Well I Swan!

Really, I do!

I took my broken glasses to Pearle Vision today, expecting:

a. A long, long wait for service. (I had knitting with me.) I have never not had a long wait.

b. Crummy customer service when they discovered that I was there to complain about my broken glasses.

I walked in and was immediately greeted and seated at a desk. The staff member listened to my problems with the glasses. This was about the fifth time I had been back with them; they are supposed to have a magnet in the bridge to hold sunglasses on, but that magnet had fallen out countless times, been glued back in, and fallen out, and then the original frames had been replaced twice. Not having the magnet in the bridge meant there was only the thinnest plastic holding the frames together, and I suppose that's why they broke where they did.

I did not expect to have any happy resolution, but I was wrong. The technician immediately offered me:

a. Replacement frames exactly like the ones that had broken. They would just pop my lenses in.

b. Different frames at a sale price, with new lenses made, for a price of $100, considerably less than they had cost me last time.

I picked b. and my new glasses will be ready in two weeks.

I had really expected to have to find a new source of glasses but because my problem was quickly taken care of today, my dislike/hate relationship with Pearle goes on for another year.

And I was in and out of the place in twenty minutes, so in a weird, knitter way, rats! No knitting time at Pearle Vision!


But I did run several other errands and ended up with knitting time at the car wash. I am working on this scarf:

It's made from Koigu yarn, which I have never used before. It's 100% merino wool, and it's not as soft to work with as I would have expected, but the scarf itself is soft. I LOVE the colors! The pattern is from the Yarn Paradise shop in Asheville, and I don't know if it is copyrighted or not. It was handwritten by someone at the shop and was given out free with the yarn. It uses two different stitch patterns, two different needle sizes, and two different stitch counts. That's all I dare say since I don't know the legality of posting the pattern itself. It's easy, though, and a great carry-along project.

It's a good thing that I don't need my glasses in order to knit!

Oh D*MN!!! There's a bird in the house!!!!!

Update: Two hours later - I left the front and back doors open and the bird now appears to be gone. I shut myself in my "knitting room" and when I came out, I could not find the bird.
Yay!

SAFF, year two

Three Thursday knit-night friends and I went to beautiful Asheville, North Carolina this past weekend for our second trip to the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair and had a blast. I have a sore throat today, and I don't think that I can blame it on a cold or H1N1....it's from talking and laughing so much!

On Friday we went to SAFF itself, held in a cattle auction arena at the agricultural center. We saw yarn; we bought yarn:

Laceweight yarn-

Natural mohair/wool boucle-

And I bought a gift for older daughter, the knitter-

On Day 2 we decided that because we had met sheep, goats, alpaca, llamas, and rabbits last year, we would go into Biltmore Village instead. There was a yarn shop there-who'd a thunk?

We saw yarn; we bought yarn:

Beautiful Koigu yarn for a very complicated scarf.

On Day 3 we decided that because we had been to SAFF already, and because we had been into Asheville already, we would go check out the gorgeous Grove Park Inn -----but first we stopped at the yarn shop in Biltmore Village again, because we wanted needed more yarn.

We saw more Koigu; we bought more Koigu, for another, easier scarf.

I also bought, for a friend's cat, this cute felted mouse, stuffed with catnip. I forgot about it, and filled the bag with yarns and other things for the trip home.

My cat has NEVER played with catnip, but last night I noticed Cat sticking his head in a bag of yarn. That was odd, because he rarely pays any attention to yarn either. I dumped out the bag's contents, and there was the forgotten mouse. Cat played and played and played with it. It may not end up as a gift for Miss Emily...

Anna, one of our favorite knitters, is from the Ukraine, and she brought some traditional Ukrainian food for us to try. It was all delicious and we really enjoyed it; however, she did say that it was meant to be eaten accompanied by shots of frozen vodka. Only one of us joined her in drinking the vodka, and it wasn't knittergran, but these ARE my glasses. Alcohol consumption played no part in the destruction of these glasses; we don't know what did. I looked down at the coffee table, and there they were, snapped in half. It's a mystery, but until I replace them, I have a curfew: sunset. I only have prescription sunglasses left in one piece.

It was a wonderful four days, with nothing to do but relax, enjoy great company, delicious food, beautiful fall scenery, and knit. What more could we ask for? [view of Asheville from the Grove Park Inn]

Five days??? Six days????