The coffee swap

How can you not love the mailman when he brings you stuff like this? Perri, was my wonderful swap buddy. Coffee, treats, coffee flavoring, more treats, and more coffee.
Won't that knitpicks parade make wonderful socks for little missy A? The Country hill yarn is a yummy mix of orange and white. Sock key chain which will make my hubby definately think I'm over the point of being OBSESSED with sock knitting and to be perfectly honest .... he's right. A knitting rules sticker. I've got all Steph's books. She's hysterical.
A Lionbrand bag that is big enough to hold a bed pillow. It actually ended up holding my cat charlie after this picture was taken (cats crawl into anything don't they?).
These adorable stitch markers
And a lamb pez dispenser. I emailed Perri and told her that Connecticut has given the world 2 things: frisbees and pez.

Thanks for everything Perri. I love it all. Gotta go brew some coffee.

The power wheel jeep

My son in law was giving a broken power wheel jeep. He's an electrician so he rewired the jeep and got it running for W and N. Now that they have a 2 acre yard to drive around they are having a blast in their jeep however sometimes a guy wants to take a road trip.

W: We should go somewhere today.
N: Yes we'll go.
W: How about if we go to see gram?*
N: Drive to gram's house and play trains.
W: I'll drive and you sit here and we'll go to grams and sleep over.
N: Ok.
W: Oh no we can't go. The battery won't have enough power and we're too little to walk on the highway.

*gram lives 65 miles away now
Smarties!

Last year they got a wagon and W told N, "Hop in and we'll go to grams." They lived about 8 miles away so it would have been quite a hike! N got in the wagon and off W went down the street. Got to the corner and turned right (dad walking behind watching). Gets to the next corner of a fairly busy road and says, "We can't go to grams because we're too little to cross the road by ourselves. Dad, you'll have to come too."

Dear swap pals

One of these is a scarf, a coffee swap package, and a summer dishcloth package so if you are my swap buddy your package is in the mail.
Finished a pair for my "I love colorful socks" daughter. I rarely find knots in sock yarn. This skein? 3 knots. Oh well, I think they match fairly well.
I haven't been feeling well. I thought I had a cold but really it's a case of startitis. Can't seem to finish another pair so I just keep casting on single socks and ending up with this pile-o-socks. I'd love to tell you I won't add to the pile but I've got 3 new skeins of sock yarn sitting on the couch calling to me ...... "Diane, come on and cast me on. You know you want to."

Today my twin son and daughter are 19 yrs old. Yes, 19 yrs old. Doesn't seem possible that this has happened since they were 2 yesterday. They are wonderful, kind, young adults who will put me in a really nice home when I am old and feeble.

And for something completely different ..... you know how you and your spouse bring different things to the marriage table? I cook, my hubby does the dishes. I clean, he does the gardening. I in charge of Mt Laundry, he changes the oil in the car. Turns out the only thing he really needs me for is .......

putting the paper on the holder. I guess it's a still he hasn't mastered yet.

We have a winner

TREK

Thanks for all the great rants. Doesn't it feel good to get stuff off your chest?

Wedding pics

A lovely evening as Dorrie and Bobby because Mr and Mrs Robert Boyd.
My brother Andy and his wonderful wife Diane. The lady in front is my mom. Another pic of the bride and groom. They are just a wonderful couple. So caring and considerate of each other. Definately a love built on a strong foundation of friendship. I won the center piece for sending back my rsvp first. My sister in law (who I would hate if she wasn't so nice) made every friggin thing you could think of for this wedding. Invitations, programs, flowers, favors, etc.

How about a wedding rant? I had the pleasure of sitting next to Dorrie's father and step mom. I had met them 2 yrs ago at a cookout for Dorrie's birthday. They live about 10 minutes away but didn't show up until 15 minutes before the party was supose to end. Obviously the step mom didn't want to come at all because she looked disgusted at everyone and didn't say a word.

After dinner, I went outside to make a quick phone and to get some fresh air. Andy followed me and we had a little chat after my call. I said, "Boy is Charlie's wife a sourpuss. What a face all night. Should have done everyone a favor and just stayed home."

Turns out I wasn't the first person at the table to send back my rsvp after all. She had. Responding that no they would not be coming. Why? Because the bride decided that she would be walked to be married by her mother and Andy. The step mom took great offense to this and decided that they would not attend.

