Permitted to raise hell…

Scooter update
Got up this morning, and after heading to the coffee shop, went to the DMV. The husband came with (I think he really wanted to aovid going into work cause he’s not feeling well — allergies). Got right into line for people without appointments — took about 20 minutes to get to the counter where they gave me the form I needed to fill out and my ticket number (G123.. they were on G67.. fun). I actually only waited about an hour before they called my number, which was amazing considering that the listed wait time went from 51 minutes to 1 hour 29 minutes during my wait. Finally got called, paid my $25 fee, and got to stand in another line to get my picture taken and get my test. The guy puts me into the sytem: signature, thumb print, and photo (*ugh*), and hands me my test. I go off to take it, slightly confused because it’s the automobile written test, not the motorcycle written test. I take it anyway. Get into another line to get my test graded (only missed one question… you’re allowed to miss 6 your first time). This is when the grader dude realizes that I was supposed to take the motorcycle written test. He hands me the new test and tells me to come right back to him… thank goodness I don’t have to stand in line again. I missed 3 questions (you’re allowed to miss 4)… whew, just a little close, eh? But, I am now permitted by the state of CA to drive my scooter during daylight hours, not on freeways, and without passengers. I have a year to either take the on-cycle skills test or take the safety class, which waives the skills test but costs $200.

The book
I have finally gotten my hands on Stephanie’s book (I also finally managed to get a copy of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead on DVD) thanks to a local Barnes & Noble. Amazon, meanwhile, sent me a lame e-mail:

Hello, and thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.com with your
concern.

First, please allow me to extend my most sincere apologies for any
frustration this matter has caused.

I have checked “At Knit’s End : Meditations for Women Who Knit Too
Much” on our web site and found that this item was released on March
15, 2005.

Please note that the availability of this item on our web site
is “Usually ships within 2 to 3 days from Amazon.com.”

This item has proven to be a very popular item. We have many customer
orders for this item, and we’ve just begun receiving copies from our
suppliers. We are filling orders as quickly as we can on a first-
come, first-served basis. I apologize for any misunderstanding.

In addition to a wide selection of items, one of our aims at
Amazon.com is to provide a convenient and efficient service; in this
case, we have not met that standard.

I am truly sorry that we were not able to fulfill your expectations
for this level of service. I hope that you will give us another
opportunity to prove the quality of our service to you.

I have already read about a quarter of it — laughing for most of it, horrified on one occasion (that poor grey sweater…), but overall greatly enjoying myself. The husband seems to be getting a laugh out of it, too… but he has begun to understand the wool thing since I knit him socks and a sweater.

Thanks
I just want to say thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. They were great. 🙂

Ups and Downs of a Thursday

Scooter
This morning I was doing my best impression of an unhappy camper. “Why?” you ask. Well, I got up, picked out a decent outfit, and spent 15 minutes putting on make-up (I only wear make-up for special occasions and when I know there’ll be pictures). I looked pretty cute, too. Then, I pulled up the DMV website to get directions to the branch I was going to… only to discover that they’re all closed today for Caesar Chavez Day. *GAH!* Between the wasted time getting ready and the paper cut I got under a fingernail when I was checking to make sure my checkbook was in my purse, I was not happy. I wanted to scream… I cried instead… stupid hormones. So, tomorrow morning I get to do it all again for the pleasure of trying to get my motorcycle permit. That means another day of nervous waiting. I know I should be nervous, the majority of the questions are ridiculously easy (the only ones I might have problems with are that ones that specifically refer to motocycle things like clutches and gears). No what I’m nervous about is absoluately stupid… I’m afraid I’m going to be made to take the auto written test and not pass it. See? Stupid. But these are the kinds of things that get stuck in my head and continue to rattle around. This is why I started knitting in the first place.

Bookbookbook
I have canceled my order with amazon. It still hadn’t shipped and I kind of doubt it would have shipped tomorrow. A call was placed to a local Barnes & Noble, where a very nice bookseller has put my name on a copy, and it is currently waiting for me to go and pick it up. Guess what my first stop on my way home from work will be… go on guess. *grin* If all goes well, I will be in possession of the bookbookbook by this evening. (It shouldn’t be this difficult to get a newly released book.)

