A Little Yarn On The Side

After cherry-picking yesterday, I finally had a chance to give Jeeves a test run, and decided it would be fitting to try to finish the summer towels that I had started a year ago  when I found out that Holland's Sew Shoppe had sent Jeeves home with more problems than he went in with.  I stabilized, hooped, and everything was going along swimmingly until I apologize for the blurry pictures, but until I actually take the time to A) find my camera manual and B) figure out how to focus said camera, I take a lot of blurry zoomed pictures.  It's a much smaller jump, but it's still a jump.  Now, I have a LOT of faith in Larry at the Twin Falls Sewing Center, and Jeeves had certainly improved, so I took several pictures, explained the problem, and emailed them to Larry so he could look at it when he came in today.  I turned Jeeves off and set everything aside, because I wanted to confirm with Larry what he might need to see if I had to take Jeeves back to Twin Falls. ...

It's been more than a year since the problems with my Husqvarna Platinum 950e surfaced, and after 10 months of working with the incompetent and rude Holland's Sew Shoppe, the lovely people at the Twin Falls Sewing Center finally have found the problem (the one that Holland's continually asserted didn't exist) and have fixed it.  I have asked the new dealer to report the exact details to the dealer manager from the VSM parent company.  Not that I think they actually are that concerned about how dealers treat customers, but I'd like them to have to go forward KNOWING how I was treated. In the meantime, I have been so discouraged with all of this that I haven't even considered the possibility that I'd have a working  embroidery machine again, so I can't even think what to embroider first.  Towels?

Today is a significant day.  Want to know why? 1.  It is the start of the mid-point of the year, which shows us that I am behind  on my 111 projects goal, and probably impossibly behind on my 25,000 yards of yarn goal.  I might  have to start considering being--and I shudder to say this--"realistic." 2.  It starts the "Dead Heat" stashdash on Ravelry, which will run until August 31, and I have compiled an impressively crazy  optimistic basket of yarn to knit up in two months. 3.  In the crafting world, it is time to get serious  about Christmas crafting, which in my world usually means that it's time to decide I should make 5 quilts and 3 sweaters between now and Christmas.  Stand by for insanity updates. 4.  It is Finishing Friday, so I am crafting to my little heart's content.  Which is knitting today, because it's easier to knit outside than it is to sew.  It's only 83 today, so I am enjoying nice weather while I c...

There's still no word on Jeeves yet, but I have a lot of faith in the new dealer and I know he's actually looking for the problem, so I'm not too worried about it.  I did, however, finally find an answer to a question that is bouncing around the internet. Husqvarna sewing machines have changed drastically since the VSM buyout.  They used  to be made in Sweden.  They are NOW made in Shanghai, China.  So, it doesn't just feel  like the company has changed and that the machines one used to be able to depend on are total crap.  When was the last time you heard of a product made in China that wasn't cheap unreliable garbage? The good news is that Jeeves and Emma are both old enough to have been manufactured in Sweden, so I'm set for a while, but I would never buy a Husqvarna again.  Thousands of dollars for junk produced in China?  Not likely.

Today I'm driving 284 miles round-trip to take Jeeves in to be fixed by a dealer that isn't an ass.  At least it's a nice day for it. Things have finally progressed since I complained to the BBB.  While Holland's Sew Shoppe continues to refuse to acknowledge that a single thing might be wrong with my machine and has now expanded their accusations of my incompetence to include my ability to work the software and hoop anything at all AND that I lied about them not ordering parts in a timely manner (3 months for a damn bobbin cover?), they refunded the $60 "repair" fee that I paid them in February to do absolutely nothing, and Husqvarna has finally stepped in (after 6 emails from me) and will be honoring the warranty because all of this started while it was under warranty, and will work with the new dealer to either find the problem or send it in to the service center. So, it's good and bad.  While I am happy that at least I didn't have to pay for thi...

So, I thought I would run a few errands around town, then drive Jeeves down to the repair guy 142 miles away.  I had even stopped to pick up an audio book to listen to during the 3+ hour round trip drive, and had even driven about 30 miles when I decided to stop for coffee.  About this time, the starter on my car also decided to stop, but not so much for coffee.  Luckily, this was at a truck stop, and after two attempts to jump start the car which ruled out a dead battery, two very nice men were able to give me enough of a push so I could start the car that way (thank heavens my car is a manual transmission, or my car and I would still  be at the truck stop, but I would have probably have moved on from coffee to hard liquor or whatever one can get at truck stops).  Knowing that I would never get my car restarted unless I made a point of always parking on steep hills (which Twin Falls is spectacularly devoid of), I called my mechanic and said I was on my way back...

