Remember all the projects I had planned out for my newly gained post-graduation spare time? I expected to be finishing with some of them by now, but alas, my Knit Picks yarn has yet to arrive. I started to worry after a week, and grew even more worried after I’d ordered and received yarn from Elann. Then, on May 15th, after the 14 days were up, I called the Knit Picks folks and they said my yarn had arrived in Lawrence on the 6th.
Thinking this strange, I phoned the post office. First of all, it was a trial to find the actual phone number of the local post and not a 1-800 to some anonymous call trap. Upon locating the number, I called and talked to a soft-spoken man with a thick accent, who confirmed (I think) that my yarn had indeed arrived in Lawrence on the 6th, but that he didn’t know where the package went. Great. He mentioned something about calling the carrier to check, and said he’d call back to update me on the investigation results.
Two days pass, and I called back. This time, I got a lady with voice modulation difficulties:
“MA’AM? LOOKS LIKE YOUR YARN ARRIVED IN URBANA, ILLINOIS ON MAY 6TH.
“What? But the guy I spoke to yesterday said it was here, in Lawrence.”
“NO, MA’AM, THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE CAUSE IT ARRIVED IN URBANA, ILLINOIS ON MAY 6TH.” Proceeded to explain to me that Knit Picks had used a consolidation company, which collects packages and waits until there’s enough going to a certain location to ship the whole load (which I’m still having trouble getting my head around. What if a package is sent to, say, Podunk, Alaska? Do they just wait years until there’s enough packages to fit a truckload to ship?).
“So…when will it get here?”
“I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW, MA’AM.”
Uhh…all right then. I called Knit Picks, and luckily they have a policy of replacing lost orders if not received within 14 days. They told me to call if my first package does turn up, so I assume they’re going to wait a bit before shipping the replacement. Which sucks, because 1) there’s no way I can have my mom’s cardigan done in any reasonable amount of time to call it even a late birthday present, and 2) the likelihood of finishing my friend’s shawl in time for her wedding on June 10th is diminishing exponentially by the hour. And, as I wait for my belated yarn, the possibility occurs to me that my second package, presumably sent via the same consolidation shipper, might also end up in Urbana, Illinois.
What should I do then? Should I move to Urbana, Illinois if I ever want to knit anything ordered from Knit Picks? Should I stick to using Elann and the Yarn Barn to assuage my fiber impulses? Should I (cue horror orchestrals) knit from my stash? I suppose that would be the smartest idea, knitting endless hats and stuffed toys from my acrylic accumulation until my mythical yarn doth arrive.
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