Stitching Snafus and other news

On Tuesday of this week, I attended a lovely seminar that extolled the virtues of a certain software manufacturer's new products. It was educational, but it didn't keep my hands busy, so I took my stitching with me. Since I was simply filling in large areas of a single color, it was fairly easy to stitch and pay attention to the seminar sessions. But alas, before the final session ended, I ran out of the color I was working on. Luckily, the LNS was open late that night, so after getting back to my side of town through rush hour traffic, I dashed over and bought my one skein of (silk) thread. I thought it looked a little different, but figured the flourescent lighting was putting the color off. Finally, I headed home after a long day, had some dinner, and sat down to stitch some more. I got out the thread and laid it against the WIP and saw that it distinctly wasn't the same color grey. I had bought a slightly purpley-grey; in fact I had bought 3322 instead of 3222. D'oh. Fast forward to Wednesday, when I am able to drop back by the LNS as I am running errands at lunch. Guess what? They're out of 3222 and it will have to be ordered! D'oh again.

Snafu number two comes Wednesday night, which is supposed to be the mothly stitch-in for the other LNS in my area. This is one of the few months where the stitch-in are not on back-to-back nights, so I had been looking forward to this. I haven't quite figured out a good way to get to the LNS after work - there's so much traffic the usual way that it takes at least 30 minutes to get there, and my previous excursions the back way take that long as well. This night I also had to make a stop at the post office, which was between the dinner pick up and the LNS. So, I leave work, stop at the house, get my stitching, tell the cat I'll return later, and head out into traffic. Thirty minutes later, I pick up dinner, then head to the post office. At the post office, I'm just going to drop some items in a priority mail envelope, use the automated machine, and be on my way. At the post office, I find absolutely no priority mail envelopes, just global express envelopes. All I can do is buy a priority mail stamp and resign myself to mailing the package later. Now my dinner is sitting in the car getting cold and I think I'm running late to the stitch-in, so off I go again. I drive up to the LNS and it looks funny. It is completely dark. There are no cars parked in front of it! No stitch-in! What has happened! I don't know, but the street is dark, so I'm not getting out to look for a note, and my dinner's getting cold, so I start the drive home. I think the cat was happy to see me home early, though.

In other news, the Making Christmas project is starting to gain some headway. Christmas cards sent are still at zero, but several presents have been wrapped. Also the buying list has been shortened. Stitched ornaments were pressed, batting was bought, and maybe some sewing will occur tonight. I finally found something cool for my brother - I saw it online yesterday, but the site didn't have it in his size and since it was an older item, I didn't think they would add to their stock. On a whim, I decided to check again today, and lo and behold, they had his size! (And straight into my shopping cart it went). For a couple of my husband's presents, I have to hope that the store's name isn't proudly displayed on the shipping box, or I'm going to have to work on beating him home from the office! He's really good at guessing what I get him, too, probably because I'm not nearly inventive enough in my shopping. I'm trying to be rather inventive in my wrapping this year.