Category Archives: Life

The Waiting Game

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At Knit’s End
It seems that it pays to get indignant.

I had emailed Amazon at the beginning of the month when my package did not ship on time, and the shipping estimate did not change. I thought the book I had special ordered was causing the wait, but it was At Knit’s End, and they didn’t know when it was actually going to be released. They happily sent my order on to me sans At Knit’s End. I emailed Stephanie to ask if she knew of anything that was preventing her book from getting into my eagerly waiting hands. She herself was eagerly waiting on her author’s copy.

Then, Stephanie got her copy, and a few days ago others began to talk of getting their copy. Where was mine? I had ordered it a month in advance… Amazon usually gets the package to you the day of the release. Yesterday I went to Amazon’s website to discover that the book is now listed as shipping in 2 to 3 days, but my shipping estimate still said I would see the book somewhere between March 7 and May 13. Thus, an indignant email was sent to Amazon asking why my copy had not shipped and would it indeed not get to me until May 13. I just received their apologetic email (though not apologetic enough in my opinion) saying it should ship by the end of the month (so much for ships in 2 to 3 days, eh?), and that if I do not receive a shipping email by Apr 1, I am to email them again. The email also informed me that there was a software problem that was causing the shipping estimate to say Mar 7 – May 13 and they’ve got someone working on it.

So, now I get to wait to see if they can actually ship it by next Friday… *gah* Can someone please explain to me why I am waiting a week for a book that is supposed to ship in 2 to 3 days?! Maybe I’ll just check my LYS tomorrow… if they have it I’m going to just buy it there and cancel my order with Amazon. Meanwhile, I will have to bid my time turning green with envy of those who already have their copy.

The only thing I can think of that has caused all this waiting for everyone is that it is so popular they didn’t print enough to meet the demand.

Cappuccino Socks
Not much to show because I have yet to take a picture of the finished first sock. The second sock is under way; I’ve got about 2 inches done so far.

Wool Peddler’s Shawl
I’m going to take a look at it tonight to make sure I didn’t mkae a mistake, like missing a yarn over or something. I was tired and had a couple glasses of wine in me when I ran into problems. If I can’t find any mistakes, it’ll go to the LYS with me tomorrow; someone else might be able to see something I can’t.

Readers’ Comments
Julie doesn’t think she’d know a guard hair if she saw it. Trust me, you’d know a guard hair… it’s longer and sticks out of the yarn… where the alpaca is usually soft and bouncy, the guard hairs are rougher and pokey. I don’t think they’re too much of a problem, but some people may find that they make the yarn feel a bit more scratchy than alpaca without guard hairs.

Natalie, Deb, and Heidi all made comments about the shrapnel I picked up in some war zone (it was Stanford University actually). I giggled when I read these. 🙂 They are very close to what I thought when the tire dude dropped them onto the counter in front of me. (Of course, he then showed me a inch thick bolt they pulled out of someone else’s tire recently. He also told me that the worst thing they’ve ever seen in at tire at that location was a drill bit that’s used for cuttting door knob holes.) The screws were in a plastic bag like you would get to assemble something. They probably came from the constuction site I drove by on my way to the visitor parking lot.

At least I knew I had picked something up… the last time I got a screw stuck in a tire it went all the way in, flush with the tire and only let the air leak out slowly. I had to put air in the tire every few days until it dawned on me something was wrong that I should get checked.

Approaching the weekend

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I first would like to apologise for my inability to spell cappuccino in my last post… I was doing a disservice to a fabulous drink.

Cappuccino Socks
The heel was turned without great difficulty, and there was much jubilation.



The sock progressed along nicely, and was actually completed a few hours after these pictures were taken to even more jubilation. Now to get to work on the second, which should be too hard. This was a nice, simple sock to knit, and it went pretty fast.

Felted Kitty Bed

The felted kitty bed that was finished last week was thrown into my parent’s washing machine and felted on Sunday. (I do my felting at their place because it’s a top loader, so I can check progress, and I don’t have to pay for it.)




As soon as I find a box for it, it will be winging its way to Florida for my sister’s new kitty.


Reader’s Comments
Julie asked where I got the pattern for the scarf.

I got the lace pattern from The Dishcloth Boutique… it’s the Garter Stitch Lace facecloth on page 1 of the knitting patterns. I modified it slightly, doing only 4 rows of garter between the lace segments. This facecloth was the first lace pattern I knitted, so I have an unusual fondness for it… of course, being easy to remember while looking complicated is a bonus.

