Complaints, Recommendations and Janis...

Actually, I'm going to do the recommendation first. Zappos rocks the house. Have you ever bought anything from them? They are customer service fanatics - seriously. I ordered my new Uggs on Saturday afternoon. They immediately sent me an order confirmation, which is to be expected. A couple hours later, I get another email which says, "Yay, Holly! We love you! You don't have to do anything - we're going to overnight your Uggs and it's not going to cost you anything extra! Yippee!" (Yes, I'm paraphrasing.) At about 3AM, while I was asleep, they sent me another email which said, "Great news! We've already shipped your new Uggs!" How do like that? They work around the clock. So Monday when I got home from work, there they were, waiting for me on the front porch. I opened them up and they were exactly what I was expecting; packed by a guy named Ralph. Thanks Ralph. I need to spray them and then they'll need to sit for 24 hours before I venture outside with them. It's been raining for 48 hours straight, so they won't make their premier until the weather improves to cool but clear. (And speaking of never-ending rain, my sump pump is working like a champ.)
Now sadly, I have to move into the complaint portion of the post. A good friend of mine caught the new issue of Vogue Knitting a few days before me, and wrote a great entry about it. http://purlsandotherlilgems.blogspot.com/2010/08/sorry-vogue-but-thats-wedgie.html
I was starting to think my subscription ran out, but I received my issue today in the mail. Oh my god. I haven't been this disappointed since the LAST issue of Vogue Knitting arrived in the mail. I'm not sure who their target market is at this point, but I AM sure it's not me. First we have the "London Calling" collection, which can best be described as heinous, and sadly, stole the name of a great album by a great band. Next: Force of Nature collection, which is a robust collection of ugly sweaters in ugly colors. Finally, Home on the Prairie collection which is six sweaters based on (wait - let me guess) Native American blanket designs from the 1860's? Is that it? Are you serious? Shh - Do you hear that? It's the sound of Twist Collective kicking the crap out of Vogue Knitting. http://twistcollective.com/2010/fall/magazinepage_01.php 'Nough said.

So I'm back to working on my Janis Joplin Jacket. I've got 13" of the back done, but these photos were taken at about 10 1/2".
Thanks to D for taking these pics and the pics of my Xenocryst hat, which I posted yesterday. It might still be a little warm for working on Janis b/c the wool is pretty heavy and hot. It knits up fast though, so that's good. I love this coat (check out the newly completed brown one on Ravelry) but I'm not loving the yarn so much. Not sure Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Chunky will be doing a repeat performance at Chateau Hols.
At least one of my smoke detectors is chirping and it's driving me crazy. There are four of them up here on the second floor and I can't tell which one it is. I can't even tell if it's upstairs or down in the first floor foyer. I'm not so great with knowing where sound is coming from. Actually, I think maybe a couple of them are wired together and are both chirping. It's like water torture. On that happy note, I'm off to figure this out. Thanks for stopping by...