Stupid Walmart

This is almost done-I need two lousy skeins of embroidery floss to finish it up-but someone in corporate WallyWorldLand decided that there was no need to carry DMC in 4-H Land.  Now I gotta drive 35 miles for two lousy skeins.  It's for soon to be born nephew.

Need another opinion

I am trying hard to finish up UFOs. I ran across this, an entrelac sweater started last October, in Austermann Inverno. I figured out where I was, sat down, did a few squares, and really looked at it.

There is no way the front will match the back. Given entrelac's tendency to spread, the front is a good 5" wider than the back.

It's kind of....quiet. Misty. Do I really want such a serene sweater?

I was a little worried. I started the project based on yardage, and a little nervous, because I know I need to reknit the back to fit the front. I wasn't sure I had enough.

Then I saw my big ball of Berroco (mumble becauseIdon't remembertheyarn's name ..crap... Mosaic Iusedonthe cardi) Optik, that I salvaged from something else I frogged last week. And it just might look really good with the Inverno.

In order to do that and have it come out looking ok, I would have to take it back 2 tiers, and then add in a total of 2 tiers. I have 6 of 10 done.

In the meantime, more Inverno has surfaced. So running out of yarn is no longer an issue.

What do you think? I am standing by to listen. (Actually, I am sewing buttons on that last cardi, but you know...)

What would genius do?

I found a whale of a sale on this yarn. The reviews said it was WONDERFUL yarn. The price was great. I couldn't quite make out the color. I didn't think it could be THAT bad.

The yarn came in today~all the reviews were spot on. I, on the other hand, was WRONG. The yarn is every pastel under the sun, and they all cancel each other out, leaving a murky, muddy mess.

I could dye it. There's a fair amount of rayon tucked in with the animal fibers. I could add another strand and carry along. Either way, this yarn needs a personality makeover. (For a lazy woman.) Right now, I have two possible solutions: stb or pra. I abbreviated them, because I want to hear what other people think.

Colors in the yarn: mid orange, pastel yellow, blue, green, lilac, pink.

What is your solution?

ETA: Be specific! Please tell me what color would you use!

(swearing)

Remember that I wrote about buying a new, ungodly expensive repeater for my new iphone that I bought from the evil Apple store? The phone that wouldn't work at the house UNTIL I bought the repeater? The phone receipt is still on my fridge, dated Feb 3.

Dh called me while I was at the store yesterday afternoon about 3, and that was the last call I took. My phone's had a "no service" message on it since about 7. I spent a whopping 45 minutes on the phone with lovely Angela from ATT, and hopefully, someone will work on it today. I R-E-A-L-L-Y don't want to drive 70 miles to the Apple store, aka "hellonearth". So I am pissy about that.

I stash organized yesterday. I found this be-yootiful wool and silk in an abandoned project, so I frogged it, and tested it. It's Mystical Creations-my last wool and silk yarn turned from brilliant kelly and lime to um, sage and lime. The kelly green kept bleeding and bleeding and bleeding. I finally decided (at the third washing, when the water in the basin was DARK green) that it wasn't my fault! Apparently, this is a pretty common problem, and many of their yarns are poorly set. I wrote the company, and she replaced the yarn, but once you knit a garment that goes to hell like THAT, you are kind of careful.


I figured I should test this. The purple bled. A lot! I took pictures, but THEY ARE TRAPPED ON MY IPHONE. Hmmmph! Anyhow, look at the deep dark wavy purple. Notice how everything on the washed part doesn't look quiet as dark? I will probably bite the bullet and pitch this.



Note: Called Apple, phone ok, here's bleeding yarn photo. Water is from about 3 yards of yarn-soak one and soak 2.

You should shut up and knit before we figure out that you are both stupid AND annoying-

--Welcome to Betsuary. In celebration of the bestest of months, I am digging thru the photo albums for fun and general amusement. I plan on a different decade each week. We will start with the 1960s-I think this was from 1968. It's funny, when we are little we cheese for the camera. Then, when we are older, we don't cheese, but are offended when our photos show us as sullen dorks.

--Dorks, like cream, rise to the occasion, and claw their way to the top of the dumbass pedestal. There's a lot of dork posturing on Ravelry.

--Take for example the YarnSaleORama forum, where one of my friends posted a link for a decent quality, well known, bulky yarn at a fire sale price. Someone had to pop on there and say "Oh, too bad it's not dk or fingering weight...." Oh, you mean, "Too bad it's not spun from fairy farts during the light of the last full moon and dyed with plankton recovered from Matanuska Glacier!" That's what you really mean. Shut up and find your own bargains.

--Or recently on the "DesignerKnockOffs" forum, someone was asking for a pattern of "LeReallyExpensiveFrenchBag". I was trying to encourage, and talked to the seeker about the design elements, and how she might fake them, and generally, just encouraged her to try it. And the moderator (who lives in Florida, and is a beginning knitter) pops on and says "Oh, and do two patterns, because I don't like felted bags. And I think you should make latigo handles." Oh, GRRRRR--knit your own LeFakeO.

--And Hat Attack-I am sooooo crazy excited about the upcoming Hat Attack! It's a knit group, and of course someone had to pop on and say "Oh, too bad it's knit, because I haven't caught the knitting bug, I CROW-SHAY." I had to step in and say "Oh, you should start up the crochet version." I think she shuffled off in her bathrobe.

--These people clearly indulge in too much whine. None of these people ever smacks themselves in the forehead and says "Wow, I COULD try that." I'd like to help them out with that smack. For starters.

Swatched and started

I'm afraid my intended yarn combination won't work. That's the 2/6 yarn (reads as light grey) at the bottom of the swatch. The bluer portion is 2/9 wool carried with my Kauni. That's a lot closer to the required gauge, and the yarns are balanced, so nothing jockeys for position. This swatch was knit on a 4 mm needle.

Of course, I couldn't stand it anymore, and had to cast on. (Never mind that I have two sleeves on the needles now from my 'current project'. That's kind of a problem, because sleeves are SOOO boring.) But I wanted to see what it would look like, and how the colors go.

This pattern isn't all that hot. The sleeves have little "wings" (yeah, like maxi-pads) to give them shaping. That's good design right there, I'll tell ya. (Insert eye-rolling here.)

I am sorely disappointed with this yarn. The texture is as expected, the weight is as expected, but I feel like I could have done the color mixing on my own. With color runs 100 yards long, I could just spit splice entire balls of yarn together, and knit them up. Look at the freaking joins on Noro Kureyon, and tell me that's not so.

Boo-hoo, yeah, I know. I wasn't expecting any sympathy.

Dammit.

I was inside, just doin' my job. I'da been in trouble if the car had hopped the curb and come crashing thru my storefront, huh? Absolutely specfuckular.

I'd like to see the manager, please....

Two months ago, I was jumping up and down with excitement. The Chinese New Year was upon us, and the new year looked very promising. I didn't cut my hair. I was careful to sweep towards me, I gave out candies.

I'd like to return this new year, and I want my money back. So far, this has been a yucky eight weeks. My dad, my sinuses and my eye, my friends' families (a few of you, I might point out), frozen pipes, horrible weather. Pressure, pressure, pressure.

THIS is good stuff? Someone in the astrology department was drunk when they wrote up the predictions.