Things that make you go Hmmmm......

Soybean growers hold up University of Minnesota funds to protest biofuels paper - TwinCities.com:

"Call it a soybean spat. The University of Minnesota isn't going to receive any research funding from the state's soybean growers council until the two parties have a heart-to-heart talk next week.
The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council voted to temporarily suspend its financial support after a study co-authored by U researchers in the journal Science said increased use of biofuel crops like corn and soybeans could worsen global warming, not lessen it."

Wait...you mean that the data surrounding Global Warming and its solutions can be....manipulated??? No Way! {that's sarcasm folks} Kind of makes you wonder about the first studies...hmm?
After all, before the Global Warming crap started, there was a big fear of Global Cooling---guess which one we are experiencing this winter?

this is actual footage (not mine) of what can happen in global freezing...the caps of the waves are freezing once they top out of the main body of water. This starts happening at about 21*F (-6*C)

Jimmy Beans Update 4

Yea!!! The last of the order came yesterday...didn't dare write anything about it for fear of hubby finding out.

Final delivery came in soft mailing envelope (the vinyl water resistant kind)...Inside it were my single ball of "Ducky" colored aMAIZing and my 2 hanks of Lorna's Laces in "Bee Stripe".

I was a little surprised when I took a really good look at the receipt...I DID pay for the signature service...but no one told the post office that! Both times the package was dropped off in the mail box without a sig being sought after. Looking at the package it does say "e/ USPS DELIVERY CONFIRM" so I don't know if that's just a tracking service or if that is the post office's way of saying "Get a damn signature" that got ignored! Either way, I'll save the $2 extra bucks next time and just go regular delivery...since I don't know which side goofed up on this, it hard to tell who to be disappointed with...but since I paid Jimmy Beans most people would blame them--not crying over $2...this time.

It was so funny, last time my daughter found they had included two pieces of "Whether's Originals" as a thank-you gift...perhaps as an apology for not getting it all off at the same time (?)....any ways, there was no free gift this time...LOL...why do I find this amusing? Because this was the part of the order that I was really waiting for and had let them know so...if anything this is the order where I would have expected a little something extra.

But that's okay....if you go thru life expecting things you will be (a)disappointed, (b)shunned by your fellow man and (c)less as a person, in my opinion--you get what you pay for...well, mostly.
Now about the yarn:

aMAIZing:

It is actually a flat ribbon yarn about 1/8 of an inch thick (don't have the accurate ruler handy) and is woven instead of spun by the looks of things. It doesn't seem to have much "spring" to the fibre so it would be useless as a sock yarn. The texture reminds me of crochet-cotton, it seems very soft at first feel until you start to really feel the fiber of it all...like crochet-cotton it has a firm, almost rough feel to it...I'm not sure I like this brand at all. I'm glad I only bought a single ball....it will likely go onto the "need a quick grab" shelf of my stash...to collect dust....maybe I will find a use for it.

aMAIZing by SWTC (South West Trading Company);

cost $9/ball;

size 50g/130m or approx. 1.75 oz/142 yds.;

gauge 6 sts & 8 rows= 1" (24sts/32 rows=4") US size 7 needles;

care machine washable/dry;

Content 100% Corn Fiber;

company website: SWTC, Inc-The Home of SoySilk Yarns

Lorna's Laces, Shepherd Socks:

Actually I'm glad the photo was inaccurate on this one. The yellow is actually a very nice dandelion gold...no wait, dandelions aren't deep enough...its almost a marigold color and the black appears to be a true black....as opposed to just a very deep green...I like the looks of it.

It comes in a hank form, so there is some balling that needs to get done before stitching can begin. It is very soft and will make the most luscious socks! It would also be great for thin mittens or light scarf...a sweater would be wonderful too, but at $11/hank it would come out rather expensive!

The coloring I find unique--but then I've never used a hand dyed yarn before--one half of the skein is this lovely gold and the other is the luxurious black with a band of intermingle...okay that part is just muddy and ucky, almost an olive or grass stained color (so I guess this means the black really is a deep green, the standard in the industry) but I suppose it is the nature of the beast.

