Silk Wrist Warmers, Bottle Swap

Thanks again to my SMAT pal who sent me some of the most wonderful hand spun silk yarn I have ever felt! They just screamed to be made into wrist warmers...something I had never before considered making. They is soft and warm, like socks for the hands! I made these with the help of wrist warmer generator. I know! A generator for these? YES! Found here.

I sent off my bottle to my bottle swap person. This was definitely interesting to stuff and plop into a mailbox!! I included some coffee sample packs because her profile said she likes coffee, some of my own roving (blended on those wonderful combs!), two skeins of merino sock yarn, and a Lilac candle tin because she is a lilac lover like I am! I could never have enough sweet smellin lilac candles! Speaking of the combs, someone left a comment on one of my instructional videos that they were not working for them. Uhhh, okay. Not that that tells me much more than the person didn't listen very well to the videos, but how do hand combs "not work"?? Sounds like operator error to me! If you are having a problem, and you are reading this...leave me a bit more detail than that because although I do consider myself a pagan, I cannot read your mind. How are they not working for you? What are you doing/not doing?

As for the new move...I think I may just stay on blogger as wordpad takes sooooooooooooo long to load! Cripes. I am not paying for a slow loading server!! Blogger is faster, easier, simpler....and FREE!

Until next time...

We have contact!

Well flippin -A- Man! My SMAT secret pal contacted me today, all upset because I was scolding about being flaked on this damned thang....or so I had thought. Turns out that there was an extension to the swap and I never got the email! She said the hostess had emailed everyone...apparently she missed a few. On top of that, I had emailed last week to check up on her, and the email never made it! ARGH! So now my thoughtful SMAT pal is upset and thinks I really don't give a rats ass about the yarn she spun. Understandable considering I am accusing her of flaking me. Well yeah, I do give a rats! Look at that yarn! It's beautiful! She sent me a picture and description:

"This yarn was inspired by the pagan interests of my swapee; it is called Triple Goddess.

This treasure is comprised of three skeins
Maiden – (1 3/8 oz) Spindle spun Navajo ply of Merino & Tussah Silk in vibrant red, purple, blue, gold and crème.
Mother – (1 3/8 oz) Hand-dyed BFL & Merino, Tussah Silk a two ply of the singles of the other two yarns.
Crone – (3 3/8 oz) Pale blue and green hand dyed BFL spun into a single "

OOOoh...how thoughtful! SO here I have been sittin, thinkin I had been flaked and bitchin about it too, and now I hear there was an extension on the mailing deadlines, AND the hostess I emailed never got back to me to let me know a gosh darned thing! ARGH! HOW FRUSTRATING! Now I done made my SMAT pal all pissed at me. Wonderful. Sassafrassin-blahmugflubber-butt! Heh...*twitch*

Today has been nothing but frustrating...one bad thing after another. You would think with two inches of fresh snow on the ground that people would SLOW DOWN on the roads! Hell no, not in Wisconsin were people have too much confidence in their cars. No car is safe in snow and ice, no matter what those car commercials tell you. So I have to dodge these dumb-asses who try to turn in front of me and then can't get out of the fuckin way because their tires are spinning in the snow! DUMB-ASSES! *twitch-twitch*

Then I get a certified letter from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (while I am trying to practice my self defense no less) saying I owe twice as much in state tax then they had originally told me I did last July! WTF? So I called them up, was told there was a wait time of 23 minutes, so I opted to leave a message. I requested that they send me an itemized sheet telling me the charges, fees, penalties and other what-have-you's they like to charge because last time I looked I didn't owe that much. Originally they told me I owed $250 (and this is from my employer not filing my W2 correctly when I started at Hobby Lobby and me never noticed that taxes weren't being taken out...save $12 worth for that year). So this mean old man calls me up and talks to me like I am an irritating gnat flying around his head bothering him. He tells me that I owe $150, and whatever is left from my tax return will be refunded to me. WTF!!? I've gotten three letters from the WDR, each time the amount I owe went up about another $100 till it was near $500! Did I call them on their shit by asking for a itemized list of charges? I asked if he was sure, and he repeated what he had already told me. Real nice. Take that stick and shove it up your ass some more cause I don't think it is up as far as it could go. So I said (now all this time I am trying to be nice to the man...lot of good it did) I want to make sure this is correct because I keep getting letters saying I owe different amounts and I don't want to be paying for someone elses mistakes again. He said that I would be getting another letter in the mail stating this final amount. I'll be sure to keep it in a safe and findable place because I have a feeling this will not be the last I will have to deal with them on this. *full out seizure*

So to my SMAT pal, whom I called BAD and a flaker...I'm so sorry things ran this way and I wish I had known there was an extension before now. Forgive me?

Until next time...