I received a response from Hollands through the Better Business Bureau, and they are claiming 1. There's nothing wrong with my machine 2.  The designs I used for example are NOT Husqvarna designs , and since I specifically said they were, they're obviously then implying I lied about it. and 3. THAT I'M STABILIZING IT WRONG.  Yep, after I used the exact same piece of embroidery that they used as their stupid example. It's official.  I really hate them.  Can you believe this?  Oh, and remember when Jeeves came back from the first repair with more problems than when he went in AND without the back cover?  Holland's is claiming that they didn't charge me for that repair "as a courtesy."  Well, thank you for not charging me to break my machine.  That's big of you. I have asked them to transfer the warranties to the dealer 142 miles away, refund the $60 "repair fee" and have sent pictures to the BBB.  I never want to see these bastards ...

Guess who's going somewhere today? That's right--I'm having Andy drop Jeeves off at the dealership today, as even the thought of having to go near those bastards has kept me up for two nights now.  BUT, remember how they said it was skipping in mid embroidery because of the amount of stabilizer I was using?  Here we are with one layer: three layers: and the one layer that was okay because it was done by THEM and not by little lowly ME: So, not that it isn't possible that the bastards at Hollands will still try to claim that it's a stabilizer problem, but I'm sort of betting they'll have a new solution this time.  And, I thought it might be fun to take a bit of a survey to see what we think they might come up this time.  Possible things they will blame it on: *  Somehow I have surge protected it wrong *  Global warming *  I'm a girl *  I'm using the wrong material *  Martians *  I own cats instead of dogs *  That it mi...

In an AMAZING show of self-restraint, Jeeves is NOT listed on Ebay tonight. Today's recap:  the latest chemo cap having been finished on Wednesday, and great progress having been made on the new baby sweater and am just finishing up the front pieces, I felt knitting has received enough attention this week that I felt confident devoting Finishing Friday to sewing projects.  Especially since a rare bit of sun coming in the window had lured Theo away from my sewing table and I could actually use it for something BESIDES a kitty hangout.  I cut out new pieces for the quilt, and cut out interfacing for the floral jacket, ALL without kitty assistance!  I don't think I've ever had so much time to myself in the sewing room since we adopted Theo.  It was a bit of an odd sensation, but a really productive one. Earlier this week, I had finally relented and set up Jeeves for a trial run.  Not that I thought that he had been fixed--actually, I knew he hadn't-...

Tuesday:  Received a call from my Husqvarna dealer:  "Did he call you to tell you your machine is ready to be picked up?" Me:  "No, is it fixed?" Dealer:  "Well, I think so.  It's ready to be picked up." (Hard not to just glow with confidence when dealing with these folks) So, last night my husband and I stopped by to pick up my machine.  $60, because they charged me for a "tune up."  Presumably somewhat different than the "tune up" they charged me $89 for in July, which caused more problems than it solved.  AND, of course, told me I was probably causing the problem  by not using enough stabilizer.   And the fact that there had been no problems with the amount of stabilizer I had used for 4 years just doesn't matter to these bozos.   However, I have a list of the tickets, the repair issues, their responses, and the first circuit board (the one I think is actually going out) still has until July under warranty, so when I...

..and there are BAD Finishing Fridays.  Let's see if we can guess which one this one was. I jumped out of bed bright and early because I had an entire day of sewing ahead of me.  It turns out that one can actually jump into sewing just a bit too early on a Friday.  This is what can happen when one changes a needle before having coffee. Seriously--the needle (still threaded) just fell out.  Oops.  Today is February 25 and the February Project of the Month, had progressed no farther than washing of the material.  With 3 days to go, it was time to get cracking! At first I thought I might make the pants as well, but when laid out the material that had started out at 61 inches wide, according to the tag I had attached to it, had shrunk to 51 inches wide after washing.  Apparently when they say "line dry," "no heat fluff" in the dryer still doesn't cut it.  Or, I was having a seriously measurement-challenged day when I wrote up the tag. ...

