Sea Dragon

Hey Everyone!

It’s been a bit since I have posted her, and even longer it seems since I finished a pair of socks.

Knitting has definitely slowed down since I started this job I am at. It’s OK for the time being since I do need to work.

I finally finished up a pair I had started back in November. This pair was knit up out of yarn from a small yarn dyer, who I found out about from one of you. The yarn shop is called Deep Dyed Yarn. I had ordered several hanks from her shop in two different yarn bases. The yarn base for this particular pair is the Figment yarn base, and I used the colorway “Sea Dragon”. I love how it turned out.

Sock yarn has definitely become one of my things. I love looking at it. All the different color combinations that people come up with is incredible. I love working with it, and feel it as I am working it up.

I have been told that I have enough socks and sock yarn, but really, can you ever have enough?

I know that the city life is not my calling and I am working hard now to get out of here, and live a life where I am outside more, and still living in a place that rains, or at least overcast, grey & misty / drizzling for nine months out of the year, where having good quality wool socks are a must.

Purple Rainbow Peeps

Hey Everyone!

Tuesday I finished up the pair or Purple Rainbow Peeps socks I had been working on for a bit.

The yarn was from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm, and this colorway was on the Coquette yarn base. It was one of the spring yarns I had ordered last year.

I started on a new pair of socks on Tuesday, and got a little ways done on the cuff of the first one. I didn’t work on it at all yesterday, as I had gone to the beach for the day.

I grew up going to the beach, it was where we went (and still go) to get away from the city, especially if it is supposed to be hot in the city, since the beach is usually cooler. Once in a while, during the summer, the beach is as hot as or hotter than in the valley.

I hadn’t been to the beach in over 19 months, until I went yesterday. It was a much needed trip. There were still mask and physical distancing measures in place when you went into stores, but many stores were open. The Beach is easier to to physical distance on, and being outside, myself and everyone else I saw on the beach were not wearing masks, and it was 100% fine. Unless you go to the heart of Cannon Beach or Seaside, here in Oregon, there is plenty of room to spread out on the actual beach.

It was definitely good to take a break from the grind of city life and get away for a few hours.

I am back to the city, and back to working on my knitting in my free time. I can only be on the go so much, and then need to relax for a while to recharge, and knitting does help me recharge.

Multiple Occasions of Poor Customer Service

Hey Everyone!

My last yarn order FINALLY arrived. Let me tell you, waiting for definitely was irritating. I have ordered from the company I ordered this yarn from a total of three times, and all three orders had shipping delays that were not communicated until after the order was submitted if at all. My first order was delayed because they were too busy with fiber festivals and only had a blurb about it on a side page that was not easily accessible, and didn’t pop up until after I ordered. The second shipment was the quickest to ship, but was still quite slow to ship. The yarn I had ordered this latest time, I only ordered because I wanted the colors that bad. I knew I was doing a preorder, but the statement about when shipping was going to occur was a bit confusing, but had stated that orders would start shipping on September 20th. So, ok, I put my order in on the first day preorders were open, which was like the 6th or 7th of September. September 20th, came and went. So did the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th. Finally, Sunday the 29th, I got an email in the evening that my order shipped. “It’s about time”, I thought to myself. On my shipping tracking it stated that the label was created super early the morning of the 30th, which the time difference accounted for. Ok fine. I’d deal. So I checked the tracking info a couple of times a day, to see when it would be accepted by the post office (ie to get an idea when it was taken to the post office). Monday passed, so did Tuesday (which was October 1st), and Wednesday, as did Thursday. Friday morning I had checked it again a few times throughout the morning (like before I went to work, when I got off work, and when I got home from work), so I finally went and showered after I got home (as I was hot, sweaty and gross). I got thinking that I should email the owner to see what was up, once I got done with my shower, as having been waiting 15 days after shipping was supposed to start (and 5 days after the label was created, which is usually a sign it will ship that day), it was nuts. It finally shipped, on Friday, and arrived today (a month after I ordered it).

So, I will not be ordering from this particular company again. I should learned after the first or second delay, but three times in a row, is unprofessional, and I am sure that I am not the only one this has happened to.

I guess it gets to me, because I have not only ordered from plenty of other companies online, and had way better customer service and communication. Not to mention the fact that I have worked from a professional knitting studio, and I have been the one to make runs to UPS, USPS, and even a fedex run in the time I worked there, because the item got finished up and packed after the UPS and Mailman had already come to the studio. It was important to us, and the business to get orders out in a very timely manner.

The yarn itself is beautiful, though the product is only half the experience of yarn shopping. Customer service is the other half. Shipping turn around time and being clear on actual shipping time, is a big part of that for online orders.

This is the yarn I had ordered:

Like I mentioned, it’s beautiful, but the experiences I have had with shipping delays that were not clearly communicated right up front, on multiple occasions, were the largest factor in why I won’t be ordering from Bumblebee Acres fiber Farm anymore.

Earlier this afternoon, I finished up the first sock of the pair I am knitting up out of Heirloom Pumpkin from Forbidden Fiber Company.

I have been wanting to work with this yarn for quite a few months. I love the colors even more now that I am seeing them in a sock.