Fruiting body of a subterrean mushroom

Never have so many remained in such wonder at the continual but repeated failure of an identical few to produce either a digital or print publication with correct English grammar and spelling, with in-focus photography that clearly illustrates the subject, and that doesn't reek of the derivative and rehashed. The latest attempt at cool by this crew is Truffle Magazine, a new magazine for Bishops Stortford to Saffron Walden, which has had a mere 582+ views and a two-star rating on Yudu at the time of this post. And lest there be any confusion, the masterminds behind this latest media foray are Kerrie Allman, Editor, and Claire Barzilay-Smith, Ad Sales, both formerly of All Craft Media (ACM). 

For those of you local to the above, a link may arrive in your email, or you might encounter the handbag-sized publication at your local market, dry cleaners, hair salon or jammed in with the other circulars in you mail or as a newspaper insert. If you are visiting, it’s bound to be in the hotel room folder among all the other flyers touting local interest. For the rest of the world, encountering this sorry attempt at lifestyle and local interest is a purely voluntary and vicarious venture.

Smitten with Mittens

That’s me. I finished my first pair of convertible mitts and finished another pair of fingerless mitts and made them convertible as well. While I intend to move on to gloves (after I finish the beret currently on the needles), I am in love with convertible mitts. They keep your fingers warm when outside. But the top flips off and your fingers are free to pull out the credit/debit card or to fumble for change.

 

 

Found!

Well with an extra hour from falling back and to continue my successful avoidance of TV political ads (I've seen exactly one political ad in 2012, that was today during the football game), I tackled the poor chair that has suffered the brunt of the last weeks of tidying and changing over and there was the camera. So here's what I've made since I last posted pictures on Labor Day:



Shape It! Scarf

Back of Hand Convertible Mitts

Front Convertible Mitts

Miami Vice Shawl



In all the confusion, the futon at least is safe

Rats, she found the camera

Color Block Color Affection (wip)

Lucy Hat

 

 

Frustration

There's nothing worse than when you manage to make yourself miserable. I've done this by misplacing my camera. And it is frustrating because I've got projects to photograph.

The Miami Vice Shawl is finished and awaiting blocking.

The Husk is finished. I love this cowl. Some have complained that the Rowan Creative Worsted yarn feels rough to knit with and because it is almost unspun, splitty. Yes, it is a little splitty but I don't find it rough. What I love about this wool and alpaca blend is in the cold it is heavenly warm. I wore the Husk during the brisk cold we've had since Sandy. It's a just right length; no fiddling or draping. My office is located in a building that was built in 1906 and my desk is in a large open space that doesn't hold heat. The Husk was the perfect thing to slip on when I got chilled last week.

I'm enrolled in Marly Bird's Craftsy class for mittens and gloves. I've just finished my first convertible mitten and will cast on its mate before bed tonight. Great pattern, great video instruction.

I bought Sally Mellville's The Knitting Experience Book 1: The Knit Stitch about four years ago. I despaired of making anything from it. All those boxy shapes in garter stitch. But I bought a skein of KFI Luxury Collection Mohair and Silk yarn at Looped Yarn Works. Okay, it was pretty and it was in the sale basket. Thought I might use the yarn as a cuff on a pair of fingerless mitts until I remember the book and the Shape It! Scarf.  It's a simple almost boring knit once you pass the shaping. In this case, the yarn makes the pattern. This has been my bedtime knit for the past week and a half. Less than inch to go before bind off.

So you see my frustration: I'm being so good, knitting down the stash and in the midst of a clear out and switching from summer to winter clothes, I've misplaced my camera.

 

Facebook Is NO Substitute for Customer Service

Yeah, it may seem in this multi-platform, hyper-connected age that everyone is online and everyone online is connected to everything, but guess what: Not True.

I learned today, via Ravelry, that Creative Magazine announced on 20 September on their Facebook page that they were only publishing four issues a year instead of six. Am I on Facebook? Yes. Do I follow Creative Knitting Magazine on Facebook: No. Did I expect or was I told by Creative Knitting that they would only be making product announcements on Facebook? No. Is there any announcement on their webpage that there has been a change to the number of issues a year they publish: No

Not to follow down the route of the upset Ravelry posters who have to date contacted customer service, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau requesting my subscription of 6 issues be honored or my money refunded.

