Overwhelm!

So, after being in the blog desert for a long time, I suddenly feel like blogging about lots of things.  It's a bit overwhelming.  Do I make a huge splurgy post about everything, or trickle it out in shorter bites in separate categories?

Edited to add - I'm going for the separate posts - fits with other things in my life as you will see

Ah, so that's why I never took to a Filofax

I've had one planner in my lifetime. 

when I was a department manager for Sainsburys I thought it would be smart to have one for recording sales.  I needed something that would fit in the breast pocket of my polyester brown work suit (shudder), so my mum bought me the tiniest one from WH Smiths for Christmas 1989 or 1990.  The pages are a minute 8cm x 12.5cm.  It didn't work for me, so it has been stored away ever since.

Being brave

I did something big today.

For years I was obsessed with paper crafts, especially rubber stamping.  I spent a small fortune on them, even sourcing rarities from the USA.  However, eventually my interests moved on and my supplies just sat marinating but neglected and taking up space.

I had to move my beloved stamps and Bisley cabinets into the garage to make room for the pet rats, so today I called on the awesome resources of my friend Marian  and she has taken them all away, to be sold onto people who will actually use them.

For me this is huge.  So much of my time and resources were tied up in these supplies and my identity too.  I felt some pangs looking at my favourite stamps that I adored so much:  images I searched for over months; stamps that came from a maker who has since died; ones that I bought and have never been cut from the sheet, let alone stamped with.  All loaded into someone else's car and gone.

I feared what that would feel like but it feels right, freeing and timely. There's more, so much more to go, but it's a start

Good bye papercrafter Laura.  You were great, but it's time to let you go along with the beauteous Bisleys

curious

Anyone know what this is?

Lace spindle love

I bought a beautiful Turned On The Cut spindle from someone's destash and had a great time spinning this yarn from a batt I carded at the Alpaca Spinner's Woolly Day the other month

I taught myself to chain ply on the spindle and had a play at using random fibres too

Some of the colour combinations make me feel rather uneasy.  

I've got more similar colours to the stormy blue on the spindle at the moment which I'm hoping will give me a more useful yardage when combined.  I've taught myself ply on the fly for this second spindle, but I'm beginning to think it's a great party trick, but it's possibly slower than forming the single, winding on and plying as there so much swapping about

Breaking up is hard to do

Curse those hoarding genes!

I'm really happy to be passing this on to someone who needs a machine so why does the hoarder inside whisper to me?!

Whinge whinge

I've thought long and hard whether to write this post at all and have decided that as I won't be publicly naming the shop involved, I would like to express myself and my opinion!

A few months ago I thought I would treat myself to a set of fibre samples from a UK based online shop. Kind of like the US based Phatfiber.  I placed my order and waited with anticipation for the samples to arrive.  They came really promptly and I was so excited to receive them that I opened the plastic envelope in the car.  So, and this has bearing later, I opened an intact mailer in a confined, self limiting space.

I looked at what came and took a photo, but I felt kind of flat and cheated as I had

Three. Small. Samples.

Nothing else, not even a penny chew, a thank you tag or a smiley face on the invoice/remittance note

I took the purchase to knit night.  Friends there saw what came and were as underwhelmed as I had been. We chatted and after I came home, I confirmed what had been pointed out to me - that there was a guarantee of 5 samples per this package. I politely mailed the vendor and was asked:

'Had your parcel been tampered with when you received it? We are pretty careful about checking every bag has 5 samples from different dyers.

I will put another 2 samples in the post for you tomorrow.'

Apart from the salutation, that was it.  Not a whisper of an apology and what I felt was a faint accusation of me trying to rip the vendor off.  I even went and checked in the car in case I had somehow misplaced two fibre samples or they had sprung out when I opened the mailer.

I did get another two samples, but again, no additional customer service.  I've never been contacted to ask if I got the replacements and there was no extra for my inconvenience, no offer of a discount on a future purchase.  Nothing to encourage me to look on this as a blip. 

I won't say what I think of the samples as my whole interaction has been tainted by this experience.  I won't be repeating this purchase and I have to remind myself that the dyers provided their wares in good faith and I shouldn't let this colour what I think of their work

See, said it was a whnge!