The hank itself is roped upon itself...not familiar with roping? That means they have put the yarn into a large circle and then pulled it out taught, twisting it tightly then letting it naturally coil upon itself--one end is then tucked into the other and the natural tendency of the yarn to both work with/fight against the twist keeps it all in place without over stretching the yarn fibers themselves.

I had heard praises of the yarn from others and being that it sounds like a rather rare issue...JBW says there are only 100 skeins produced a year in each color, 2 skeins needed per pair of socks...I had to give it a try.

I don't usually like working with wool as it seems to cut into my hands, but unlike Wool-ease, this has a very nice flow to it. As I have typed I have been running it over my fingers to get an idea as to how it will play on my fingers during stitching...it seems to slide well, but I can see I will have to take a few breaks at the beginning to get used to things. Still it is better than I expected for wool. As I get knitting I will keep everyone updated on how well it takes to small needles (which it is supposed to be made for)...frequent "frogging"....and how well the stretch/ease is.

Shepherd Socks by Lorna's Laces;

cost:$11/hank

weight: sock weight/standard 1 size: approx. 215 yds/2 oz or 196.5m/56.5 grams

gauge: 7 sts/1" (no listing of needle size): JBW gauge: 7sts/1" size 2 needles (28sts=4"); neither wrapper or JBW gave gauge of row.

care: machine washable;no drying instructions given

content: 80% Superwash wool 20% nylon company

website: Lorna's Laces:All Natural Hand-Dyed Yarns Well off to start some balling!

JBW RATING
Customer Service: started out stronger than most, but kind of lacked off with the second part of the order

Prices: A tad high for my tastes, but a lot lower than most of the places I've seen offering hand-dyed yarns. If the prices were a little lower I would probably shop here more often.

Delivery Service: orders arrived within 2 days of shipping notice, since my order was fairly small the envelopes worked okay but would have preferred getting the order with the wooden needles in a box of some sort to guard against breakage (the needles are fine, nothing got broke).

Shipping Fees: very reasonable! $4 up to $75, and then its free....I really like this. Most places I shop with have a sliding fee scale based on how much you spend, usually an order under $35 will add an additional $10 in shipping...I absolutely love this feature, I can make a small purchase and still pay less than the yarn for shipping. This means that I would probably buy from the company a LOT more than the others.
Over All Rating:Well, JBW shines in customer service and shipping costs; its just too bad that the prices are out of my normal comfort range. While the shipping costs would bring me back time and again for small orders, the high prices stop me dead in my tracks. Perhaps I've just been spoiled by the $3/skein deals that acrylic, nylon, and blended yarns give me but if the price gets higher than a cup of coffee I am much less likely to buy it.

There is no real invoice, just a detailed register slip...which is fine in many aspects, but I would like something a little less flimsy for my records.

Jimmy Beans Update 2

Wow! I got the first part of my shipment today. I didn't think it would get here this soon since they just mailed it out at the end of last week (Thursday night I think), as a matter of fact when I checked the USPS site this morning they still hadn't updated anything on the package.

Imagine my surprise...and shock followed by slight dread...when we got back from Walmart (clothes shopping for back to schoolX3kids+1hubby=more than I spend on yarn in a month) and hubby pulled it out of the mailbox...we have one of those old-fashioned sitting-on-a-pole mailboxes...and my oldest made a point of reading who it was from so my husband would know.

"JIMMY BEANS WOOL?? Mom you didn't buy MORE YARN DID YOU??"....I could have shaved his head right there n then, otherwise hubby would have just plopped the bundle down and wouldn't have said anything about it until midnight or so.

{sigh}Anyways. Great delivery! Although I have to check, I thought I had paid extra for the signature confirmation but I may have talked myself out of it since I see when the mail-lady comes up the street since moving my computer.

My biggest concern with this part of the order was the needles I had ordered. I have so often seen photos of people ordering bamboo needles just to have them show up snapped or metal ones bent beyond use because of the machines the postal service uses these days.
Well I had written to JBW and let them know this concern and asked if there was a way they could maybe put a tad of extra cushioning in there for me.

