a little warmth. For J, the ‘hero pullover’ or the ‘highlands zip’ would be great for him. More likely the highland zip because he is more of a zipper kinda guy. Nearly everything I see in this issue has the possibility of my knitting it and I really, really am happy that I spent the money on it. At nearly $8 per issue, this was a huge investment for the time and I really enjoy the patterns…

(the con starts here)…with the complete exception of the infuriating and seemingly mandatory inclusion of every recent magazine of a caplet. I dont care what colour it is or how cool the stitch pattern is, its ugly and I know no one who would wear it. This includes my sister who is a fashionista and all her friends who are the same. I asked her to take a poll of her friends, without giving her my opinion, of what they thought of a caplet. This was far and widespread emailed poll and none of them liked it, would wear it or knew anyone who wore it or, in their opinion, would wear one. This is just my opinion and please, if you have a picture of yourself wearing one that you made in anyplace other than your living room, I honestly would love to see it. Please, please, prove me wrong about the uselessness of this object.