Two weeks ago Charlie grew a backbone and called to say they had changed their minds and would be attending but he would not rent or wear a tux.

My sister in law and brother didn't let on that there was an issue. The father and his wife were included in pictures, listed in the program as parents of the bride (very classy that they left out the word "step" when referring to everyone), escourted in by a groomsman to the ceremony, announced at the reception, and the father danced with his daughter for the father/bride dance. I wish I could say I would have been as forgiving of everything but I honestly don't think I would have been.

Rant and win contest yarn

Ok, went thru my sock yarn stash and decided on some Trekking XXL 100 and cervinia for a prize. Give me a good rant.
And when a cat bites your toe while you are trying to take a picture of your current sock in progress this is what you get.

These are for an exchange pal

Spring into Summer Dishcloth swap

Blocked washcloths with links to patterns

Kitty
Elephant
Dog
Pig
Turtle

Reminder to Rant to win

Did you post your rant to win? We've got some good ones out there.

Well, I forgot to update my rant. I emailed Walmart.com on Saturday May 12th to let them know what was going on with the store. Late Monday I got an email back from Walmart apologizing for the situation and asking me to fax over my receipts. I emailed back stating that I didn't have any receipts.

Tuesday I decided to call customer service and see where we were in the process. I spoke with a very nice woman who again apologized, put me on hold to read the notes on my account, came back and asked me if I faxed my receipts yet, put me on hold again, came back and apologized again asking me what exactly had happened at the store, put me on hold again while she called the store, came back apologized and said I would be hearing from the accounting department by the end of the day.

Wednesday I received an email from the accounting department stating that yes I was under refunded $9.54 and it would be credited back to my card shortly. My idea of shortly would have been that day. Their idea of shortly was Friday.

Friday I get a call from the store manager at Waterbury Walmart asking me why I didn't just come back to the store to get the rest of my refund. I couldn't believe this guy had the balls to call and question anything I did. After all, I didn't create any of this situation; his staff did. And that's exactly what I told him.

So that's the end of my rant. I'm not anti Walmart, just anti bad service. I told my mom you know it's not the money it's the principle of the thing. So you know what that means? It cost me more in my time than it was worth. It took me 50 minutes to get the initial $159.00 back. That was cost effective. It took me 30 minutes to get $9.54 returned. Not cost effective but I just couldn't let it go.

What's your rant?

The green blog isn't a blob

As you are knitting lace it's not impressive. My family looks at the picture, looks at what's on my needles, and wonders what I've been drinking that makes me think the blob on my needles will look anything like the picture. That is until they see this on the floor. (my blocking assistant Joey making sure no one walks on the shawl).
Then I moved the cat (that's the hard part) unpinned and realized that I'm the only one home. So here is a chair on the front porch modeling my new shawl.
I'll wear it tomorrow to my neice's wedding. Since I'm wearing black slacks and a white shirt this will be the only thing separating me from the waitstaff. lol.

***The yarn is Knitpicks gossamer which was really nice to work with and blocked beautifully. The pattern is also thru knitpicks. The charting is easy to follow and looks great once it's done.

All blocked up with somewhere to go

They said to steam block but I don't have the time for that so I wet blocked last night.
I love the shape on this shawlette.
Very textured pattern which is fast and easy. The chart was easy to follow.
It blocked beautiful. Merino wool and alpaca blend. I love it. I hope my ISE4 pal does too.

Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling

Clementine .......... I even sing terrible on a blog. This is what I've finally decided to make for my ISE4 pal. Merino/alpaca yarn which is oh so soft. Love it.

And Mater is currently in the great room. He's not floating much anymore. Currently Charlie cat is just dragging him from room to room by his ribbon.

Got my camera back so .... $39.47

I found this on ebay but Yarn Treehouse has their own website. The midnight blue is sports weight 40% alpaca and 60% merino, the purple is lace weight 80% merino and 20% japan toraylon (toraylon? what's toraylon?) and the multi colored is 100% merino wool.
These are done.
The green blob is in the process of being finished. Casting off 400+ stitches takes a while and is very boring.
New shawl is going to be Wendy's Fir Cone Wrap. I'm trying on size 7 needles and think it'll be nice. We'll see.

Well I've gotten some good rants If you have one to share please enter my contest.

