New Location

After much consideration, I've decided to close my blogs, reorganize and reopen them in a single format. Please visit me at http://www.andreainblue.com.

Thanks!

Wollmeise and Crafty Alien

Getting my hands on some Wollmeise become a minor obsession of mine for a while there. When the Loopy Ewe announced that a shipment would be forthcoming, I started to stalk the site during business hours. Sadly, it never occurred to me that they would post their shipment at 9:00 at night and I completely missed out.

So... I went to the source and started checking on the Wollmeise site on Fridays, when they generally post yarn for sale. It was a bit of a madhouse, as colorways kept getting sold out. Nonetheless, I did finally have some success.

Yesterday, I received a package in the mail from Germany. Woohoo! When I ripped open the mailer, this is what I found.


There was a little sample skein of yarn tucked into the fold of the bag inside the mailer. I believe this is their worsted single ply merino. It is wonderfully soft and squishy. I'd really like to get a few more skeins of this stuff. Note the sneaky little kitty paw trying to snatch away my yarn.


And, finally, for the yarn itself! I snagged 2 skeins of their superwash merino sock yarn. Inside, my Drachenblut (Dragonblood, on the left) and Am Kalten Polar (In the Cold Arctic, on the right) were waiting, along with a sheet that translated some basic German knitting terms into English. For example, I now know that the German word for tension is maschenprobe.

But back to the yarn. It is wonderfully soft stuff. The skeins are generous at 575 yards. After the currency conversion, I paid per skein (including shipping) approximately what I would have paid had I gotten the skeins from Loopy.


Note: it was difficult to get correct color with my digital camera and properly color correcting them would have taken me more time than I cared to spend. (I’m tired!) The subtle shifts in color are really nice. The Cold Arctic shifts from a deep teal into blue into purple into violet. The purples of the Dragonblood looks more blue on my monitor but is really purple, eggplant and blood red.

In other news, I recently made a small foray into the world of felted critters. Below is Felix with his doppelganger and also the Shenannygoat. Both were made as a part of Supa Cindy 3000's birthday package. The patterns came from Crafty Alien, who has all manner of animals to make. Weasels, bunnies, armadillos, bears, you name it! The patterns are easy to follow and don't take a lot of yardage. They're a great use for leftover wool.

Xmas comes but once a year...

This year I've decided to take the Handmade Pledge for holiday gift giving. I started this a few months back, as I'm doing a lot of knitting and need to give myself plenty of lead time.

My game plan? I've started out with writing a list of everyone to whom I'm planning to give presents. For small and basic gifts, I'm going to do a lot of knit wash cloths. They're quick and a great way to try out new stitch patterns. I'll be doing both wash cloths out of coarser cotton. These will be used more for household activities... doing dishes, wiping down surfaces, etc. For face and body wash cloths, I did buy a lot of KnitPicks CotLin in an assortment of colors. This is a Tanguis cotton and linen blend which they say is perfect for wash cloths and spa-type gifts. With these wash cloths, I plan to buy an assortment of handmade soaps from Etsy or a local artisan and package them together. To the right is a picture of a wash cloth in progress. This is the CotLin in Island Coral.

For the most part, I'm trying to tailor my gifts to the individual so they will be used and loved. It is ruining the surprise a bit but I've been talking to people about it so I can gauge who wants what. My dad? He mentioned that he'd like a scarf that is a little on the luxe side without being too flashy. My brother? He was really enthusiastic about getting a pair of fingerless gloves to wear while he's doing outdoor work in the winter. My sister-in-law wanted a wrap, which is also doubling as my Ravelry Knitting Olympics project. My mom? She said she'd be happy with anything I made her. She asks for so little that I wanted to so something really special so she's getting a Clapotis in Handmaiden Sea Silk. She loved the idea.

I am also building a small cache of gifty type items that I can pull out and give if I'm in a pinch. Most of them are projects that I just wanted to work on. Scarves, hats, etc.

Most of my friends and family have been really receptive to the idea. I've been really fortunate to have people in my life who really appreciate the things that I do for them. The wildcard is my boss. He's so funny about what he likes and what he doesn't. Handmade items are fine and dandy in some respects. As an example, I've done a lot of sewing for him. But he's got no use for handknits and doesn't like 'crafty' things in general. I might offer to cook him a dinner with a menu of his choosing.

I need to buckle down and get cracking on everything. I have my bigger projects ahead of me and it is already August. Lots of knitting and sewing to do!

Financial Terrorism

Around 10 years ago, I was the victim of identity theft. Someone who I sort-of dated took my social security number and opened a few accounts with it. I didn't find out until 2 or 3 years later when the debt collection agencies came calling. Long story short, I provided the necessary documentation to have the debts against me dismissed. It took nearly two years to clear all the bad debts.

AND THEN... this weekend I got a letter from one of the agencies stating that they hadn't heard from me about the debt and that they would consider it valid if I didn't respond within 30 days. 5 years and 2 moves later. I called and they claimed that I never filed anything with them and that the debt was never dismissed, despite the fact that I have received correspondence from them stating such 5 years ago. So here we go again.

I googled this and it turns out this isn't an uncommon thing. I found a few news stories from reputable sources about certain collection agencies reopening closed accounts and trying to bully consumers into to paying debts that are either invalid, dismissed or paid off.

If anything like this ever happens to you, I would urge you to read up on your rights as provided in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. A few things I learned during all this:

1. You can get a free annual credit report by visiting http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Don't make any assumptions about your credit, even if you pay everything on time. You can also contact the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian and Transunion) directly for reports.
2. File a local police report. I was living in a small Midwestern town and the police tried to shush me away. The officer who took my report didn't know what to do about it. At first he told me that I needed to travel to the towns where the various accounts had been opened. Then he told me that I had probably given permission for my SSN to be used and just didn't remember. Bottom line: they just didn't know what to do and didn't want to deal with it.
   
