I have some things I feel like bitching about.
Non-bitching content first. I finished my Selbuvotter mittens, after entirely too long, with a hiatus in there caused by running out of of CC yarn. I’ll post more about the project details later… in the meantime, just a couple of pretty pictures:
I finished the flared lace smoke ring I was working on and immediately cast on for yet another pair of mittens. “Didn’t you just make a pair of mittens?” said my boyfriend suspiciously. “How many mittens do you need?”
The pattern I’m using is Kate Gilbert’s lovely Bird in Hand–the flowers and vines! the Estonian braids! The tiny, adorable thumb-bird!–and it’s gorgeous, but [commence bitch #1] my hands are killing me! I thought knitting the Selbuvotter mittens using Telemark, a sport weight yarn, on US size 1.5/2.5 mm was bad enough. Now I know that was nothing compared to knitting worsted weight on size US size 0/2.0 mm needles. It’s not that my wrists hurt or anything, but I seem to have some slight bruising where my steel DPN has been pushing against my left pinky and ring finger for leverage. The main part of the knitting is OK, but all the decreases and twists in the cuff were murder on my finger. Ow.
I’m using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Chocolate for the main color. It’s the lighter brown on the right in the picture below:
And I’m using Classic Elite Tapestry in a kind of lime green color for the contrast. It’s the skein on the left in the picture below:
(I got all 6 of these skeins for $5 at a thrift store. One of the best yarn finds ever!)
[Commence bitch #2]
I bought some Jaggerspun Zephyr yarn from Sarah’s Yarns. She had kindly posted to let people know her prices were going up due to increases in the wholesale cost, so I thought I’d make an order so I could see what all the fuss was about with this cult classic yarn. I got a couple of skeins of the laceweight in a dark grapey purple, perhaps for the Peacock Feathers shawl, and some of the DK weight in Ruby–not sure what for, but I have a weakness for burgundy reds.
The UPS tracking number said it was delivered on December 15th, but I have seen no sign of it.
I have every confidence that Sarah will make it right if the package doesn’t ever show up (for the moment, she’s she put a trace on it) but if someone stole the package, that just sucks. I highly doubt that any of my neighbors is a sticky-fingered knitter. Maybe one, or the other, but probably not both. Maybe it was a drive-by swiping, or maybe my package accidentally got sent to Texas or something.
[Commence bitch #3]
I had a big package of Malabrigo on order through a group buy. I didn’t realize this was an issue, but apparently some retailer didn’t like the competition, secretly added themselves to the list, and ratted out the group to Malabrigo, making them cancel the order. Stoolie! Mole!
I guess I can’t really complain that strongly about the backstabby retailer trying to get rid of their competition if Malabrigo has an explicit anti-coop policy, although I still feel like it’s sneaky and underhanded to secretly join the group, pretending all the while that they have good intentions. Some yarn manufacturers, like 100purewool and Peace Fleece, encourage coop/group buys, but others have issues with it and I guess Malabrigo is one of them.
Sad. I had enough worsted weight in Garnet headed my way to make the balloon-sleeve jacket from the cover of Sensual Knits
One of these days. I’ve still never tried Malabrigo and this is one of those other cult classic yarns that everyone raves about. Maybe I’ll pick some up at the LYS next time they have a good color in stock.
[Commence bitch #4]
Also, I ordered from the WEBS anniversary sale and they were out of part of my order. I only found this out when they shipped the incomplete package and I noticed the billed total was different from what I was expecting. I wish they had told me first, because I ended up substituting colors and now they’re sending me a second, separate package when everything could easily have gone in the same box.
[Commence bitch #5]
My computer crashed while I was writing this.
[Commence bitch #6]
I thought Rahul was just making it up when he told me the New York Times had reported that Mike Huckabee, who just won the Republican Iowa caucus, used to cook up squirrels in a popcorn popper and eat them.
1. The mittens look great! I hope your hands hold out long enough to complete the Bird in Hand mittens–they look lovely.
2. The optimist in me hopes that UPS just made a mistake and that someone else didn’t nab your package. Fingers crossed…
3. I don’t quite understand why any yarn manufacturer would have an anti-coop policy. (It doesn’t seem to be listed on their website–or am I missing it?) I mean, they work with a cooperative in Uruguay themselves, so they surely recognize the benefits to collaborating with others to achieve the same goals.
4 & 5. Very annoying, both.
6. I read that article this morning. The thought that Huckabee is actually a contender for the presidency scares the crap out of me.
Well that certainly sucks. But those mittens don’t they are gorgeous! I hope things look up soon. *hug*
yikes! sounds like a bad day! thankfully tomorrow’s the weekend!
look on the bright side 
I’m sorry – I had all this sympathy welling up with numbers one through five, and then I hit number six, yelled, Oh my god! and sort of lost the train of thought on my sympathy. I mean, eating squirrels in itself: weird, but probably OK. (Possibly dangerous, though? They do carry disease.) But cooking them in a popcorn popper? How does one even do this? And to be honest, I pictured him tossing them in alive, which was even scarier. I will be contemplating this all evening, much to my dismay.
Re: number one – I had something similar happen with a skein of Sundara Yarn, and it friggin’ sucked hardcore. I’m sorry your Jaggerspun has gone AWOL and hope it turns up.
Man, is there something in the water? I just finished writing a long bitchy post, then I came over here to read your long bitchy post. Maybe it’s the weather…
Everything you listed was crappy, but the squirrels? Um. Ew.
Well, I think those are all legitimate reasons to bitch, so go right ahead and bitch. Those are some gorgeous mitts, though! I hope the sight of them cheers you up a smidge. That squirrel factoid is gross. Ew.
lol
i suppose it should come as no surprise that julie has said exactly what i was going to.. bitch away, gorgeous mittens and malabrigo is the shiznet- i hope you find a way to get some more. I bought some worsted for foliage and i think it’s all I ever want to knit with now… good fibers are like pringles. once you pop, you can’t stop! heheheh