Webigail

Every weekend my husband, a good friend of ours and I work really hard on projects around the house. For the past several weeks, we have been working to build a fenced in vegetable garden. We’re not done, but all of the posts are in the ground, including those for my concord grapes.

On Saturday, I had been feeling excited, and anxious, as it seems although we make progress, it’s just not done. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to have the guys work so hard, but I just feel like a child on the way to get an ice cream cone. The best part is the ride there.

As the day was winding down, the fellas were putting in the very last post, while the rascal and I pulled weeds. The boys hurried us to get into the house as lightening was striking rather closely.

Just as I walked onto the porch, I smelled gas. “Does anyone else smell gas?” I yelled out to the boys.

My husband had not noticed the smell, but out friend had and said that he had smelled it the week prior, but thought that perhaps it was nothing, as the odor was extremely faint. I decided to call the gas company. They said they were on the way and instructed that no one “light up any cigarettes.”

That’s when it occurred to me just how potentially serious this situation was. As I hung up the phone, I recalled several times I walked on or off my porch and noticed a faint whiff of gas. However, I suffer from such extreme seasonal allergies, I cannot rely on my sense of smell.

When the technician arrived, he immediately confirmed that we had a gas leak coming from the connector to the house. He quickly looked for the service shut-off. As he poked the ground the gas odor became stronger and more pungent.  “Don’t ever, ever wait to call us again,” he insisted.  “Even if you are not certain that it’s gas, call. It’s our job to ensure your safety,” he continued.

When he pointed out that city houses received 7 ounces of gas, while we received 7 POUNDS of gas pressure, I nearly passed out!!!

There have been a few houses and families that were lost recently due to gas explosions. It sends chills up my back just thinking about what could have happened to all of us, including our helpful friend, had I not called to have someone check the gas. To make matters worse, I cannot count the number of times our buddy would step out on the porch to smoke a cigarette…Saturday night would have been no different, except for perhaps, the ending.

I’m kicking myself, because I vaguely remember the smell of gas in my basement, but doubted it, due to my horrible allergies. My fence posts now have added meaning. They are each a blessing. Had the boys not been out working to put them in, perhaps I wouldn’t even have noticed the odor and only God knows how things would have turned out.

I will never hesitate to say something next time I even think I smell gas.

Last week, my mum and I were chit-chatting when she mentioned a collection letter that my brother received. She went on to state that the letter contained my brother’s previous address, his social security number, but the wrong date of birth.

I thought perhaps it was a typo, but as the conversation continued, she revealed that the collection agency was calling on behalf of Verizon. The debt was supposedly for a land-line. That’s when things started to become interesting. My brother has never owned a land-line. He’s a natural-born-geek, was into technology and cell phones well before I relented and has always been a mobile type of fellow.

I was curious, so I asked my mother to get the phone number of the company trying to collect the debt and googled it. My brother, granted he is definitely above average, with regards to technology, is still a guy, when it comes to following through on important issues. He would probably never get around to investigating this matter and I was concerned that if they had information on him, that perhaps someone had “borrowed” his identity.

Hey, don’t laugh! It’s happened to me already and I had to work feverishly to get things back in order.

No sooner than I type in the phone number of the company, does the name AFNI appear and the link is to http://www.ripoffreport.com. Boy, did I open a can of worms! There were countless reports involving AFNI. I reported this to my mum and brother and nearly considered the issue done, on my part anyway, but decided to keep reading. I’m glad that I did.

One consumer reported an almost identical story, save for the fact that AFNI insisted that they had opened an account with Verizon when they were 8-years-old. Yep! You read correctly. Eight. Years. Old. Well naturally, anyone with half a brain knows that a child could not possibly open that account, right? It should be a done deal. Um…no! AFNI informed this individual that they still had to pay, suggesting that perhaps his parents would assist.

And the plot thickens…

This person did what I would have done; they contacted Verizon, thinking that surely they would see the absurdity of paying a bill that one doesn’t owe. Surprisingly, Verizon added insult to injury by passing the poor kid from department to department, before finally blurting out that there was nothing they could do. The bill had gone to collections and all negotiations had to take place with AFNI.