Had I received an email or a letter from the magazine or its parent company letting me know of the change, it may not have made me happy, but I wouldn't feel like I do right now: cheated and dismissed. I don't know what the end result will be of the BBB complaint: I may get 4 or 6 issues or I may get my money back. One thing is certain: Nothing, I mean nothing--not promises of tips, tutorials, or more content--will ever induce me to purchase another product from Creative Knitting Magazine or their parent company Annie's Attic again.

And in this connected age, more than 6 people know that I'm an unhappy customer.

 

Craft Magazine Shop's Simply Sewing Magazine Available to Download Free

If you are a paid subscriber to Simply Sewing, click here to find out how to contact Essex Trading Standards to complain that the magazine you paid for is available free for download after you were told it on 11 October 2012, subscription copies were delayed due to a change in print vendors.

Email, call, send letters to demand the money you paid for your subscription be returned by Craft Magazine Shop.

It is outrageous that a company, any company, can take money from people for a product and then provide that product free on the Internet.

Simply....

Simply

Simply Sewing where are you?

Apparently a change of printers and change of schedule as of 11 October has caused a 10-day delay in the printing and mailing of Simply Sewing.

Again, if you have a subscription, I suggest you to contact your payment provider for a refund.

Now for something completely different....

Speaking of simply, I've been simply cooking like a domestic goddess:

Pork loin chops dry rubbed and baked with sliced apples and sweet potato

Apples and pears baked with a cinnamon and nutmeg sauce w/a little red pepper to really spice things up.

Steamed broccoli

Stringbeans with mushrooms

Gingerbread cookies

In addition, I am 80% through switching my summer and winter clothes

And I'm 22 rows away from finishing the Husk cowl.

Totally Tubular

Yes, it has been weeks; and I do apologize. Work, life, and my commitment to knit 1 hour a night results in some things getting put to the back burner.

I Can't Write It Better
Update on Crafts Magazine Shop, Simply Sewing, Modern Quilting, Kerrie Allman, Tallulah Ray (if you're wondering click on the link). To reiterate: As of today, Simply Sewing is two weeks late showing up on the shelves. If you are a subscriber, I urge you to contact the magazine to find out the status of your subscription. If you recently subscribed, get in touch with your bank, credit card company or PayPal and find out about getting a refund. Experience suggests that when magazines from any interation of this company are late, their demise, leaving behind unfufilled subscribers, generally follows closely behind.

Totally Tubular
After a fortnight of deadlines, deadlines, deadlines at work I need something relaxing AND I needed to find a project that would use up the 14 skeins of Knit Picks Swish in my stash. I had originally earmarked this yarn for a sweater, but after reading reviews on Ravelry about projects knit with this yarn growing, fuzzing, losing stitch definition, etc., I decided to do something that didn't matter rather than put a lot of effort into a sweater only to have it be potentially useless in the end.

Found a bedjacket pattern on Ravelry. Since the bedjacket has ribbed cuffs, decided to try the tubular cast on. Found a great video on You Tube done by Eunny Jang and in under an 30 minutes was bashing away in K1P1.

I know this about myself as knitter and I need to keep reminding myself, I don't like knitting with soft squishy yarns.  Crunch and scratch are more my cup of tea. Yes it means I need to keep a stock of hand and cuticle creams nearby to remoisten every hour but I'd rather do that than work with a yarn the slips, slides, splits and does a St. Vitus dance all over my needles. Moving to the bamboo needles seems to have settled the yarn down a bit. But the first five inches was a nightmare after weeks of knitting with non-superwash, sticky yarns.

Color Affection Addiction or 6K Plus Ravelers Can't Be Wrong
Okay, so I was resistant. I don't like stripes. Since knitting down the stash is the order of the day, I pulled out the bag of Knit Picks Palette I'd socked away in the spring for the Miami Vice Shawl, ponied up for the pattern, and cast on. Thrilling, challenging knitting it isn't...more let me master the theory of relativity while knitting, but OH the results. Part of it is in the shaping, the other part is simple is just sometimes better. As for the stripes, I am knitting my Color Affection color block in pinks and fushias.

A Bit Scary but Exciting
Not really scary, just one of those moments that prompts a reevaluation of my self-perception. Saw an advertisement for a play the piqued my interest. Clicked on the link, read the reviews and then clicked on the link to the ticket site. Was about to exit after looking at the matinee ticket prices when a pricing option suddenly registered: 60 and over. Well hells bells, I'm over 60 now and totally eligible for reduced ticket prices.