Wool Peddler’s Shawl
I finally say down a couple nights ago to try and figure out what was going on with the Wool Peddler’s Shawl. I frogged back to the setup row, and I thought I figured out the problem when I found a dropped stitch about 6 rows down (the nice thing about the Peace Fleece is the stitches don’t run if you drop them). I used a crochet hook to bring it up, recounted my stitches, 231 the correct number according to the pattern. Start the lace again. Row 1 no problems, everything appeared to fall where it belonged. Row 2 had the same exact issue as before… the pattern wasn’t lining up correctly. It’s a 10 st lace pattern… I have 10 sts… I try to knit Row 2’s 10 sts (K1, P9) and it’s off by a stitch… I recounted 10 sts at least 5 times.. I even looked at the chart. Have I lost all capacity to count? That would be hard luck on a knitter, I think. I have no idea what it is I’m doing wrong. I might give it another go tonight… but if I’m still not getting it, it’s definitely going to the LYS on Saturday.

The Waiting Game

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.

The post office finally pulls through

Back on Dec 15th I ordered an Extra Fine BFL sample from Copper Moose on eBay for a buck. I wanted to see how soft it was before I went buying 2 or 3 lbs of it. They mailed it out. There was waiting and more waiting. I got the stuff I won in an auction on Dec 22nd. So, I email Copper Moose and they assured me they had indeed mailed it, but would mail out another sample. The second mail sample arrived yesterday and is quite nice (now to see how it spins up). Who knows where the originally mailed sample is… could be at the South Pole for all I know. *sigh* I’ll laugh if it shows up in my mailbox three months from now.

Le Bete Noir is about half way to the armseye shaping. I’m getting work on it in at my work but am eschewing it at home for some reason. Thankfully, it’s 6 rows to the inch, so every 6 rows actually seems to get me somewhere.

I’m quite proud of myself for getting Designing Knitwear in hardcover for more than half off at Bookshop Santa Cruz. It looks rather interesting since it talks about actual shape of the human body and that sort of thing, which has perpetually confused me.

The dragging week

A short stop at the LYS brought me a copy of Folk Mittens and Folk Knitting in Estonia. I’ve flipped through both books and have started reading the interesting information Nancy Bush has at the beginning of the Estonian book. But, I haven’t decided if I’m crazy enough to try knitting a pair of mittens. A pair of socks in the Estonian book have certainly caught my eye though.

Le Bete Noir is plodding along since I work on it when I feel like it can. So, I didn’t work on it last night… there was no knitting at all last night. I have started my new exercise regime… well, it’s not all that new, I tried to start it a couple weeks ago, but the holidays interrupted it. The plan is to get at least a half hour of something that makes me sweat everyday. Mainly, I’ve been riding the exercise bike in our apt complex’s fitness room for 40 minutes (working my way slowly up to an hour). Last night, after exercising and a hot shower, I felt up to nothing more than vegging in front of the TV while cozy under a blanket. These days happen and I embrace them. *grin*

In other news, I am planning on taking a dyeing class this Saturday at my LYS. But, I don’t have any yarn for dyeing… I’m not sure I feel like spinning something up just for this class. I’ll probably just grab something white before the class starts.

Thinking about mittens

Several people are doing the Latvian mitten thing and they are gorgeous. Now, I don’t live in an area where mittens are really needed… I probably wear gloves only a few times during the winter… but, I’ve been thinking they might be a good small project to practice fair isle. This of course has caused a wanting for such books as Folk Mittens. I’m planning on stopping by my LYS tomorrow since it’s been a few weeks since I’ve been and I have been told that I need to share pictures of the shawl. I might peruse their bookshelves and see what they’ve got. Of course, if I get something I’ll feel guilty what with Stephanie‘s wants versus needs MSF donation drive going on. Of course, I already feel guilty cause we went out shopping Wednesday night and I got things I don’t need but wanted. Part of the problem with not having bought stuff I’ve wanted for several months… now that the husband is working again, I’m catching up… stopped at the comic book store and got the comics that have been accumulating in my box. Got a manga book and a book about sushi for the husband at the Japanese bookstore. We got a new rice cooker… but that is a definite need since our old one died and we do eat that much rice. Got a new calendar for both home and work… need. And stopped by this new tea shop in the mall to see what their offerings were… got some teas and a late Christmas gift for a friend. I’m such a consumer… and such a packrat. What’s surprising is I have gotten better in recent years. Now I need to learn how to sell things on eBay to get rid of years of accumulating stuff I no longer want or need.

Boy, this post was all over the place…