Monday, October 15, 2007

Stitches Sunday and liars

So no that Stitches is over with, I have time to reflect on all that transpired. For the most part everything was wonderful. Sunday was not so happy time for me as I was experiencing a mixture of PMS, Ravens induced parking issues, tiredness, and the now standard horrible abdominal pain. While I was planning on not doing any shopping Sunday, I underwent such stress getting there that retail therapy was called for. While I very much enjoy the items I purchased, I had to deal with some not so favorable people. I will catalog my experiences here, in chronological order.

1) My first stop through the door was at the Children in Common table. First off, I want to say that I was really on the fence about putting this on the web. I think the project is great and I don't want anyone to think that I'm downing it. However, what I'm going to bitch about here really has nothing to do with the cause and it's a pet peeve of mine. Should anyone from the group see this, maybe it'll give them some insight. Anyhow, I went to buy these cute stacking doll stitch markers that SheeperThanTherapy pointed out to me on Friday. I quickly picked them out and asked if they took Visa. The woman looked at me sternly and said, " Well, we can take Visa.", then stood there making no movement towards taking my card. I just looked at her with an "Okay. Take my money now please" look. Then she goes, "If I take your visa, then more money will go to credit card company and less money will go to the children we're trying to save!". Then more standing there looking at each other. Finally, after I see she's not going to go for the card, I tell her that I don't carry cash, so oh well for her. I ended up paying with check. The thing is this. If you don't want to take a card, put up a sign that says you don't accept credit cards. Otherwise suck it up and lose the ten cents of whatever trivial amount the card company is going to deduct and move on with your day. I was doing my part by buying from them at all.

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2) I went to the Celtic Knot/Eleanor Francis Designs/ Storm Moon Knits and bout more of Lindsay's yarn because I have issues. I also got two sets of her stitch markers.
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3)I did a little bit of early Christmas shopping at a booth for some alpaca farm in Minnesota. They had yarn, but I opted for these semi creepy alpaca figures made of, what else? Alpaca. the brown one of for one of my nephews and the white/blackish one of pour moi.
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4) I then headed one booth over to Brooks Farm. Here, again, I must insert a disclaimer. I have bought from Brooks Farm before and not had any issues whatsoever. I asked around and no one else reported anything but nice service. I must have just caught this lady in the midst of Sunday "Hurry up and Finish" syndrome. Here's the background. Brooks Farm has had a sample knit up out of a shade of Duet that I've been lusting after through like 3 fiber festivals. I asked the woman if they had anymore of it and she said no. I asked if I could order it off the website. She then gave a great big huff and told me that all the fiber show colors are special and that once she's done with the show, she moves on to dying different things. I wandered around a bit more and found the color in Riata. I came back to her and happily said, "Found it!". She looked at me stone faced and said, "Well, I guess that color is similar." I bought it and moved on, thinking that she was a bit of a crab. The thing with this one is that her story was essentially bullshit, and if it was true, then she shouldn't have the colorway on display. Issue #1 is that I know the colorways aren't all specific to one particular show. Some of them, maybe, but not all. #2 is that is the color I've been wanting was a show specific colorway, it had to have been from a show years ago because I've personally seen it a few times. If it's that old and unavailable, don't use it as a model! And #3, I went onto the Brooks Farm website and found the supposedly unavailable color right there in plain sight, proving that it is not a one-show invention and yes, it is available on the website. Now it's mine so HAH, Lady!
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5) I bought more yarn from Lindsay. Damn.
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6) I got some cool needles that have beads strung through the top of them and a row counter bracelet. I've been meaning to try one of those.
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7) After I thought I was through for the day, Carole came over with some BMFA Laci in Backstabber that was to die for. So I had to haul ass back over there and buy some. I also picked up a skein of lightweight Pond Scum while I was there. My justification for that is that it has some darker green splotches on it like real pond scum does. It sounded more reasonable at the time.
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That's it! I'll have work backwards from here since I still haven't shown the goods of the previous days. Oh, and I also should add that I insanely decided to knit the alpaca nephew an alpaca sweater to go with the figure. If no one sees me again before the holidays, you'll know what's up.

1 comment:

Nittany Knits said...

I must say that while the 'Children in Common' is a great cause and has touched my heart- the women who were representing them at Stitches East most certainly were NOT warm and fuzzy. This is unfortunate, and I wish that we could report different. Many who were interested in supporting them were treated poorly. I am still knitting for the children, though.