Update
I finally got around to not only snapping a picture of this, but uploading it so I could share. This is what they pulled out of my tire 2 weeks ago. No wonder it went flat in a couple of minutes, eh?


The patch job seems to be holding up nicely, too.

Blah

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I don’t know what’s wrong with me today… I just feel so blah… apathy up the wazoo. *gah* I’m having a hideous time trying to concentrate on work. All I can keep thinking about is if the printed book project I turned in today is good enough (you can see it at: (sorry, taken down))
… I’m starting to doubt myself… is this what the teacher even wanted. *ugh* Then there’s the midterm next Monday…. with no study time before hand. Obligations on Saturday that were made before it was known there was going to be a midterm that Monday, and my in-laws are visiting from Canada and want to see us on the Sunday… all day, and for dinner. Maybe I’m just in shock (or working on that website for class killed off the last viable brain cells I had).

On the knitting front, the Wool Peddler’s Shawl has stalled. I finished the garter stitch section (111 rows), did the set up row (no problem), did the first row of lace (slightly confused), got half way through the second row of the lace pattern (completely stumped). What is really confusing at this point is what is going on at the center stitch area. Most of the directions are very clear about where the 4 stitch markers go… except for the stitch marker to (on row 2) the left of the center stitch. tHe directions say something like follow pattern to the last stitch befor the next marker (the marker to the right of the center stitch), k1, knit center stitch, continue… um, what about the other marker… i’m not so sure it’s supposed to go right next to the center stitch cause on the 2nd pattern row it says to purl “everything between the markers.” It’s making my head hurt…

Maybe I’ll put it down until I get a chance to go to my LYS… socks… I’ll start socks in the meantime.

A morning filled with adventure

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Dragged myself out of bed earlier than usual this morning so that I could get into work and get a bagel (Friday’s are bagel day) before 10 am. Why before 10 am? Because 10 am is when the Special Collections reading room at Stanford opens. I have a project on printed books (anything published before 1900) due on Monday… it’s just like the one I did on manuscripts (although this time I’m thinking of doing the website option instead of a paper). Stanford owns a copy of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which was printed in 1499 by Aldus Manutius, who was a famous printer in Venice at the turn of the 16th century (Aldus also invented italics… nifty). The adventure began just as I was arriving at the vistor parking lot… there was an odd thumping noise. I turned off my stereo. Yup, it was definitely coming from my car. I parked and got out… there was a loud hissing noise. I looked at the driver’s side back tire… it looks alright. Lean down… the noise gets slightly louder. Walk around the back of the car… the noise is definitely getting louder. Bend down near passenger side rear tire… ah… hissing tire. Not good. Examine tire… discover what looks like a small plastic bag with a couple of 2 inch long screws with anchors jammed into the middle of the tread of my new tires. Watch as the tire goes comepletely flat in about a minute. *sigh*

So, I decided to just go to the library and take care of my school work, then worry about the tire. I went with this option cause who knew how long it would take for a tow truck to show up, might as well save the waiting for when I can wait.

It was very cool handling a book that is 506 years old (I have a weird fascination with extremely old things, and I don’t know where it comes from). When I handed the book back in (*sigh*) I got talking to the Rare Book librarian. He seemed rather impressed with my selection of printed book for my assignment. We chatted about the book and the printer. He told me about The Rule of Four, which is about the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Then, he shared with me the fact that 3 floors up there was a copy of the English translation of the book (I don’t read Italian, sadly). With call number in hand, I trotted up (well, actually, I took the elevator) to the fifth floor and found the glorious book on the shelf. Very nifty… now to find the… oooo… I was going to say the $70 to get a copy for myself cause that’s what the inside of the cover said on the one at Stanford… but, apparently they have reissued the book at it’s like $20. The really nifty thing about this translation is they used all the original woodcutting illustrations… pretty. *grin*

Anyways, I left the library and headed off to deal with the pain in the butt problem car. I called the husband to get the roadside assist phone number. Called the roadside assist people and got a very friendly Texan-sounding lady (my insurance company is based in TX), who took all my information and told me that I would get a call from their automated system telling me a time estimate. Now, I did not think this sounded too good. (The last time I had tried to use a roadside assistance serve (one that came with my phone) I was told it would take an hour for a truck from the place around the corner to come and give me a jump… That made me none too happy since I was alone, it was getting dark and cold, and I was surrounded by crazy football (soccer) fans.) So, I waited and waited… no call. It was getting on 20 minutes… when was I supposed to receive this supposed call… and suddenly there was a tow truck. YEA! The guy had my car jacked up and the tire changed to the donut in 10 minutes.