Hillary Clinton is looking for a campaign song

I was thinking maybe "You ain't woman enough to take my man" by Loretta Lynn might be fitting? I'm just saying ...........

Dishcloth swap questionaire

Q: When did you learn to knit? Who taught you?
A: I learned at around age 10. I wanted a super cool knit poncho which was all the rage at the time. I was trying to get my Grandma to make me one but instead she handed me knitting needles and some yarn and taught me how to knit.
Q: What was your very first completed object?
A: A super cool knit poncho that was deep purple, baby blue, and light pink. I shutter just thinking about that color combination. It also was a turtle neck with a zipper front. Frightening!
Q: Most recent finished object?
A: Socks that I haven't posted to the blog yet; just finished this evening.
Q: What was the very first thing you sent to the frog pond?
A: I really don't remember.
Q: Most recent thing sent to the frog pond?
A: Socks because of a knot in the yarn.
Q: What's currently on your needles?
A: Socks and a shawl. Only 8 rows left on the shawl!
Q: What types of needles do you enjoy working with?
A: My trusty bamboo double points seem like they are in my hands all the time. I also love the new knitpicks options needles for lace knitting.
Q: What types of needles have you tried and hated?
A: I don't much care for the good old fashion metal single point needles. They seem too heavy and when working on larger project they tend to make my hands tired.
Q: Have you knit dishcloths before?
A: Yes and not too long ago.
Q: What was your favorite one?
A: Really don't have a fav one.
Q: Least favorite one?
A: I just finished knitting one in the round and hated doing it. It came out great but I hated every stitch.
Q: Do you use homemade dishcloths or face cloths yourself, or give them as gifts, or both?
A: Homemade dishcloth in the kitchen at all times. I also give them away as gifts.
Q: What are your favorite and least favorite scents? (For your body, such as soap/lotion/etc)
A: Love lavender and anything citrus. I don't care for strong florals.
Q: What are your favorite colors?
A: Anything but black, white, cream, and brown.
Q: What colors (if any) are your bathroom and kitchen decorated in?
A: Blue, green, and maroon.
Q: What other hobbies and crafts do you enjoy?
A: Reading, counted cross stitch.
Q: Chocolate: Dark? White? Milk? Ew?
A: Dark chocolate
Q: Do you like salty treats? What kinds?
A: No not a salty treat eatter.
Q: If you could go anywhere in the world for one day and spend the day any way you wanted, where would you go and what would you do?
A: I'd go to Alaska and watch the whales.
Q: Do you have any allergies? (Yarns, foods, etc. that might impact what your pal can send)
A: Ragweed so a dishcloth made from goldenrod is out of the question. lol

Rant to Win Contest

Got a good rant? Please share it with me. You can name names, places, dates, anything you want. Just get it off your chest. Prizes will be posted after I look thru my stash but it'll probably be sock yarn. Random drawing on 5/31/07.

I'll start it off with my current crappy situation:

I'm in the middle of a stupid customer service nightmare with friggin Walmart that just can't be believed. I ordered a swingset for my grandkids thru their website and used the site to store option figuring that we'd pick it up at the store, drive it to their house, and set it up. No problem. Delivery to the store in 7-10 days. You'll get an email from the store and then you'll have 21 days to pick it up. $159.00 plus $9.54 tax. Great!

After 14 days I emailed the website to ask status. I got a call from the store saying, "Yes your swingset came in a week ago (they never called or emailed) but it was damaged in shipping." I asked if they had ordered a replacement. "No we can't do that." I asked them to cancel the order and refund my credit card. "No we can't do that. You have to come to the store and decline accepting the damaged set. Once you do that then you can go back on the website and reorder it." I said I didn't want it just refund my credit card. "Nope, you have to come in."

So I stopped in at Walmart in Waterbury, CT to decline to accept my set and get a refund. The customer service desk knows nothing. They call a manager. They call a manager again. They call a manager for the 3rd time. After 15 minutes the manager calls back saying tell her to come back tomorrow. Nope, I'm not leaving. I want my money. I tell her to call him again and tell him I want my money now.

Another 15 minutes and up walks an assistant manager, Allan, who says that I should come back tomorrow. No, I want my money. We go back to the site to store section and he takes my id, looks thru the computer system, sees my order, goes in the back and sees the damaged box, comes back and spends the next 10 minutes trying to get me a credit. Nope the computer won't let him do the refund. Could I come back Monday? No.