Lo' & Behold--they bubble wrapped my sets of needles, just as I had asked. Now I don't know if they do this all the time or if it was just this one order...either way it impressed me. Most places I order from send it all in a cardboard box and the needles are slipped in as an after thought and they just work their way into the package (did I mention the time I had an skein of yarn ruined because of this little trick? BUt that's another company not JBW).

The only thing I had a fuss with was the shipping packaging...had the order been JUST yarn I wouldn't have had an issue but because the order did contain needles I think I would have preferred it in a box instead of the shipping envelope {non-padded}, but then perhaps the envelope was used because of the extra bulk of the bubble wrap...boxes can only be so think and then they are not allowed to exceed the normal contrains of the box, etc.. It may have been the best way to keep the price down for shipping (after all, remember they are not charging me any more for the shipping than the original $4)

Now I havemy two skeins of Maisy in "Indian Corn" color I will have to get working on it for a quick review.

I will keep you all informed on my shipments from Jimmy Beans.

Jimmy Bean Wool Update

Okay when it comes to online businesses I think one of the biggest pluses is customer service, in fact in the online world of commerce it is probably the one thing that will make or break a company. I just had my first experience with Jimmy Beans customer service (the place I ordered the corn yarn from).

I got a very nice and to the point letter from them stating that 2 of the items I ordered were delayed...one by 2-3 weeks and the other by only 5 days.

Now the one that is 2-3 weeks delayed is actually the one I am hoping to make my partner's socks with for the Hogwarts sock swap....and the company made it very clear on their website that only a limited amount of each color is produced and once sold out-its gone, no more....EVER! So while this has me worried, I knew the deal when I went in.

The second is the a-Maizing yarn (the letter gave me the proper spelling of the name) which I ordered in "Ducky"....it looks like a nice mellow, soft, almost baby yellow. I was surprised that I was told of its delay at all being it was only going to be 5 days late.

Most companies online would have sat on the info, especially since I was a new customer, and just shipped it when it came in.

I like this!! What I liked even more was the fact that Jimmy Beans gave me a CHOICE as to what to do....did I wish to have them wait and ship all at once, or split it up into smaller shipments at NO EXTRA CHARGE!!! WOW! As you can tell that means a lot to me as well.

I love a company who thinks along the same lines that I do...if the delay in shipping isn't thru any fault on the customers service why should they be penalized. I have ordered from a couple of other places online who had no troubles saying that they would charge extra if I chose to have them ship in parts.

Not that shipping costs is that big a deal with Jimmy Beans--they charge $4 shipping for packages ranging from $0-74.99, and at $75 shipping becomes free, for an extra $1.30 you can get "signature varification" which means you have to sign for it (so you can hide the package if its close to hubby coming home). My standard yarn orders are about $50 in product but shipping is usually around another $10-12, so this was a treat. It felt like the first time I had a Drumstick ice cream cone as a kid and found the cone was lined with chocolate as well!

I will keep everyone updated on the situation as it goes along. I would suspect that the first part of my order will be getting off this week, but then I wouldn't be surprised if it got off on Monday instead being I got my reply back to them so late in the day today.

So far, things are looking very shiny for this online store!!

UPDATE 7:14pm CT:
I heard back from Jimmy Beans...they sent out my order TONIGHT. They emailed me all the tracking info, plus a little explaination as to how it all works and why tracking info may not show up right away on the USPS site. I really like this!
They told me exactly how much they were charging to my cr.card for this shipment and restated which items will ship later (always nice to have reiterated)

They also included a list of current sales (50% off) although the month said "July" when its August I would think they will honor the sale price. And an invite to review the products for other crafters...most sites just put a clicker on their page but don't say anything about it...so it was nice to be asked to do it.

Corn Yarn follow up

this is the link to how they do the process of creating corn based yarn...so totally NOT what I had thought at all.