Someone else, who had fallen victim of the same “scam” offered a suggestion.

Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested.

I am waiting to hear the outcome, will update this post when I find out.

I suspect that Verizon and AFNI are in the same bed and also suspect that unless a consumer becomes their own advocate, a supersleuth of sorts, then the pocketbook will always be at risk for being a littler lighter.

****************
6/12/2008 - UPDATE

My mum notified me that she dropped a letter to AFNI in the mail last Friday. He received a response 4 days later, stating that after “an extensive investigation” they have decided that he did not owe anything. Imagine that? He didn’t owe anything?

I was not in the least bit shocked. The entire thing smelled of a scam from the first minute.

I hope that anyone reading this post will be diligent, as there are a number of companies that tack on questionable fees and rip consumers off, but nothing is done if YOU don’t protect yourself.

Last year I purchased a huge lot of dormant plants. My focus was on flowering trees. I had at least 16 white dogwoods, and some other colorful plants. This was my first time working with dormant plants, but I wanted to be able to shape my trees from the onset. Plus, there’s a huge savings, as opposed to dealing with nurseries or other stores that sell plants.

My package arrived in May. I was careful. I read the directions, as to ensure that my babies would thrive and stay alive.

It could take two weeks before you begin to see new growth.

I healed my plants in and waited. I waited for two weeks. Then three.

Then, I called the company back to inquire. “Wait a couple more weeks and if no change, call us back.”

A couple more weeks pass and what I think is a bud on one of my 16 dogwoods is a bug. A green bug. Le sigh. So, I call again and inquire about a full replacement and was told to wait until “next year, when we’re ready to start shipping plants out again.”

Apparently, there’s a very tight window, when it comes to shipping dormant plants. No problem. I’m patient. After all, the growth of a tree is a slow, but lovely journey.

Let’s fast forward to March of this year. I call the company back and initially they tell me that I can replace my original offer for, get this, 50% off. Um…what?! After maintaining composure and pointing out the absurdity in paying for something that arrived freeze-burned and that their records of my phone calls would serve to show that these plants were problematic from the beginning, they decided to be courteous and replaced the entire order.

The box arrived about 3 days later and I saw an immediate difference. The roots were still moist; the leaders were in great shape and everything seemed to be alive. I immediately potted everything this time, as I thought that perhaps healing the plants in is what lead to the problem.

Again, I waited two weeks. No leaves. Three weeks, nothing. Four weeks, my creeping flox showed some signs of survival, as did my burning bush, but my dogwoods were still bare.

I watered every day, checked to see for growth. I even did the “scratch test” making sure that there was still green. They all had green underneath the outer coat, so why aren’t they growing. My husband said, “I hate to break this to you, but I think that your trees are a bust.” When an experienced landscaper says this, it’s time to use the branches for firewood.

I was about to pull everything out of the pots, but didn’t have time, as we went away for the weekend. Wouldn’t ya know that each dogwood had, not just buds, but open leaves?! Even a few of the trees from last year, that I had been meaning to toss, or whittle down to use as toothpicks had signs of growth!

I don’t know what caused the unusually long slumber for my dormant plants, but I’m happy that almost all have survived. However, I don’t know if I will go this route again. Waiting for these plants to grow was like watching my son clean up his toys; it was sloooooooow and painful.

There is no debate over which patterns are best, written or charted. It’s simply a matter of preference.

When I started knitting I was intimidated by charts. The symbols used in charts can vary. For instance, one may leave a blank space to indicate “knit” and others may use a vertical dash for the same thing. There is no wrong or right way, but it can be overwhelming for a new knitter.

Over the Christmas holiday I knitted up several gifts using lace patterns. Initially, I read each line, muddling through, until I made several mistakes, after putting the project down. For me, it was difficult to come back to the pattern and figure out where I was.

I decided to take a few moments to chart the patter and I am so glad that I did. I appreciated the written pattern, because each line of the pattern was spelled out - nothing left to interpretation. However, once I charted out the 25 row pattern, I would actually see the pattern before my eyes.

