This almost makes me speechless. And, gentle reader, you know that’s a rare thing. I mean… WTF? I know that this has probably been all around the knitosphere already, but in case there’s someone out there who didn’t get the word…

I signed up for Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Rockin’ Sock Club this year. Not that I need more sock yarn, but… well… you know how it goes with collectors. Apparently a lot of other people signed up, too. So many that Blue Moon’s bank thought that… drum roll please…

it was a scam.

Because, of course, why would so many people cough up their hard-earned money with the promise that they could knit socks? There can’t be that many sock knitters in the world, can there? So they refunded everyone’s payments.

Yes, dear befuddled, misguided, seriously wrong bank officers, there not only are that many sock knitters — there’s a waiting list! And, yes, we will all get yarns and patterns and be happy and think our money was well spent, and many socks will be knit, and many feet will be warm.

The lovely ladies at Blue Moon have hooked up with a new bank that understands their business model a little better. This is a copy of the email I received:

The sign-up for the Rockin’ Sock Club 2007 has been a resounding success. So much so that our bank thinks we are running some type of elaborate yarn scam and is refusing to accept our members’ money! So, you know what they are doing? You are not going to believe this. They are sending all of that money back! Unbelievable and astounding!

Here are the details. Within the next ten days, all of you who signed up for the Sock Club… will be getting a credit back onto your Mastercard or Visa. It is the Sock Club only, all other yarn orders placed will go through and you will be receiving your yarn soon.

Do not panic!

Everyone affected by this incredible situation is guaranteed their spot through the end of January, including those on the wait list. After you receive your credit, just go to our website and use your same registration number to pay for your Sock Club (yet again). The website is temporarily under construction in order to install the new bank’s (who has guaranteed us they will have no difficulty accepting your money!) system. The site should be back in full swing in the next couple of days. In the meantime, you can view products and place phone orders.

If you have any problems, call or email us and we will gladly help. Keep in mind that there are a lot of you involved! It is going take us some time to sort through the mess the bank has so graciously created for us. Remember, those of you that ordered other products from the Blue Moon website during this period are fine. It does not affect your orders! It is the thought of a Club for knitting socks they cannot get their heads around.

This certainly is NOT how we envisioned starting the New Year, the launch of our website upgrade and the 2007 Rockin’ Sock Club! We cannot apologize enough for any inconvenience this causes you. To honor all of your dedication and patience, we are including a coupon in your first shipment to help compensate for this.

So, knitting comrades, we can choose to look at this in many ways (and believe me we have run the gamut on this one). Disbelief, shock, outrage . . . it has been a surreal experience for us. This is not just about us here at Blue Moon. It is about knitters as a group. We are extraordinary people. We have seen our power when rallied . . . large fundraising for great causes, KAL’s across the planet, and standing room only at knitting-related gatherings. Because of this, the Rockin’ Sock Club 2007 will prevail! We will have a blast and knit awesome socks that will be the envy of all nonbelievers!

We thank you so very much for your support, and community. There will be more (much more) to say about this saga in the first shipment’s dyer’s notes!

Our socks are still rockin’,
Team Blue Moon

email: sockclub@bluemoonfiberarts.com
phone: 1-866-802-9687
web: http://www.bluemoonfiberarts.com

I checked and, yes, my payment has been refunded.

There will be a finished object this weekend, as I need to get the socks I’m knitting for T off of the needles so I can start a new pair on Tuesday with the class. And it appears the sun will shine, so I might actually be able to get a decent picture of them. The yarn is very dark, though, and not in colors my camera likes. We’ll see.

I’ve made a semi-resolution that I will knit socks only as knit-alongs with the classes this year until I can get some of those UFOs off the right-hand sidebar.

I may have to teach a lot of classes.

I’m not hopping on the yarn-diet, buy-no-yarn-in-2007 bandwagon that seems to be making the rounds. Those who are, I know, have their reasons for doing so and I respect those reasons. But I’d like a chance to express my reasons for choosing not to follow along.

