annoyances of varying sizes. And some stuff that's OK, too.
So! Pip had the pukies last week, R got it over the past weekend. Hooray! And then my mom got it on Tuesday! Screw you, Norovirus!
And on Saturday my laptop's power cord shorted out and started melting. Bellevue Square was a horrific zoo on Saturday, and the Apple Store had a 3 hour wait for the genius bar. So coming back three hours later and they don't have the replacement part, so they call University Village. They say they have the part, and I have to make an appointment for *their* genius bar, the next morning, since they're out of appointments for the night. Can't I just pick it up? Not with them he whispers, the U.Village store has a superiority thing. So the next morning Wm and I head over, and oops, no, they don't have the part after all. They can order one, it will take a couple of days. Would one of the other stores in the area have one, can we call? Oh, no, we're the biggest one, if we don't have it, nobody will. Oh-kay then! So I had a non-functional laptop from Friday to Tuesday. But I didn't have to pay the $79 Apple charges for the thing, so that at least is a win. Looks like it's not an uncommon problem; the replacement adapter has a somewhat sturdier join between the cord and the plug to the machine itself so I hope it won't happen again, because it would suck to have the house burn down because Apple doesn't seem to know how to make a damn power cord (I went through one a year with my iBook, though none of those melted, they just broke).
Today at the yarn shop I saw a sweater in a book that seemed to me to be totally inspired by my BGK cardigan. It was a sleeveless vest kind of thing and not really infringement, but diagonally striped panels of Noro with stitches picked up on the outer edge for a sideways-knit band going over the shoulder, and then joined with side panels. Yeah. Kathryn agreed that it wasn't just me being overly sensitive. Sincerest form of flattery and all that, I guess. Looked through No Sheep for You and saw The Girl from Auntie's UTTERLY GORGEOUS cabled sweater. It was the only thing I really coveted in the book, and $25 is a lot to pay for effectively one pattern, so I will mull it over in the back of my mind for a while. Saw Lace Style and was disappointed. I also saw some Tilli Tomas yarn in person for the first time. $39, and holy COW the stuff was crappily spun, it was all fuzzy and pilling in the skein. If I'm throwing that much money at some yarn, it should at least look nice until I'm done knitting with it. And speaking of yarn looking nice until I was done knitting with it, when I got home I went to get the mail and the ball of yarn (laceweight wool-cashmere blend) fell out of my project bag and into the muddy cul-de-sac halfway back to the house, and I didn't notice until I reached the front door. So I skeined it up (in three pieces because it broke a few times) and will wash it and hope for the best. Otherwise I'll have to put a very narrow lace border on my stole instead of the wide one originally in the pattern. :-(
But! Now we all seem to be healthy, P has next week off from school and we might take a mini-vacation later in the week to see how the boys travel, my spinning projects are going well, and a lady in the yarn shop was falling all over herself with how wonderful she thought Kathryn and I are, which was funny but cheering.
And on Saturday my laptop's power cord shorted out and started melting. Bellevue Square was a horrific zoo on Saturday, and the Apple Store had a 3 hour wait for the genius bar. So coming back three hours later and they don't have the replacement part, so they call University Village. They say they have the part, and I have to make an appointment for *their* genius bar, the next morning, since they're out of appointments for the night. Can't I just pick it up? Not with them he whispers, the U.Village store has a superiority thing. So the next morning Wm and I head over, and oops, no, they don't have the part after all. They can order one, it will take a couple of days. Would one of the other stores in the area have one, can we call? Oh, no, we're the biggest one, if we don't have it, nobody will. Oh-kay then! So I had a non-functional laptop from Friday to Tuesday. But I didn't have to pay the $79 Apple charges for the thing, so that at least is a win. Looks like it's not an uncommon problem; the replacement adapter has a somewhat sturdier join between the cord and the plug to the machine itself so I hope it won't happen again, because it would suck to have the house burn down because Apple doesn't seem to know how to make a damn power cord (I went through one a year with my iBook, though none of those melted, they just broke).
Today at the yarn shop I saw a sweater in a book that seemed to me to be totally inspired by my BGK cardigan. It was a sleeveless vest kind of thing and not really infringement, but diagonally striped panels of Noro with stitches picked up on the outer edge for a sideways-knit band going over the shoulder, and then joined with side panels. Yeah. Kathryn agreed that it wasn't just me being overly sensitive. Sincerest form of flattery and all that, I guess. Looked through No Sheep for You and saw The Girl from Auntie's UTTERLY GORGEOUS cabled sweater. It was the only thing I really coveted in the book, and $25 is a lot to pay for effectively one pattern, so I will mull it over in the back of my mind for a while. Saw Lace Style and was disappointed. I also saw some Tilli Tomas yarn in person for the first time. $39, and holy COW the stuff was crappily spun, it was all fuzzy and pilling in the skein. If I'm throwing that much money at some yarn, it should at least look nice until I'm done knitting with it. And speaking of yarn looking nice until I was done knitting with it, when I got home I went to get the mail and the ball of yarn (laceweight wool-cashmere blend) fell out of my project bag and into the muddy cul-de-sac halfway back to the house, and I didn't notice until I reached the front door. So I skeined it up (in three pieces because it broke a few times) and will wash it and hope for the best. Otherwise I'll have to put a very narrow lace border on my stole instead of the wide one originally in the pattern. :-(
But! Now we all seem to be healthy, P has next week off from school and we might take a mini-vacation later in the week to see how the boys travel, my spinning projects are going well, and a lady in the yarn shop was falling all over herself with how wonderful she thought Kathryn and I are, which was funny but cheering.