Understanding ugly yarn, SMAT

I don't understand it. I am seeing some majorly, in my opinion, UGLY yarns online that have been hand-spun! I was taking a look online at some handspun yarns...and one yarn...oh...I cringed! It looked like someone took a handful of trash and spun it together! Why? I'm told it's called "punk" but I don't get the yarns with the extras in them (I'm talking HUGE things like scramble word tabs, charms...large plastic beads). IT'S HORRIFYINGLY UGLY! What can you possibly make from such yarn that you will be able to use? How do you even work with yarn with so much trash in it? Um and hello, if you don't like my opinions GO READ SOMETHING ELSE! I ain't here to please. I am here to tell it how it is, when it is, and how I see it. It's what blogs were made for.

I must have practical yarn because if I am gonna spend time on making something...I had better damned well better be able to actually USE it after I've put so much work into it.

Speaking of SMAT, I think I have been flaked. It's been a full TWO WEEKS past the send deadline of January 15th and no hand spun treasure for me. BAD SMAT PAL-BAD!! I sent some suggestions to the hostesses of this swap stating that next time it should be required that participants make contact with their secret pals at least three times-or more, so that we don't feel neglected and forgotten about. I've heard from mine, once...and never again. I hate being flaked. I hate flakes. If I can find out who flaked me, they will definitely be listed on the swappers blacklist as a flaker and thief. I followed the rules, I sent out in plenty of time...and I get nothing in return for playing nice. Grrrrr. I HATE FLAKES!

Until the next rant...

Ammendment: See next entry for explinations as to why I had not been contacted by the SMAT pal and my appologies to that Pal. I will not however be editing the entries (or prettying them up to PC standards) because this is a page in my history...no matter how far the foot in my mouth goes...

Whew, what a weekend

Well I payed for shipping for my Smat pal through Click and ship and had the courier pick it up. That was convienent. I haven't heard from the lady I am sending too...I've sent her three ecards, and two emails. The ecards have yet to be picked up, and I have no word whether the lady is dead or alive. Hopefully alive because a package will be dawning her doorstep soon! I bought a few extras, some dyes and a book that was on her wishlist on Froogle. Hopefully that is up to date and I did not waste my money on the book.

I have not heard much of anything from MY Smat pal...I got one email...and nothing sense. Hopefully she is still alive and well too!

The Mystery Skien swap was a complete mess for a couple of days as I found out that someone (bitch) fucked with the database entries. You really cannot trust people online with anything! So I had to lock the databases and reenter a lot of information. To the one who did it, may you get yours in return ASAP!! Cursed foul creature!

I think everything is back in order now.....for now till the next fire comes up. Luckily I have some very helpful members who have jumped in to help sort through the madness. I had one lady get bitchy with me because I asked her to leave the group because she was not swapping. Oh boo hoo, it says right there on the homepage that the group is for PARTICIPANTS, not lurkers. Said I was a mean ol one and everyone else was nice in the group. I have many others to say otherwise, but her opinion be that....hers.

*sigh* I haven't mailed out the skien I was sending to a lady....yet. I have to get that packaged up and shipped. I've been too busy pouring water on the fires and trying to make sense of the madness.

The wing of the moth shawl is coming right along now. I had some doubts about starting the twin leaf pattern after all the pine cone I had done! But, the creater of the pattern said that everything on my needles was correct, and in seeing my stitch markers...fell in love with a set and order a set. Weeeeeeeeeee! So I made those up yesterday and those need to be shipped out too. *whew*

We have a new member of our pethold. A very pretty royal blue, turquoise with a touch of red on one fin-Betta. I bought a nice bowl setup for cheap and it has a red dragon-wings spread- and red gravel. It's very cool. I'll have to take some pictures later. We haven't named it yet...maybe Sky would suit it since it has such pretty blues.

I made up some potato soup for the guild meeting tonight. They are having a potluck. OH crap! I forgot I didn't put the ham in...well good thing I remembered!

I've been dealing with Laryngitus most of the weekend but I think it is getting better as it has moved out from my voice and into my head. Yippie....NOT. SQUEAK!

Until next time...

Spinning something new

SO I decided to spin up a sample of "novelty" yarn. I decided to try plying two singles together and at the same time wrap some uncard, unspun, wool locks around it. I think it is called core spinning. I ended up putting too much twist into it, but that is okay for a test run. It is sitting in water at the moment. I'll see how it comes out come morning.

It might be something I will want to create for my SMAT pal (spin me a treasure). Interesting how that spells smat!! Kinda like splat!

Went to the yearly holiday catered lunch at work. It would have been okay if the turkey/gravey dish had not had sooooo much salt in it! YUCK! It was catered by Swanton...and the BF said yuck too. I guess they are the ones that cater at his work on Thursday. He says the only thing he is interested in is the cookies!

The pasta was really good, and so were the sweets. We got a free ham too, same kind as last year. I plan on making pea soup with it. YUM! I usually make pea soup with pork hauks because they have that unique flavor that goes well with peas.

Whew...it's been nothing but run-run-run today. I am pooped! I cannot wait till winter break already! Although I will still be doing the one metro run, I will still have the majority of the next two weeks open to me.

I want a drumcarder! *stomps feet like spoiled child* I want!-I want!-I want!

Until next time...