The internet is a wonderful, wonderful thing.* Besides all the glories of shops, blogs, forums and such, it is populated with very clever and more importantly, extremely generous people.

One of those generous, clever strangers appears to have fixed one of the bugbears we've suffered with since opening: the need to choose a county/state/province at checkout (choosing only from a US/UK list, of course). The good folk who designed our shopping cart software (which I do believe is pretty darn good, generally) did realise that there were knitters in other countries... but for reasons that passeth understanding, they put the "Not UK/USA" option slap dab in the middle of the alphabetical list. How daft is that? Very. (Frankly, I am amazed and thoroughly impressed at how many people managed to find it. Many did. Brilliant, you lot. Brilliant. And very patient.) It also wasn't possible to simply leave that field blank.

Until now.

It's still stuck there between Northwest Territories and Nottinghamshire, of course. We haven't fixed that part. But we** have made it so that you can discreetly ignore such silly questions. I breathe a too long held sigh of relief...

We still have a couple of niggles, of course, and we are working on them. Do let me know if you find this is still not working for you. I'll cry, but I'll get right back on it.

(PS. Alice closed today. Looks as though a little nonsense was just the thing to get those juices flowing - I haven't done more than scan the entries, but so far they seem pretty darn impressive. Why ever did I start this thing?! It's so impossible to choose between all the talent!)

_____
* If you read the latest Yarn Forward (it'll be on the shelves any day now, I hear) you can read more about why I think t'internet has been the greatest invention for knitters since, well, needles.
** Where "we" = "generous, clever strangers"

Posted by Robynn at 11:42 PM | Permalink

Just found this great tool via the comments over at Dee's:

Free online chart maker.

Seems very easy to use, and I particularly enjoy the "tink" and "frog" commands on the edit menu!

* That's German for "useful". It's one of my favourite words; I just love the suggestion of nuttiness. It's fun to say. Go on, try it. Out loud. Entertain your co-workers.

Posted by Robynn at 09:50 AM | Permalink

...which is why I only found out about the Silent Poetry Reading today. Never one to let a mere accident of chronology trip me up, I give you one of my favourite poems by one of my favourite poets. (I have an unholy love for nonsense. Be grateful the entire Storytellers series was not given over to it, only one month.)

I have my price
by Mervyn Peake

I have my price — it's rather high
(about the level of your eye)
but if you're nice to me I'll try
to lower it for you —

To lower it! To lower it!
Upon the kind of rope they knit
from yellow grass in Paraguay
where knitting is taboo.

Some knit them purl, some knit them plain
some knit their brows of pearl in vain.
Some are so plain, they try again
to tease the wool of love!
O felony in Paraguay
there's not a soul in Paraguay
who's worth the dreaming of.
They say,
who's worth the dreaming of.

Posted by Robynn at 09:40 PM | Permalink

The mood was intense. Concentration was fierce. So were the faces.

The scene: a crochet workshop for beginners. They were brave. They were bold. They came with nothing but determination... and they left with... well, very little other than a crochet hook and a tenuous grasp of the distinction between a double crochet and a double treble.

A round of applause for the intrepid hookers, please. I am not greatly blessed with the teaching skills, but we had a good time, and I think everybody present can now look a granny square in the eye and say, "I am not afraid." Although there was much more enthusiasm for Gecko Ridge than for poor old granny. Remember Gecko?

I do have more progress, honestly. I'll be laying it out one of these fine days and deciding on whether it's time to sew up. I'm a bit scared of that day. I worry that all kinds of problems will come to light, and besides... when it's done, what will I have as a default, stuff in the handbag, work on the train project? Gecko is part of my life now! I can't just finish it. What kind of betrayal would that be?

*sigh* I guess I could always finish my clap.

And take up socks.

(Down, Anne! Down!)

PS. Wow, you guys really like the shawl pins, huh? Well... yeah, I knew you would. I'm gonna have to re-order those pretty sharpish.

Posted by Robynn at 02:54 PM | Permalink | 2 cups of tea on the table