Off I drove to the tire place where I have the nifty deal of lifetime fix any problems with the tires. Unfortunately, the guy there said it would take an hour/hour and a half to fix. So, I walked home in the 88 F heat to wait for the husband to come and take me to work. He’s going to come and get me in a couple hours so I can get my car before the tire place closes.

But, now… there’s beer… at work. *grin*

A little start to spring cleaning

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This weekend proves that Spring is definitely on the way. Yesterday, it got up to 71 F… don’t know what it was today, not quite as hot, but definitely nice enough to work with my balcony garden. The majority of my plants were moved when the winter rains began, so that they could partake in the wet. Today, I moved the ones that reside on the railing back into their proper places, and began the process of trimming things. Now, I have a pile of new trimmings mixed with slowly-turning-into-compost winter debris all over the floor of the balcony. I just didn’t have the energy to try to wrangle it into a garbage bag. That’ll probably take place next weekend. I do have another tulip in bloom, just didn’t take a picture, but it’s a very delicate pink… and I can see it through the glass door while laying on the couch.

On the illness front, my cold-that-was-coming turned out to be a no-show. Sure, I had a sore throat and a headache for a few days, but my temp never got over 99.8 F. Meanwhile, the husband is slowly recovering… he got hit hard. Since Tuesday, his fever slowly came down, and finally seems to have left, but he’s still got a nasty sounding cough and gets tired easily. I’m very glad I didn’t get sick. I’ve got a project similar to my manuscript paper due a week tomorrow, with the midterm the week after that… the day after my visiting in-laws want to spend all day Sunday with us. I’ll have to study that Saturday and hope I don’t forget anything.

In knitting news, I’ve gotten to row 106 on the Wool Peddler’s Shawl. That means 5 more rows, then I start the lace border. This one has gone a lot faster than I was anticipating. I am contemplating what my next thing should be… socks for my toesies, or a shawl for myself made with the Brooks Farm yarn I got at Stitches, or a sweater… I’ve been eyeing Mariah… if I made it from one of the new Knit Picks yarns it would only cost about $40 or $50 to make. I do have this wool/mohair yarn I got from Dyeing for Fiber (I’m slightly depressed that she decided to close her store, it’s gorgeous yarn). I originally got it to do Rogue, but after making Lavender Twist I have decided I don’t like a yarn with mohair for cables. I could just do a simple cardy from it…. hmmm… difficult choices.

Military Brats

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I have noticed that there are more than a few military brats out there in the knitting blog world. So, I have added a few interesting brat links to my side bar.

Today, I found out about Brats: Our Journey Home… a documentary that is currently in production. It addresses the idea of brats as a lost American tribe… a subculture of people who grew up on military bases around the world and who feel different from the people around them.

I know my sense of normal is skewed compared to the majority of people I call friends. I also know that I have have experiences that they will probably never have…. I have been to places they will probably never go. I have trouble unpacking boxes. I don’t remember events by the year they happened, but by where I lived at the time.

For the curious…

The About the Film section is really interesting… it also has links to pages about things like Moving or Life on Base if you scroll down. There’s also information on the filmmakers, the people they interviewed, and how to make a donation to help them get through post-production and get the film into film festivals.

Tulips!

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My tulips seem to have weathered the rainy winter much better than the iris bulbs I planted. My crocus bulbs seem to have been hit or miss. I’m afraid that for several of the bulbs the rain just made them rot. My bearded irises are starting to shoot up, too. Yeah, for spring flowers. I had to drive up to San Bruno to see my chiropractor this afternoon and the dandilions are blooming along the Palo Alto section of 280. Very pretty.

Meanwhile, there was yarn…

This is about 140 yards of a 60% silk/40% wool yarn. I haven’t measured the wpi, so I don’t know if it classifies as lace weight, or if it’s fingering weight. The silk is multi-colored: pink, yellow, green, blue… I got it from The Silk Worker. The blue ply is a 80% wool/20% silk that I got off eBay.

Okay, I’m going to go have soup now… soup is good.