I own the first two knitting treasuries by Barbara G. Walker. Both of these books contains hundreds of patterns that are all written out. I’m not turned off by the black-and-white images, but find that it’s difficult to follow some of the very long, complicated patterns. Even some of the less complicated, but wordy patterns seemed to be frustrating for me. Yet, I would probably feel like something was missing if I had only the chart. I’d second guess myself and spend way more time testing, rather than producing.

That’s when I decided that I’m not an either/or gal, I’m a “both” type of knitter. I need the logic of the written word AND the visual of the charts.

I thought I had pattern converting all figured out, until I ran into one that shifted a little,

Taken from A Second Treasure of Knitting Patterns

Multiple of 6 sts plus 1

Row 1: (Wrong side) and all other wrong-side rows - Purl.
Rows 2, 4, and 6 - K1, *yo, skk, k1, k2 tog, yo, k1; rep from *
Row 8 - k2, *yo, sl 1-k2 tog-psso, yo, k3; rep from *, end last repeat k2
Row 10 - K1, *k2 tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1; rep from *
Row 12 - K2 tog, *yo, k3, yo, sl 1-k2tog-psso; rep from *, end yo, k3, yo, ssk.

Here is what you get when you chart the same pattern.

The orange box represents the repeated section.

* NOTE - This is what the last repeat looks like on the 8th row. You will follow the repeat “yo, sl 1-k2 tog-psso, yo, k3″, but the last 6 stitches will be slightly different.

** NOTE - The same applies to the 12th row. In order to maintain the same amount of stitches and to keep the pattern aligned, after your first lead in stitch, you repeat the stitches in the orange box until you get to your last repeat and then “end yo, k3, yo, ssk”.

This is a very basic example, but you can actually see the pattern in a chart. This is very useful when you are working with a complicated lace, or aran pattern, in my opinion.

I’ve been working on this one sweater for a couple of weeks, about three to be exact.

After finally charting out the simple stitch pattern and deciding that I would just dive in and do it, I find that I am not dragging my feet.

However, I have learned a great deal along the way:

1. The back, the sleeves, and the front all start in various places, with regards to the stitch pattern, as each section must be centered separately.
2. I don’t know why this stage of my knitting scared the tikki masala outta me, but it did! However, I have survived and I think that I can actually delve into the next phase of insanity.

And the obsession continues…

I promised myself that I would NOT buy anymore books.

Luckily, I had my fingers crossed when I made the promise, because I also promised the dear, patient hubby that I would not let the book fetish get out of control…again.

As you can imagine…that promise didn’t last long. So, here we are drooling over Nicky Epstein’s delectable trilogy: Knitting On, Over and Beyond The Edge.

Knitting on the Edge, is the first of the series and everything about the book from the hardcover, to the clear, color photos made me want to buy it. I bought it last year and have not even really used it (yet), but was perusing the second and third book in the series and could not resist.

Nicky Epstein has joined been added to my list of knitting gurus, along side with Barbara G. Walker and Elizabeth Zimmerman. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I am somewhat bored of knitting from patterns and just duplicating someone else’s creative idea row-for-row, not that there’s anything wrong with that. However, I have been trying to break free from feeling stagnant, with regards to knitting.

Some of the designs may seem a little daunting to the beginner, but they are very well written and easy to follow. Ironically, some of the more intricate looking patterns, happen to be some of the simplest, as far as repeats go.

The Nicky Epstein trilogy is just what I needed to get away from the hum-drum ribbing I’ve been doing lately. I’ll be picking out a nice pattern to add to the sleeves and bottom of a sweater I’m currently working on. Stay tuned…if I ever finish this project, I’ll post pics!

Knitting, I have recently discovered, is much like cooking.

For instance, there are those of us who can make a mean pepper steak and the family thinks we’re ready to rival Emeril. Then there are those who make steak au poivre and say, “I just whipped up a little something.” There are distinct differences between being a pretty good cook and being a culinary genius. Needless to say, my name will never be uttered in the same sentence as the Wolfgang Pucks of knitting, however I strive to be a little better than chef-boy-ardee.

