This blog is a BLOG, yes?

So I should talk about other stuff! It ain't all just business around here, even though it is often business. But business = fun, and vice versa and oh. My head hurts now.

Never mind.

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Item one: Long-time blog readers may remember my obsession with Blythe dolls. I have 5, and still love looking at them and having them around. But I really don't need all 5, and one of them is being wasted in my cabinet since I don't have time to photograph or trick her out any further. The most posable of them all, Figue.

She's featured in the top two pictures in this Knitty pattern and in the shot at left. I know! Photogenic, ain't she?

She started as a stock Blythe. I first swapped out her body with a super-articulated Japanese Obitsu body. Then new eyechips [so her eyes are prettier colors than the boring blue/green/orange you get with a stock doll].

Anyway, she's now for sale, and her listing with lots more photos is here. I hope she goes to a good home.

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So Knitty came out, I went to TNNA, stayed on for the Knitters' Connection and then home. And I haven't really stopped since then.

There's usually a blissful week or so after an issue comes out when I can be a happy sloth, doing whatever the heck I want to without having to obsessively check my e-mail or sit at the computer coming up with [cough] brilliant prose for someone. So there isn't this time, and I'm a little crumpled up, kind of like when you suck the water out of a plastic bottle and don't let air rush in to take its place. I'm getting stuff done, which is fabulous. I'm also having non-restful dreams so close to reality that when I wake up, it's like the dream gave me a to-do list for the day.

I'm not kidding. It happened this morning. The written thing I dreamed that I'd missed sending in time -- it sent me right off to the Starbucks where I got a reasonable first draft done [I've still got a few days to finish it, so I'm okay there]. And then Jillian called and we had the phone call we'd had in the dream. Really.

The good news is that the clog will clear in about a week and then it will be more summer-like around here. But until the immediate deadlines get met, I'm a bit of a bag of nerves.

I'm hoping the not-sleeping-well thing will stop then, too.

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What else? Lots of knitting for Sock Summit. Frequently reaching for the uke for stress relief.

Actually, our group, the Corktown Ukulele Jam, performed at the Toronto City Roots festival this weekend. Half of us on stage, the rest in the audience [that's where I was]. And we were fabulous. We were so good that, even as it began to rain, the crowd continued to grow, clapping and singing along with us. It was a blast.

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Okay, enough rambling and definitely enough venting. I'm gonna go try to find my sheet of shrinky dink material. I have an idea for something silly for my uke friends and am going to give it a shot, hoping I don't burn myself.

Where I am...

On a secret family mission. There is amateur nursing involved on my part and nothing life threatening, so don't worry. There are ouchies, which is not good, but we'll make the doctor cough up some better painkillers for the next few days. This is my mission.

It is, however, unrealistically cold here. Hub says it's -1 billion. Clearly, however, he is delusional. He has not SEEN cold. Proof:




Minnesotans are amazing. And today, I get to spend a little time with two of my favorites. In fact, they're two of my favorite people in any state. My adorable Gretel hat [in Calmer this time] is no match for this weather, and I have no idea what I was thinking. So I was forced to take drastic steps to survive:



Pink.
Velvet.
Leopard.

Save me.

Broccowli!

Mama needs a test knitter before the pattern can be let loose on the world.

Interested? Write me at knittymagazine AT gmail and all that rot.
Eta: man , you guys are fast! I'm all set. Thanks, all!
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Meanwhile, the pic at right [of the fabulous Debra, glowing with luv] shows pretty much the typical fruits of my labors since we chatted last. I've been knitting cowls of all description, happily ensconced on the couch, with a blanket over my lap and a box of kleenex close at hand.

Yup, I -- like every other person I know, including my husband -- got a cold. Mine hit just after the issue came out, and just when I thought it was going away, I got hit with more of the same but worse. It's not the flu, but it's buggery annoying, that's for sure. It's meant 2+ weeks of nose blowing, hand washing and general sloth, and it's not done yet. I suppose there's no better time for this to happen than the holiday season, when the business world is pretty much shut down, but it sucks anyway. At least I didn't have a trip that I'd have to cancel because I was sick.