They are pushing it as a "green" yarn, or enviromentally friendly....only corn takes a LOT out of the soil, I mean crop rotation is a must for corn farmers. If you don't do some sort of green-manure you can completely fry the soil of most of its nutrients in about 5 years or so.

I guess I don't understand why they would claim that regular yarn draws on fossil fuels....wool is organic, cotton is organic, bamboo is organic, acrylic/nylon/polyester are all polymers that are chemical based so perhaps I will have to do some research on them but I don't recall them coming from fossil fuels either...unless they, perhaps, use the unused part of the corn to power the factories(?)

I love the company's statement of "production and use" of their product means "less greenhouse gases are added to the atmosphere"....it cracks me up when companies make these claims....I say PROVE it. Maybe the production end they could prove, but not the USE end....they have no control of how it is used.

Also, there is enough controversy surrounding "greenhouse" gases that the claims that they are the "chief contributor to global climate change" {made by several people, not just Ingeo fibres} has become nothing more than a cute catch-phrase used simply to sell the product.

Actually the more I learn about how the data is being collected, measured, manipulated the less I trust it.

I digress yet again....I was not going to get this blog into politics and here I stepped in a big pile of it....sorry. I will save it for my yahoo blog <>

Anyhow, I will give the two products I mentioned before a try and get back to you all on it.

Battle Brewing

Okay I couldn't resist any longer yesterday....I had two weeks vacation and hadn't bought a single skein of yarn. I had to order my partner's needles for the exchange anyways so I decided to treat myself for 2 weeks good behavior and ordered some yarn from Jimmy Beans Wool.

{hubby will not be pleased, but I did keep the cost low, doesn't that count for anything?}

I got a set of sock needles for myself as well as for my partner (so she won't know which are really hers), along with yarn from Crystal Palace (Maisy) and SouthWest Trading Co.(Maizing)

Both yarns use corn fiber as their main content. The Maizing is 100% corn, according to the website; while the Maisy is a corn blend with elastic nylon...this tells me that they mean for it to be used for socks....I don't know how they feel or how they will work though.

I have looked on KnitPicks and Herrschners and can not find a review or description of the yarns qualities or suggested uses.

Now I'm a corn farmer....although you would never be able to tell from this years field...so anything that comes from corn pricks my ears. I know the stalk and item fairly well....I'm wondering how they made this stuff!

I can't see them being able to use the corn silk...that would just be tendeous to gather (okay, any spinners out there should give it a try and let me know how it goes)...I'm wondering if they aren't using the stalk and cobs somehow to make a fiberous goo which is then treated to make a polymer which is then drawn into threads and spun.

I will let you know how I like it and give my review of it.

I placed the order yesterday using a credit card which we save for emergencies only...they didn't take the normal card I use and "hide" from hubby...so I will be watching the mail closely for the next month.

I will also let you know what I think of Jimmy Bean Wool...they are a new company to me, and I'm sure many others, and as a shopper I like to read reviews for quite sometime before I order from a company---it took me over 2 years before I finally ordered from KnitPicks even though I only heard one bad thing about them (actually it wasn't about them at all, it was about a defect in a load of interchangeables they got from the manufacturer...oops I digress). I am very careful who I give out credit card info....

Jimmy Bean is the only one of two companies now that have this info so any problems will be easily traced...although I do NOT expect any problems....its just that I jumped in with both feet w/o checking out the "landscape" first. This always makes me uncomfortable--I went thru the same thing the first few times I ordered from Herrschners and I grew up with that company!!
Well got to go....I've got a 7 year old in need of a hug...and a good tickling!!

P.S:
It is Popcorn sales time! Support you local Boy Scout troop and buy Popcorn and Wreaths from them instead of the big box store...yes it may cost a little more, but the extra money goes from a program that has been around for almost 100yrs (since 1910 in the US)...scouting teaches our boys to be self relient, confident, to think about not only themselves but how their actions{or lack thereof} effects others and society. For the extra money you not only will help a scout earn "scout money" for camp, but you also help troops earn money so they can supply uniforms and books for scouts who are in need...no scout will ever be denied because of financial burdens, but the money has to come from someplace.