I learned to knit last November and credit an incredible instructor with giving me the ability to tackle any project. Her style in teaching is effortless, but more importantly, she’s adaptable. If there’s more than one way to accomplish something, you can believe that Carla K, knows how to do it and If she doesn’t, she knows which direction to point the young grasshopper.

Alas, I decided, that after a long hiatus from knitting classes, that I wanted to take a private lesson. Although, I own countless books from the masters: Barbara Walker, EZ (Elizabeth Zimmerman), et al, I could not figure out how to match a pattern stitch in my sweaters, particularly raglans.

One woman’s name stuck out in my head, but I couldn’t recall why. I decided to schedule a private lesson with her, as the LYS is close and her name kept swishing around my head like fine wine in a crystal glass.

Anxious and excited, I broke a few speed limits to ensure that I would make it to my lesson on time. I did not want to miss a moment. I was kicking myself because:

1. In my haste, I forgot to bring my stitch pattern, and
2. I was so busy over the past week or so, that I failed to knit a swatch.

I consider myself a quick learner, so I’d make lemonade of the situation. In all actuality, I didn’t want to know how to knit, but rather how to keep the pattern aligned. Nonetheless, I picked out a stitch pattern from the book on hand and commenced to knit a swatch. In the back of my head, I thought, “Well, why exactly do I need a swatch? I had already told her several times that the size and pattern were immaterial.”

I simply wanted to know HOW to maintain the pattern across the increases/decreases of the raglan. *sigh*

Ok, so the swatch was done; we determined the gauge and we were ready…for what, I wasn’t sure, but we were - ready. At this point, we discuss graph paper *insert perplexed emoticon here*. This is where the journey became bumpy.

I knit from the top. Carla taught me to knit sweaters from the top. Barbara Walker knits from the top. I wanted to knit my sweater FROM THE TOP! *Breath. Relax. Release.* Did I mention that Barbara Walker knits from the top?

So, why was this woman discouraging me from starting from the top? Oh wait! If I wanted to make a drop-shoulder sweater, that would be a piece of cake, but rather than knitting a cardigan, I “should steek it,” because “that’s the Norwegian way.”

It occurred to me at that very moment.. that I was not going to get what I sought from this woman. There’s no pliability. She’s not flexible and although she studied with Elizabeth Zimmerman, she fell very short of my expectations, with regards to the ability teaching.

Remember, there are Todd Englishes and then there are the short order cooks.

Ironically after my knitting infidelity, I found the answer to the question I was looking for the very same evening. On pages 110-114 of Knitting from the Top by none other than Barbara G. Walker, she explains how you keep a pattern matched as your working your garment from the top.

The best thing about my lesson was walking away with 2 gorgeous skeins of Noro at 30% off. I guess the visit wasn’t a total bust, huh?

Saturday we all went to the arts and crafts show at ExpoMart. I was very excited, as it would be my first time going. I have heard so many things about this show.

There were so many interesting things to see, from the moment we entered. The first vendor that caught my attention was a man selling incredible hand-crafted quilts. They were absolutely gorgeous. He told us how his wife’s church assisted in making each quilt, which also had matching pillow shams. They were beautiful, beyond words.

In my search for fellow knitters, I came across a woman selling crocheted handbags. She had every color, size and shape you could think of. They were really well done and she even worked on a bag as she sat there. Very talented woman.

Finally! I came across a vendor, who had knitted items. Although, her main focus was quilts, she had a number of knitted baby items: sweaters, blankets, bonnets. They were all knitted with fingering weight yarn and were very intricate. After close inspection, I asked, “Are these handmade?”

“Why, yes they are!” She replied, all too eager to show the detailed work.

I didn’t want to let on, but I knew better than anyone that nothing there had been handmade. In fact, not even her quilts were handmade. I don’t know why, but it seemed to bother me a great deal that she was “misleading” buyers. The seams were all machine sewn and even the hems were sewn. Perhaps they were knitted on a machine that someone hand cranked, but does that equate being handmade?