3. File an affidavit at http://www.ftc.gov/idtheft.
   
4. If you suspect you've been the victim of ID theft, you can put a Fraud Alert on your credit reports by calling one of the reporting agencies. (I've been told that you only need to contact one.) This will warn creditors that they need to follow certain procedures when granting credit in your name.
   
5. There are statutes of limitations to debt collection. If a few years have passed since the account in question was active, check to see if the statues of limitations have passed. (Note: you can restart the statute of limitations by promising to pay, making a payment, entering a payment agreement or making a charge against the account. That restarts the clock to zero.) In this case, the fraudulent debt occurred in Oklahoma and the statute of limitations is 3 years for open ended accounts. I was living in Kansas at the time and the SoL there is also 3 years. I'm currently living in Florida, which is 4 years. In any event, I'm covered.
   
6. Protect your personal information!

Personal note to K. Kuhlemeier, in case you ever stumble across this: I don't believe that you did what you did out of malevolence but rather desperation. I understand that you were going through a rough time. I'm not unsympathetic to that. But, whatever wrongs I've done, I didn't deserve that. You wrecked major havoc on my life and caused me years of serious financial problems. You owe me an apology.

Birthday Assaults on Supa Cindy 3000

Ah, mischief. I get so little opportunity to create it that I savor it all the more when I do. My current project? I'm beginning my birthday assault on Supa Cindy 3000, a yarny friend I met on Ravelry. Weeellll... more appropriately, I'm in the middle of my assault. I've been dropping hints and being happily obnoxious about it for weeks now.

My latest fun? Behold... the Shenannygoat, who likes to go travelling around with a nanny cam. (Shenannigans + Goat!) The Shenannygoat is part of my overall theme, which is 'George Clooney Love and Goats'. Does that seem a little disjointed? Umm... yeah. I'm still working on that.

Here, we see that the Shenannygoat has made friends with two very cute little girls.

Little Felix? Not so nice! He tried to gnaw off some bits.

But the Shenannygoat came with me to Stitch n' Bitch last night where she met Bella the bulldog, who was much friendlier.


Take a moment to admire the Shenannygoat with my fellow SnB'ers' lovely projects: a sock, a cowl neck sweater and a baby surprise jacket.

Hoo Boy

My spidey sense is telling me that today is going to be one of those days that I wish I had just stayed home to knit!

Goodness in my Fridge...

This morning I picked up my second order from the local organic farm where I've started buying produce. Take a look at the loveliness below! And this is only around half of it. I'm so excited about this. I've got lots of old favorites and also some new things to try.

Sweet and hot peppers and tomatoes...


Peppers, okra, avocadoes, tomatoes and cattail shoots. (Yes, cattails! I'm planning to make fried rice with them.) In the upper right hand corner, you'll see a plastic baggy with lentil sprouts. In the back left, you'll see green herbs that include rosemary, parsley, a few different kinds of mint, basil, chives and cilantro.


A slightly different view of the above, with a better shot of the sprouts and also a few passion fruit.


Here are more of the cattails and a Brazilian squash of some kind.


From the organic place, I also got onions, scallions, salad greens and a dozen free range organic eggs. I did also stop by a nearby produce market to get some fruit, which I've been craving. Nectarines, grapes and cherries.

Mmm... stay tuned for a review of my cattail fried rice!

Today is the first day, etc, etc...

Today is the first day... yatta, yatta, yatta.

I've spent a lot of time over the last few weeks thinking about diets and food... and what I'm going to do about them. Since I left Weight Watchers, I've been not following any program in particular. I've considered various programs, read about them. I've read books on nutrition, diets and weight loss. Nothing has really clicked.

I have to be perfectly honest. I've really been enjoying not dieting. Not obsessing over very point, gram or exchange. It was really liberating to finally let it go and not let food be the primary focus in my life. HOWEVER... it has come to me that I have to do something about it. I'm not happy being overweight. My back hurts. My knees hurt. My ego hurts.

The solution? I've just decided to treat myself better and to make my own well-being more of a priority. I know what I need to do and, as usual, I've been over-complicating things of late. Rather than letting a book dictate what I do, I'm going to listen to my own body and try to eat more intuitively. I know how to cook healthfully. I was raised eating whole foods and learned what to do from an early age. I've just been allowing myself to indulge in junk as a salve for other wounds.

Through localharvest.org, I found a local small farmer who sells organic produce and free range eggs. I picked up my first order a few days ago and that one visit inspired me more than any diet book, program or guru. The woman running the farm just radiated health and happiness. She really drew me in and, for the first time in a long time, I am excited about good food. Is that part of what she's selling? If so, I'm definitely buying.

I wound up buying kale, rosemary, eggs, salad greens, rhubarb and scallions. What really stood out to me was the salad mix though. Is this gorgeous? She mixes edible flowers in with the greens. It is almost too pretty to eat. Almost!


Dinner tonight made use of the kale and the rosemary. This is Kale and White Bean soup, from a recipe found on epicurious.com. So good. The recipe called for a Parmigiano-Reggiano rind. A trip to my neighborhood grocery store did yield a rind but it did come at a premium. Worth it? Oh my, yes. It gave the soup a really lovely flavor. I would definitely make this one again. I'm looking forward to having some for lunch tomorrow. Most of the reviews mentioned that it was even better a day or two later.

Mmmm!

Little Bits of Sunshine

I had a particularly trying day at work yesterday... and look at what I found waiting in my mailbox when I got home. Thanks, Kel... you totally made my day! I enjoy my time with you, Rick and the girls greatly! (Annelise and Katherine are just about the best cookie makin' assistants ever!)