"Ok we'll have to get you a refund in cash from the store safe." Another 10 minutes of waiting. He hands me $159.00 has me sign a log. I ask for a receipt. "Nope there isn't one. The logbook is the receipt." Can I get a copy of the logbook? "No." Well you are under paying me because I was charges tax. "If you are owed more money just come back and we'll take care of it."

I get home check my credit card and sure enough I'm short $9.54. I email help@walmart com and outline the situation. I get an email back today asking me to fax my receipt for the $159.00. I emailed back stating that there isn't a receipt and giving them the outline of this refund. As of right now I'm still out $9.54 and will never deal with walmart.com ever again.

So that's my current rant. What's yours?

Eight random things

Sandi tagged me for 8 random things.

1) I have 3 brothers and no sisters. My own family consists of 3 daughters and 1 son so the tables turned!

2) I love and collect all things Mickey Mouse but can't stand Minnie Mouse.

3) I frequently will listen to what people are telling me and even respond to them but later on I can't remember any of the conversation.

4) My hubby and I have been out on a date every Saturday night since we met 26 yrs ago.

5) I work at home so I don't usually wear shoes but if I put on my shoes sometime during the day I leave them on until bedtime.

6) I never eat anything I can not identify. If I'm unsure of the ingredients in something I won't taste it.

7) I never bake. I use to bake but over the years I decided that it's something I really don't enjoy so I stopped.

8) I never go to the library to get a specific book. I go in and grab the first thing that catches my eye. I only read non-fiction.

Feel free to tag yourself if you want to share.

Spring Into Summer Dishcloth exchange

Happy Mothers Day to all.

Once you start joining one exchange you get into more and more exchanges. I try to keep mine down to just a few but since I'm on a dishcloth knitting kick I had to join this one.

Questionaire for their contest:

What is one baked item you love making or buying and why? I love making meatloaf. It's a comfort food that I never make the same way twice but every time I serve it my kids will all sit at the table raving over how much they love meatloaf and eatting every bite.

What is one item you love to knit and why? Socks. I know people are in shock to find this out. I love knitting socks because you can take a sock in progress anywhere, they knit up pretty fast, you don't need to second mortgage the house to buy a ball of sock yarn, turning the heel is like a magic trick every time you do it, and once you knit a pair for someone and they try them on you have no more problems about future gifts .... just knit them more socks.

Favorite outdoor activity and why? Walking because it slows you down and you have a chance to look around and see all the things you miss when you are whizzing by in your car at 25-50 mph.

Favorite way to relax? Knitting, of course. Sipping a nice cup of coffee while knitting makes it great.

Who's in charge?

I'd like to think it's me but in reality I know is Joey. Here he is napping on the bed. Nothing new about that. Notice the sheets are missing? Well I just took them off taking great care not to disturb his snooze.
Of course, he deserves special treatment. He's the only cat in the house that will do this with wool yarn in easy access.
And let's file this under the "creepy balloon" section. Mylar balloons get possessed after a while if you let them hang around. Mater has been all over the house. Yesterday he left my room, caught an air current down the stairs and ended up in the front hallway. This morning I found him hanging out in the great room. Creepy.

Signs of summer everywhere

From this .....
to this in about 2 weeks. This redbud is my fav tree in the yard.
Really puts on a great show every spring.
Along with a backyard filled with "beautiful yellow flowers" just waiting for my grandsons to come over and pick a ton to give to their mommy. My neighbors probably hate my guts for not spraying to get rid of these but I just love how they look. One man's weeds are another grams flowers. lol

And some knitting thrown in for good measure. Started a pair of socks and ran into a knot after the cuff. Since I don't know how the colors run I frogged and started over after the knot. Green shawl peeking in there saying, "Hummm, Diane did ya forget about me?" She's been neglected so far this week.