I don’t know.

There just seems to be something sacrilegious about it. Now, don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with using a machine, but can you really say that it’s handmade?

I left ExpoMart with an even greater appreciation for all of the hand crafters out there, whether they be a knitter, crocheter, seamstress, or anything in betwixt.

Anxiously, I ran into the house. I ripped into the package, as if an invitation to the white house awaited me behind the flap on the envelope. It was my book. My new, book.

I’m sure all of you are wondering, “Just how many books can she own?”

This may very well be one of the last, as I cannot see a need for any other…ok, that’s until my EZ arrives. Then I’m officially done buying books (at least until Nicky Epstein comes out with a new one.)

At any rate, I was a little disappointed with the condition of the book initially. The covers are fine, but the pages are yellow and brown in spots. I then opened the book to just the information I needed to complete my current project. I experienced momentary brain freeze, could not figure out how to calculate how many rows I need to decrease on to taper my sleeves.

As I was reading a little index card fell out, onto the floor. I picked it up and glanced at the previous owners knitting notes and measurements. Instantly, this used book turned into a family treasure that had been passed on to me from a fellow knitter.

The book’s age spots make this book even more valuable.

As for a review of the content - I haven’t had or used the book long enough to give a valid assessment, but judging from the first few pages that I’ve scanned, I’d venture to say that it’s certainly a keeper!

Check back later for a thorough review.

About two weeks ago I went on a yarn quest. I took a magazine into my LYS and Melissa helped me pick out the colors that inspired my “need for more yarn”. As if I do not already have enough yarn falling out of every crevice, right? BTW, thank you Melissa; you have the patience of Job.

Nonetheless, I had this magazine with me and charged right in and insisted…ok, begged Melissa to help me find comparable colors. The Cascade wall is not to be tackled alone, without supervision, as it’s like the black hole. It kinda just sucks one up into this vacuum of color euphoria. However, I digress. I cannot find exactly what I’m looking for, as the ideal pattern only exists in my own head.

When I left the store, I had way more yarn with me then intended, but that’s never a problem, as color and hues are what invigorate me. As I was driving home, I had an epiphany of sorts. I own 2 of the 4 Barbara Walker Treasury of Knitting Patterns; I have invested in just about every book that I think will aid me in my need to improve my skills. I spend valuable time, not knitting, but thumbing through my books, or seeking out the “just right” pattern, when that pattern doesn’t exist.

All of this leads me to my next journey. I want to take my knitting to the next step, which is to learn how to design. Yeah, yeah I know that designing is not you learn, as creativity is not taught, but I have ideas. Yep, that’s right folks, somewhere in that hamster cage, there is an idea or two that require a little nurturing.

I have concepts, just need to figure out how to take them from my head, to graph paper and patterns without losing steps in translation. I am accustomed to buying fabric on a whim, throwing it onto the floor and just whipping out an outfit. But, I don’t want to make the same mistake that I made with my sewing. I never learned to use patterns. I managed to make some really nice things, as my mother was quite a seamstress, but I do not know how to use my tools properly.

Knitting on the other hand, is not that simple to me. I cannot just throw stitches onto my needle, keep the pattern in sync and end up with a finished project that says, “WOW!”

With all of that gibberish said, I’m kicking it all up a notch:

1. I’m going to take a sewing class. I cannot fudge my skills with my new sewing machine. Other than forward/backward, I need to use attachments, all of which I own, but I can’t just press a button and have a certain stitch appear.
2. I’m going to invest in a private lesson. I need to understand how to construct my own pattern, or at the very least, how to implement a stitch-pattern into something as basic as a sweater, without it becoming discombobulated. I’ve already spoken to someone about getting this going and as soon as I figure out which direction I want to pursue, I’ll take action.

Wish me luck. I have this one idea stuck in my head and I cannot seem to shake it. It may not mean anything to anyone else when I can get it on paper, but it will mean the world to me!