Tag Archives: yarn harlot

Adventures in Berkeley

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Yesterday, I got off work a couple hours early, the Husband picked me up, and we headed to Berkeley to see Stephanie. Her talk was great (Note to her publisher: she did indeed read excerpts from her book), especially the parts for which we were sworn to secrecy. During the question and answer period, she outed the Husband as a Canadian with the secret Canadian password. Then came the time to wait in line to get books signed.

While standing in line I got to meet Kathy from San Jose (who I’m certain I’ve seen post comments on the Harlot’s blog even though I can’t find a single one now)… I think I somehow managed to find the only librarian in the room, so we talked shop as well as knitting. There was much feeling of yarn as we made our way past the shelves.

During the 2 hours I stood in line I never imagined I’d ever hear the Husband get into an argument with anyone, let alone Stephanie, about the toast. When I got up to her the 2 of them were bonding over all things Canadian including the Hockey Night in Canada theme song. (It was just after this that we sadly learned that Don Cherry is now on a 3 second delay after saying something bad about Edmonton. *sigh*) Knitters can always talk about yarn with each other, and Canadian can always talk hockey.

Getting to meet Stephanie in person was great. This of course means that my social ineptitude came shining through (or at least I think it did). Not wanting to seem overeager to meet her… not wanting to fawn all over her… what do I do? Clam up almost completely. *sigh* (I still haven’t managed to find a good balance between being appropriately out-going and not bouncing off the walls… especially when I’m excited.) I asked her if I could have my picture taken with her and mentioned it would go in my blog (please ignore how red my cheeks are, it’s a whim they have). So, she asks what my blog name is, and I tell her… and she recognized it. I nearly thought about fainting. 🙂 Here was a person who’s blog is read by hundreds of people, but she recognized my blog name. (And, apparently, I’ve saved all the fawning for my blog entry.) I am quite proud to say that I did not leave the interaction thinking anything along the lines of “I can’t believe I opened my mouth and allowed that statement to come out.” (This happens after many social occasions… I spend a good deal of time dwelling on something I said that I consider to be highly moronic, believing that those who heard it uttered probably discussed my stupidity amongst themselves as soon as I left.)

The wonderful evening was capped by a quick jaunt down the street to pick up a Zachary’s spinach and mushroom stuffed pizza to take home. Then, it was bedtime… I think I laid there for awhile trying to compose today’s blog entry, all of which I forgot during the night. I’m sorry to say that this is a sad attempt to recreate some of the clever prose that came to me as I drifted off (but that’s usually the case).

Permitted to raise hell…

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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. 🙂

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.