Why I Abhor the United States Postal Service

My yarn came at some mysterious time between this Monday and today.  

One might ask, "Why is this time a mystery? Didn't you know when a box was delivered to your house?"

Well, you see, usually one knows when a package has been delivered.  I, however, did not. 

You see, my local post office is full of lazy bums.  Normally, i am quite enamored with those individuals who work with post, because they bring me nice fluffy smooshy yarns to roll around in, and therefore they are my best friends.  However, I currently live in a small apartment with my mom and brother while I finish up school, and we have a big lock box for our mail, and the only postmen i get to see are the guys from UPS.  

So, we get our mail and small packages from our post office through these lock boxes.  Normally, when i have a package, there is a small key in my mailbox underneath the rest of my paper mail, which then lets me open a box underneath the standard mail slots.  I unlock the box, get my package, squee like a fangirl, and so on.  HOWEVER. 

Yesterday when i checked my mail, there was no shiny little key underneath my mail.  That was a tad odd, because the FedEx notifier on the Knit Picks website is normally very reliable, and it said that my package had been delivered.  Today, i checked my mail again, and there was no little key.  

On a whim i decided to check the big boxes beneath the mail slots, which all had keys in them.  I figured i wouldn't find anything, but hey, might as well check, right? (one who wishes for yarn will be granted three yarny wishes from the fiber faeries, amirite?)

I was shocked to find my Knit Picks box, beaten, dented, and completely unprotected in an unlocked post box, with the key in the lock.   

Some might say that I'm overreacting.  But i have ordered hundreds of dollars of yarn before, and not just large quantities of it.  HUNDREDS of dollars worth of what I consider to be as valuable as gold, and just as shiny.  If this had happened when I ordered a bunch of madelinetosh, or kidsilk haze, I would be even more furious than I am right now.  With that said, I am furious. 

I placed several angry phone calls to USPS and FedEx, and both told me to call tomorrow "during office hours."  I know that all I'm going to get is a "Sorry ma'am, it will never happen again," but I want some asses kicked.  No wonder so many have been laid off.  

I would send them an angry letter, but I doubt it would get to the postmaster on time, considering the laziness and ignorance of his employees. 

SCREW THIS I'M GOING TO HOGWARTS.

Portal 2 and Pottermore Excitement

Today the new Harry Potter project, Pottermore, was released to the glory of the Internet.  While it is only letting people register their emails, i'm still SO EXCITED I CAN'T STAND IT. Sadly, the stupid "submit email" button isn't really working, so i just keep refreshing the page.  I got it to work once, but then it timed out because it was taking too long to load, so i think i'm going to have to wait a little longer until the site has its kinks worked out.   31 July, here i come. 

So, i just wanted to share with you the first intarsia in-the-round project that i ever designed and knitted myself: my Portal hat.  Here it is modeled on my brother Trevor, although it currently belongs to Nick, a friend of mine, since it didn't quite fit onto Boyfriend's large cranium. 

I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes for the black body, and then just used scrap yarns for the intarsia parts.  The orange "portal" is actually a slippery cotton yarn (i do not recommend using it next to wool.), Knit Picks Comfy.  The blue is Malabrigo Worsted in Bobby Blue, and the white is some mystery wool from my stash.  

 I wanted the portals to be really tilted and freeform, just like the ones in the game that "glow".  I also added a few random stitches knit in the portal colors to mirror the gels that are featured in Portal 2. 

I absolutely loved graphing out the portals, but i think that it would be better suited with a thinner yarn. The inside of this hat is truly a hot mess.  

I did do some lettering on the back, first time doing that too:

No matter how messy it is, i loved this project, about as much as i loved the game (maybe a little less).

THE DEER IS A LIE.