And yes, I got a LOT of knitting done. Lots of gifts, most of which I can't show here yet because -- having been sick -- I haven't been to the post office yet to get them to their intended giftees.

So getting back to work is a little harder than I anticipated. I figured I'd ease into things by getting the new pattern ready for test knitting, and lots of I-can't-share Knitty work.

And more knitting. And finishing the dining room curtains which have just been a pile of [really pretty] raw fabric for at least a year. New year, new curtains. Sounds good to me.

good customer service | bad customer service

Over the last 2 weeks, I've seen both and I need to share.

Good customer service
Porter Airlines flew me to Newark and back so that I could go to Rhinebeck. On the trip home, I learned my flight was cancelled when I got to the airport [I gave them my home number as a contact number, otherwise they'd have called my cell and I would have known much earlier]. The problem was an equipment issue and they needed to get a part to rectify it. It was a substantial bump in their schedule, and here's how they handled it.

With very little fuss, they
a) put me up at the [surprisingly lovely] Marriott adjacent to the airport
b) provided dinner and breakfast vouchers
c) when the morning's flight was delayed the next day, provided lunch as well
d) as they gave updates on the delay, they would let us know when the next update would be so we wouldn't just be sitting there, wondering, like the poor folks waiting on the Delta flight at the next gate
e) gave me two credits equalling nearly the entire cost of my flight because of the problems, unasked.

I will fly Porter again, unquestionably. [I haven't even mentioned their deluxe lounge in Toronto where everyone waits for their flights with free wifi, delicious coffee and yummy cookies, plus the fact that they serve small meals, beer and wine, ALL FREE, on almost every flight.]

Bad customer service
Rogers Wireless

I'm just shaking my head at this. I placed the order for the iPhone on the 22nd of October [a week ago]. They didn't mention at the time that I could just go to a store and buy a phone and it would be faster. Sure wish they had. Here, let's use the same list system:

a) first sales rep was rude and cross when I asked why, as a loyal, long-time Rogers customer, that I had to pay more for an iPhone [$249] than a new customer [$199]. No explanation, just curt answers and lots of being bored with me. Transfers me to...
b) second sales rep who was much nicer and, though he didn't tell me about the in-person shopping option [only hardware upgrades can be arranged in store; new purchases must be done online or over the phone, go figger], he was at least nice and gave me a service discount well in excess of the overcharge for the phone. Fair enough.
c) on Monday [the 27th], was told the phones had come in on the 24th and would likely ship that day or the next.
d) on Tuesday [okay, I was eager. sue me], was told it hadn't shipped yet. Maybe tomorrow.
e) today, was told there are NO PHONES and none came in on the 24th. I could cancel my order and go to a store now [NOW they tell me], but must wait until the cancellation goes through. Another 24-72 hours. They can't cancel my order right away. Not even the supervisor I waited an hour to talk to. Dude.
f) finally get transferred to another customer service guy who seems to be intelligent and actually cares about my business. Gives me very complex options designed to make me happy while working around the unbelievably STUPID rules and systems at Rogers. He types a lot of notes into my file. By the way, have been on the phone for 1 hour 52 minutes, mostly on hold.
eta: g) spent an hour at the Rogers shop based on the instructions of guy in step F. Guy in step F has been smoking something and what he tells me will happen at the shop CANNOT happen. Leave without iPhone.
h) Call Rogers again on the way to the Purl and get someone who now says that the reason they can't cancel my original order is because IT'S ALREADY SHIPPED. See item e). I have no idea if she's right this time and likely won't until the damned thing actually shows up.

So what am I frustrated with? Not the people at Rogers so much as the red tape, stupidity and unnecessary complexity of their [not very good] systems. Why should their own employees have to figure out how to bend or break their rules to make their customers happy when they have valid requests?

By contrast, Porter just made it all better before I even asked. That's customer service. Take that, Rogers.

who is stealing my stuff?!

This is driving me crazy.