States

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bold the states you’ve been to, underline the states you’ve lived in and italicize the state you’re in now…

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

Doesn’t quite show the bouncing back and forth across the country that my family did… Places I’ve lived goes something like this: New York -> Georgia -> Alabama -> New York -> Arizona -> Alabama -> California -> New Jersey -> California (inside of which I’ve been bouncing around for the last 12.5 years). The only move we didn’t drive for was New Jersey to California because it was Oct and we had to get there for school. Every other cross-country move involved loading up the car(s) and going… usually so we could see the sites and see relatives who lived in the middle part of the country (we only really ever saw them during these moving trips). The funniest one in my mind is when we were moving from Georgia to Alabama, which should have been a few hours in the car total… but we had to go see my grandparents who lived in Iowa, so it wins the longest trip to move the shortest distance award.

Non-Knitting Content

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I think I’m still reeling from my paper that was turned in on Monday. For 2 nights after I keep dreaming about manuscripts and ink and pens…. really trippy. It was actually a rather fun project. I had to examine an manuscript from earlier than 1500 AD and write a paper on it. I drove over to Stanford since they’re right down the street from where I live and got my hands on a collection in their Special Collections… Medieval manuscript fragments, ca. 850-1499 (a.k.a. the Philip Bliss collection). Now, I’ll have you know that this was no mean feat… it was like trying to visit someone in prison (not that I’d know what that’s like, but that’s what it made me feel like I was doing). First, I had to find the main entrance… visitors are only allowed to enter through the main entrance. The, I had to fill out a form on a computer that printed out a sheet with my information, which I then had to show to the lady guarding the turnstile, who compared it to my driver’s license before buzzing me through. Once at the Special Collections reading room, I again had to fill out a form on a computer. Then, I had to turn over my driver’s license in exchange for a key to a locker out in the hall where I could place my belongings because you are only allowed to have a pencil and loose leaf paper when consulting the collections. After stowing my stuff, the nice lady gave me the archive box of the collection and a pair of white gloves.

The manuscript I chose for my paper was titled “About the Proper Conduct on Monks” according to the finding aid. You can see it at http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/medieval/gif/m389-5.gif, there should be an enlarging click-y thing in the lower right corner for a closer look. I chose this manuscript because of all the nifty little drawings in the margins that appear to have been done at a later date, as if someone were studying it. Pointy hands, a couple of faces, some scrawled notes…. very nifty. Unfortunately, the Stanford the page with links to the manuscripts they have in digital form had this one labeled incorrectly… as coming from folder 5, rather than folder 15, and it has the description for the item from folder 5. I think I’m going to try to notify them of the mistake. At least I hope it’s a mistake, cause the other option is I completely messed up. *Gah* Now, I’m going to sit around worrying that I got the folders messed up, and I was looking at 5 not 15…. *groan* Maybe I could try to get a look at the collection again to see if I’m a complete idiot.

Well, if you want to see the paper, mistake or not, I’ve put it up at (sorry, taken down).

My head hurts now…

Hmm… I need a title…

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It would appear that I am not the only one around here in desperate need of a vacation. Many people I pass in the hallways of my work place have a look on their faces that screams “What the fuck am I doing here?!” along with an air of being plain worn out. For all I know it’s the precursor to some illness ravaging our dept’s ranks… which makes me all the more thankful for my new cube out on the edges surrounded by empty cubes. I’m taking tomorrow off though as a mental health day… there will probably be knitting and getting back on track with my classes (I’ve fallen a tad behind on the reading).

I pulled $100 out of my savings account today as that is the budget I have set for myself for visiting the Stitches Market on Saturday. (I’m so glad Stitches isn’t in Oakland this year… and having it in Santa Clara puts it 10 minutes down the highway from me.) As I was getting my budget out of the new mini ATM my credit union has installed in the cafeteria building on my work’s campus I noticed a sign saying that as a promotion they had randomly put fifties. Unfortunately, there were no fifties amongst my twenties. *pout* An extra $30 to spend on yarn would have been sweet.

It doesn’t look like we have anything planned for Sunday, which is good cause this weekend is jam-packed otherwise. Friday night, we’re driving down to Monterey to go to a wine tasting/silent auction with my parents. Saturday, I’m hitting Stitches. Saturday night, there’s a wake for the little girl who died last week. Sunday will probably be for recovery…. and fondling my Saturday purchases, I’m sure.