A conversation with W

W: Hi Gram. What are you doing today?
Me: Just working. What are you doing?
W: I was playing trains but N took my train. I had Donald and N just took him. I don't like Donald too much so I didn't hit him to get it back.
Me: Oh, that's good. So did Great grandma and Papa (great grandpa) come up to visit yesterday?
W: Oh yes. We had company yesterday. We don't have a lot of company now that we live far, far away.
Me: Well it's not that far. (it's a little over an hour) I'm coming for a visit this weekend.
W: Yes Gram it's far, far away so we don't have much company anymore. And when we go somewhere we are in the car a long time.
Me: I'm going to come up to see you this weekend. Is that ok?
W: (all excited now) Oh yes! Hey Gram, when you come up don't forget your lollypops. You'd hate to have to drive all the way back home to get them if you forgot and you know how little children love lollypops.
Me: Ok I'll remember them. So what's N doing?
W: Playing with the train he took from me.
Me: What's A doing?
W: She's taking a nap. Little babies like to take naps since they can't do anything.
Me: That's true. Babies can't do as much as big boys. What's mommy doing?
W: She's in the basement doing laundry.
Me: She does a lot of laundry.
W: That's because we are messy people.
Me: And what's daddy doing?
W: (taking the phone away from his mouth) Hey, dad. What the heck have you been doing today? (dad listing stuff in the background like fixing shingles on the house so they can get it painted, wiring for some phones, replacing some electrical outlets, gardening) Gram he's been pretty busy today but not as busy as me.
Me: You've been busy? What have you done today?
W: Had breakfast, played outside, helped dad in the garden, rode my bike, played trains, and I didn't hit my brother. Gram, maybe you should bring me 2 lollypops when you come up so I'll have more energy.
Me: I guess not hitting your brother is hard work.
W: Yes it is.

Swap stuff

Doesn't this just scream spring? One of my msn groups had a dishcloth exchange and I was very lucky to be matched with Sherry. She has mad crochet skills.
I, on the other hand, should have been in the remedial knitting class. I actually sent out my dishclothes without snapping a pic of them because by the time I was finished I was really FINISHED! I'd love to tell you that it was a hard pattern, complicated and difficult but it wasn't. It was just me screwing up over and over again. Sometimes the easiest things give you the hardest time.

Check, check, check, and check

On the to do list this week ..... Tilly shawl blocked. Check!
Feather and fan shawl blocked. Check! oooooooooooooo
holy sh**!!! That pin is holding 2 dropped stitches I noticed during blocking. I'll darn them in and you won't notice but CRAP!! how come I didn't notice that while knitting? Huge honking mistake not to notice.
Finished my fav pair of socks knit to date. The Opal Zebras for my son in law. Definately making a pair for me. Really how super cool are these?
Finished the crazy socks for D1. I'll weave the toe and hide the ends during a conference call today.

So the to do list is finished and all that's left is one shawl and ummmm oh yes I casted on 2 new pair of socks last night. Hey a sock knitting addict has to make sure her "fix" is on the needles. lol.

There is a secret project that is driving me NUTS. Should have been so easy but after froggin 3 times ...... gurrrr.

How to get great customer service .....

I use to be a customer service rep so I basically know how the system works. Sometimes it can work to my advantage. So let me share my experience to assist you in getting help faster.

I had to call ATT on a phone issue. My daughter had the phone transfered to the new house but there's no line from the street to the house. Repair line says wait time is about 25 minutes due to a high call volumn. 25 minutes!?!?!

Hummmmm, hang up the phone and call again saying I wanted a new service. In about a nano second there's a very nice lady on the phone just waiting to help me out. "Oh sorry but that's not something I can help you with. While it is a new service it's actually just a transfer of an established service. It's a repair issue so I'm going to have to get someone on the line who can assist you," she says in one of those overly happy voices that would normally piss me off.

I wait for maybe 5 seconds and get transfered directly to a repair person who is happy to take the info from me. "So sorry this happened. We'll have someone out there tomorrow morning and the repairs will be completed by 1." Total phone time? 7 minutes.

The key is to: Be pleasant so whoever is on the phone wants to help you. Even though you've intentionally called the wrong department make an excuse like "well since it's a new location I figured it was a new service." They feel bad that they can't and most companies have a policy called "warm transfer". Warm transfer is that they will not put you into a que of phone calls to wait your turn. Instead the rep you are speaking with will stay on the phone and call someone internally in the department to assist. The internal reps don't have time to waste on hold so their calls are answered asap.

**Since this is a knitting blog I'd just like to share that there are 2 lace shawls on blocking wires in the attic room drying. In addition I'm on the foot of the sock for D1. Oh the things I do to get to cast on another project!