First, this shawl, last photographed in its infancy [but actually two full skeins of knitting last time I saw it -- almost done!] is MISSING. I took it with me on the Alaksa cruise and I can't remember seeing it since. This doesn't bode well. I didn't knit much of anything on that cruise, so I was pretty sure the shawl stayed in my bag the whole freaking time. Except it's not there or anywhere.

Second, I just bought replacement size US6 tips for my needles and used them. And now they're missing. And for some ridiculous reason, I have no other size 6 needles in my house. I have ripped up couch cushions, looked under piles and in things that don't even vaguely relate to knitting and NO NEEDLES.

This is putting a serious cramp in my Vintage Office project starting. Grr.

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Today, I'm doing the unthinkable. I'm going to see a different hairdresser. My guy doesn't read my blog, so it's safe to report this here.

He's a friend and a lovely guy. We're friends with his wife and his kids. But I just need to see someone different after more than 10 years.

I feel like a sleazebag. But I do have a story prepared in case I decide I'm going back to him after the cut today.

And if I don't, how the hell do I handle that, because he still cuts hub's hair. Oh, dangit -- he's the one that moved another half hour further away from us. Am I to blame, really? He forced me into it!

keep *$ out of Kensington Market, please.

If you're interested in the backstory, here's a column in the National Post: Venti battle brews in Kensington. I don't like the Post, and I disagree with the conclusion of the columnist, but I link to it on purpose here.

Backstory: I drink Starbucks. I am very fond of their summer drinks and when it gets cold, one of their flavored lattes makes me happy. I know what good coffee is having had the real stuff in Italy, and I know that Starbucks isn't it. But it makes do, and it's consistent. I can count on it.

I've written each of my 4 books in the Starbucks at Hammersmith on Queen St in Toronto. I can concentrate better there.

Clearly, I'm not anti-Starbucks.

But I am anti-Starbucks-in-Kensington-Market.

Kensington Market is about individuality, small business and history. It's not about chain shops of any kind, imo. I don't think of Second Cup as a chain shop, even though it is. I'd rather it not be there, but it is. I suppose it's pretty telling that no one considers Second Cup a threat, but people are paying attention when Starbucks wants in.

If you want a Starbucks beverage while knitting at Lettuce Knit, you can get one by walking 5-10 minutes in any direction. But maybe you want to try I deal Coffee instead. Or Moonbean. Or that new juice bar that's a few doors south of Big Fat Burrito. Or have a fresh juice blend from Rice in a biodegradable cup that might start melting as you drink it [but the Digestive blend, despite the name, is worth the risk of drippage]. There are a lot of choices, and none of them bring worldwide baggage along.

I don't want a posh cafe in Kensington Market. A few chairs outside, a great espresso machine + someone who knows how to use it inside -- that makes good coffee that suits the neighborhood. But, see, we've already got that several times over. We don't need Starbucks there with piles of their corporate glossy signage, and I for one hope they go elsewhere. Or maybe be content with their shops on almost every block in the city center.

oh, brother.

wouldn't you know it? the first time [that i know of] that my full name is used as a character's name in a movie, and it has to be The Cycle, an upcoming horror flick starring Daryl Hannah [oh, Daryl, what has happened to you?].

summary: eww.

where we wuz this weekend...

god, i love this lake.
Originally uploaded by amysinger

here. right here in Milford, Pa, at the tippy top of the state.

i didn't get more than my feet in the water [it was a wedding weekend, not so much with the swimming] and just looking at this picture makes ache to be up to my neck in the lake. sigh.

the wedding [a renewal of vows, actually] was really beautiful and i loved seeing my family and getting to meet my new cousin, who is my new BFF.

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i loved reading about your weekends! you guys were busy!