First, my stash is just not that big. I don’t have a room for my stash or even a closet — I have several large plastic bins that I store on a bookshelf and in a corner of my dining room. Oh… If I knit nothing but lace and socks and maybe a sweater and a couple of hats, and finished up the projects already on needles, I’d have enough yarn to keep me busy this year and partially into next. About half my stash is sock yarn and I am not adding to that collection right now unless I find some unique fiber or amazing color that I really want to try. I’ve joined the STR sock club this year, so I already know that some lovely yarn will be coming my way.

I am usually thoughtful about my purchases. Not always, but usually. Sometimes the thinking goes very quickly — so quickly that it might appear to be an impulse buy. But I do think and consider and weigh what I already have against the desirability of whatever new thing has caught my eye. Even if I buy impulsively, I have a roof over my head and my bills are paid and I have money in savings and buying a skein of yarn does not take food from my child’s mouth (he feeds himself quite well nowadays, anyway).

I’d rather knit a pretty sweater than buy one.

I have learned the hard way that failure to buy a wonderful yarn when it is available might mean that quantities large enough for the intended project are not available when I get around to starting on it. With colorways and even fibers changing quickly from season to season, it’s sometimes best to strike while the iron is hot if a particular yarn is needed (or wanted).

Most of the yarn I have has already been earmarked for projects, even if those projects have not yet been started. Most often I decide what I’m going to knit and only then start looking for a yarn to knit it from. I’ve also learned the hard way that buying yarn in quantity without the actual project in mind usually means that I don’t buy enough.

We are blessed in Portland buy having probably more local yarn shops per capita than almost anywhere else. Each is a unique shopping experience. All carry wonderful yarns and amazing fibers. Whatever you are looking for, be it acrylic or qiviuk; whatever shopping ambiance you prefer; there is something here for everyone. But our LYS exist only because they are sustained by the yarn needs of Portland area fiber crafters. If we all stopped buying yarn for the next nine months, by October we might find that our choices were fewer and some wonderful local businesses were no more.

I love yarn. All the yarn. I feel that I show admirable restraint by not buying all the yarn - even the yarn I don’t plan to knit with. OK… there are those three balls of pink KidSeta. But that was an aberration. Really. For the most part I am content to stroke and fondle and smell and squeeze and simply visit the yarn without bringing it home.

But I will not feel guilty when I do.

I saw this on Kathy’s blog and just had to try it out. And look! The results are so fitting! Dream boxes, here I come, key in hand!

My Fortune Cookie told me: It is time to open your dream boxes. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

Yeah. It’s that post. The one where I look back on everything I did last year, bemoan the things I didn’t do, and resolve to get in gear during the coming year.

I actually finished quite a few things:

• 14 pairs of socks
• 7 pair-of-socks bookmarks
• 6 hats
• 1 pair of gloves
• 1 lace shawl

Even if all of the bookmarks are counted as one object, that’s still nearly two finished objects per month. That’s not too bad, if I do say so myself.

The 2006 FO list has been removed from the sidebar, and a new list and new gallery for 2007 have been started. Nothing in them yet, but I’m working on it.

There are unfinished objects over in the sidebar. Sadly enough, a couple of them were unfinished last year at this time. But since both are items that I’d really like to have, I will keep slogging away at them.

This is a bronze Roman key, made sometime in the 1st to 3rd centuries AD (or CE). It was most likely made to fit a small chest or casket that stored valuables.

Who was it that used this key? Did it belong to a woman? The wife of a merchant? The daughter of a general? Did the casket break and the key was thrown away? Was it lost and searched for but never found?

What secrets and treasures did the little chest guard? Jewelry? The spices of the Orient? Important papers? Plots against the emperor? (several of the more interesting ones fall in that time period) Plans for conquering the rest of the known world? A precious book?

Dare I say it… yarn? (ok, ok… I know that knitting hadn’t been invented yet, but spinning and weaving had)

Let’s go back 2000 years and use this key… unlock the chest… peak inside… what do you see?

The key is strung on a chain because I am wearing it as a pendant to remind myself that things that are locked away and hidden may be safe, but they are also not of much immediate use. This year I resolve to look for hidden treasures to be unlocked.