Earlier this year, Andy found a really nice lathe for sale on Craig's list, and has been hard at work producing pens for Christmas gifts:  They are extremely lovely and so far everyone just loves them--which is all good.  Because they are such lovely pens, we decided they needed to be presented IN something, which is where I come in: These are just the ones we still have.  There were more.   And, just in case you were wondering, repeatedly making itty-bitty fabric tubes is sort of boring.  I've been trying to liven it up a bit with my new decorative stitching possibilities: which helps a bit.  I have one more set to mark, stitch, and cut and then I think I'll call it good for a while.  I was trying to use odd bits of scrap fabric from other projects, but I have to leave bigger seam allowances for regular fabrics, which makes them a bit bulkier, so I have switched to using felt.  SUCH useful stuff.  If I do all the stitching before cutt...

The good news is, towel number 3 is done which finished project number 94. The bad news is, Jeeves is definitely having problems--not the card or the design.  See the little "jag" on the inside curve there? That isn't supposed to be there.  Nor is the line of random stitching BELOW the solid orange.  These are problems caused by Jeeves randomly resetting his location.  He still did it in the place he did on the other two towels, but this time he expanded and did it several other times.  Luckily, I was ready for it this time and was able to readjust him so that it wasn't too obvious. Now, want to know what makes this even MORE fun?  THIS IS HOW THE ORIGINAL PROBLEM WITH JEEVES STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE!  You know--that first repair that took two weeks, which then spawned the much LONGER repair because he came back with more problems than he went in with. It is just two months since I got Jeeves back.  Oh, and just in case I didn't hate ...

Unless something goes majorly wrong (or I finally snap and Andy finds me running around the house with an unfinished cornucopia on my head yelling "I'm an elf!  I'm an elf"), the next 5 Finished Projects are likely to be cornucopias.  That will leave me just two projects short. No promises, but possible contenders are, a new scarf, using a clever but somewhat boring pattern by the Yarn Harlot . It is going quickly, and is good for multi-tasking--like while embroidering with Jeeves.  My trusty side-kick and I   have been making towels as prizes for our upcoming Christmas party & cheese tasting.  I need 3 and just finished the second one tonight.  There's a problem, happening with the design--it keeps moving at a certain spot.  On the first towel, you can see the black, which is supposed to be the shadow of the cheese, quite a bit lower than the cheese.  I had enlarged the design on the machine, and thinking that might be the problem (no...

Remember the bobbin cover that was missing from the new sewing machine?  I stopped into my local dealership to see if they had one--which of course they didn't--but they found a used one in the back that they sold to me for half price.  That was fine--except that it was the wrong one.  To be fair, Husqvarna discontinues & redesigns their machines so often that it would be very hard to keep track of everything, so I simply called them to ask if they could order the right one for me.  "Sure thing."  ONE MONTH LATER, I hadn't heard from them, so I called and spoke to the repair guy.  He didn't bother to look to see if it was in--just assured me it must be, or that he probably had one on-hand.  I know--at this point I should have reminded him that he was the one who sent me home with the wrong part in the first place, so he obviously "didn't just have one," but one thing I have learned about dealing with him is that he's so absolutely sure that h...

What happened to the blog updates?  Well, I am dog & house sitting for friends, and in order to get ready for that, I spent Friday running errands and Saturday making salsa.  Then I wasn't here for 24 hours before one of the dogs chewed up my laptop cord, so as soon as my battery ran out, my laptop was done.  Andy ended up loaning me his cord until we can order a new one from Dell, so here I am.  Or at least as long as Andy's old laptop holds out. However, there has finally been some knitting, and the Sunshine Socks are done!!!!!!  They would be project 61, so 39 left to go and 117 days left to get there.  Theoretically, the part for Jeeves should have been shipped 13 days ago, and IF they couldn't find an even slower method of shipment than predicted, and IF the repair guy works this week and IF they bother to call me when Jeeves is actually ready and IF they actually fix the existing problems without creating any new ones, I could be embroidering i...

It's official.  I am OBSESSED. I have now done 9 pattern repeats on the edging, so if we ignore the whole grafting-yet-to-come part, I am 28% of the way through the edging.  Whoo hoo!!!!!!!! I admit, I have become obsessed about seeing how this turns out.  I'm now far enough along that I can sort of stretch it out a bit over the ironing board, but the part I'm most curious to see is this I tried blending two designs over the last increase section, and I am hoping they'll blend fairly smoothly when blocked.  Pi shawls do take some severe blocking because of the way the increases work, so this may or may not work well when stretched, but I will find out soon! And tomorrow is Finishing Friday, and STILL no word from Jeeves, and unfortunately I just saw someone on the Husqvarna Facebook "fan" page post that she had been told a MINIMUM of 6 weeks to get a part for her machine as well, and hers is brand new and still in production.  So....it looks like it is...