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in other news:

- my teevee boyfriend got married this weekend. [p.s. that link is a bit rude -- it's to dlisted, but it's also funny]

- as I picked up Boeing to put her in the carrier to take her to the bunnyspa [vet's] for boarding, I noticed something horrible on her chest that wasn't there three days earlier. Boeing suddenly has an abscess and I got pretty angry at myself once I figured out how she got it -- a chew toy had been chewed to a shart point and she actually punctured her skin with the damned thing. she's already had a first shot of pen. g and is improving, but we'll continue to be worried about her until she's healed. if it weren't for the small hole filled with goo on her chest, you'd never know she had the thing -- knock wood, she's acting totally normally, which is good.

yup, really angry at myself. chewtoy put aside [out of bun reach] to show doc in case he needs to see it. sigh.

holy crap. i did it to myself.

so i recently went on and on about how newly made stuff breaks too soon, requiring replacement, and how we're programmed to think "must have new" any time we see something shinier than what we have. [i'm sure many of you resist this, and perhaps it doesn't affect some of you. lucky buggers.] i try to resist this horrible condition and often succeed. and sometimes not.

[this post is not going to end the way you think it is. stick with me.]

all the cool kids are getting new cameras. they take really great pictures, although we know a lot of that is the person behind the camera. so this makes me think about my cameras. i've been carrying around a Canon Powershot sd550 since I bought it for our trip to Italy a few years ago. the other camera I had was bulky and annoying. this one was light! it fit in my pocket! it takes pretty great pictures! and it's 7.1 megapixels, which is more than the other camera i had. more is better, right?

seriously. i'd just bought this super-expensive camera less than a year before the Canon. it was to be the Knitty magazine camera. but it was big and only 5 megapixels [oh, dear. less is bad, right?]. once the Canon arrived, i felt that the Lumix was already obsolete, and was angry at myself for choosing it in the first place. instead, i used the Canon for everything. that was more than 2 years ago.

this thursday, Mel and i were excavating my office, transforming it from a pile of piles into functional space -- which is another post for another day. Mel unearthed the Lumix in its rather-small, quite-nice LowePro case [smaller than I remember. hmm]. i took it out and there on the lens i saw this: 12x optical zoom.

oh. right. i chose the Lumix after hours and hours of careful searching on digital camera review websites because it had a kickass optical zoom and a Leica lens. clearly I had forgotten that part.

dudes, i talked myself out of liking something i already owned that was more than good enough for my needs just because i thought there was better to be had. it's a good lesson learned.

i charged up the battery last night and took the Lumix along with me to a Tour de Fleece kickoff party. i have some serious manual-reading to do in order to take advantage of all the features of this camera -- many manual or semi-manual options, even -- but here are a few point-and-shoot, low-light, no-tripod shots from last night. i know they are nothing special, except for the subject matter, which is lovely. but i'll be able to do better shortly, and soon, without spending a penny on anything. i love that.










bokeh, here i come.

um, wtf?

[before I go into a rant about planned obsolescence, I wanted to thank everyone who commented on the sweater and the photos. thank you. it means a lot.]

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okay. things keep breaking around here. w.t.f?

first thing to crap out this year: our antenna'd cordless phone [when you live in a house with rabbits, you have cordless phones].
- method of death: the antenna plastic broke off, exposing the wire antenna. i actually took a pair of jewelry pliers and bent the antenna end into a little loop so no one would stab themselves in the eye. that bought us about 5 more weeks. then the battery stopped holding even the tiniest charge.]
- replaced with: two antenna-free cordless phone handsets that are much nicer, plus a computery voice announces the name of the person calling, which is only fun when you're not trying to sleep.

next: the monolithic air conditioning unit in our dining room window [it came with the house].
- method of death: hub was moving it to another room and just as he got it installed, he cleverly punctured the freon coil. i panicked, grabbed the rabbits and moved them to the bedroom with an open window and all other doors open and fans on everywhere. then i googled it and relaxed a little [freon is a sufficant, not a poison, so as long as they didn't breathe it in, they're fine].
- replaced with: a super-cheap whirlpool a/c unit that's half the size, 4x as energy efficient, and cools our whole main floor. quietly. this turns out to have been a GOOD thing, the breaking, then.

followed by: hub's Blackberry, purchased only after my previous employer [also a client of hub's] insisted he be available all the time, even when we were in Italy.
- method of death: who knows. he dropped the damned thing so many times i've lost count, and it was 4 years old. in Blackberry world, that's almost ancient.
- replaced with: a red Pearl. whatever. he's the Crackberry addict in the family. he's happy, i'm happy.

but wait, there's more! our 10-year-old tube tv
- method of death: this weekend, while watching Little Miss Sunshine, it made that sound you hear when the power gets suddenly cut off. and then kept making that sound over and over. very creepy.
- replaced with: a ridiculous LCD HD-ready thingy that we got at a great price, but are just not convinced about.

it gets harder and harder to spend money on technology when you know that
a] the unit will likely break, and sooner than you think it should, and
b] something cooler will come out making you wish the thing would break.

i actually didn't want to buy a new tv now...i'd rather have waited another year or so until the really cool ones come out, but i was forced into it because i do loves my tv.

hub was smart and made sure we got the 1080p model, which is going to be important when our dvd player becomes obsolete and we're forced to buy a blu-ray system. oh, and the new tv means that if we want HD, which we now might because the tv can actually display all those extra pixels, we'd have to upgrade our tivo and cable box. do you see the sinister plan here?

i DO love new technology and new gadgets. i just want to buy one when *i* want to, not when the previous gadget they sold me broke, leaving me without the thing i didn't know i needed until i bought it and now can't live without.

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p.s. I forgot to add this: the tv in the bedroom is the one we bought at Consumer's Distributing [Canadian flashback!] before we were married. 18 years ago. and it still works just fine.

whoever invented tissue with lotion, thank you.

When looking for inspiration, do not look deeply into the big bag of used kleenex next to your bed. Because ewww.

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So yup, cold. I just had one in February, and loved it so much, I had to do it again! I've heard that quite a few of us SeaSoxers caught this thing, and my sympathies to my fellow snotheads. Since when does NyQuil not put you to sleep? Is nothing sacred?

Okay, /end whining.

Meanwhile, I know I owe you more of a recap, but it ain't coming today. I've got Knitty work to do and my precious vertical time has to be spent wisely.

Achoo.

Knitty 2008 Reader Survey -- whoops!

Are you sure this isn't a Monday morning?

I launched the surprise [woot!] and with it, our new reader survey. Inexplicably, the first question was missing ages over 60, which was totally not intentional. So I had to pull the survey offline to correct it. As a result, you'll find the corrected survey at a new URL:

Knitty 2008 Reader Survey.

Please spread the word if you see others who are frustrated with the situation. I'll send out this new URL tomorrow with the contest winner announcement. I don't think people really want THREE messages from me in less than an hour.

Thanks for understanding.

Toronto central/east-enders unite!

Help stop the possible invasion of our area by big box stores like W*l-m*rt by signing this letter, if you agree with its contents. The full story is here.

We've got enough of this stuff at Eglinton Avenue and further north. We don't need any more characterless shopping in an area that could be revitalized a hundred different -- and BETTER -- ways. Plus we know what happens to small businesses when big box stores open nearby, and losing the character of Leslieville and the Beach would be a disaster for this city.

Thank you for listening. :-)

home, lucky, sleepy, sick.

snippits of what might be a reasonably boring blog post, if i had the energy to write it:

- turbulence: i hate it. sat in row 40 of a 41-row plane on the tampa-detroit leg and was terrified for the first 30 minutes. the plane verily waggled side to side. not exaggerating. then the pilot got us high enough that it wasn't a problem again for the rest of the flight.

- lucky: because the cold hit full force the morning i left Florida, and i only read this after i got home. i'm lucky that my ears recovered as we landed, instead of bleeding or staying permanently blocked or exploding or something. but man, it did hurt for the 3 hours in the air.

- sleepy: thanks to dayquil/nyquil, my new best friends. i was able to work today thanks to the magical orange capsules of happiness

- sick: obviously.

but the trip was great and i'm glad i got good pictures so that i'll remember it once i'm coherent again.

right now, the best thing in the whole world, besides boeing's incredible shrinking bladder stone [seriously -- hub took her in again because she was acting odd this morning and the xray showed the stone is now half the size it was...which means it's going away on its own. weird, magical. we're thankful. and she stopped acting weird.] is OUR BED. and the duvets.

i'm going there now. see ya.