Panic!!!
If anyone is thinking this sounds a little familiar, it's because you might remember my frantic search for one yard of flannel fabric to finish a pair of pajamas for Andy. People searched Joann Fabrics stores throughout the U.S. and never found it. Almost a year later, Andy has PJ bottoms without a PJ shirt. (And for those who remember the entire story, I still haven't found where I squirreled away the in-progress shirt. We have stopped discussing it)
It was time for action. I posted the information on my knitting blog. On Saturday, I emailed Craft Warehouse to explain the situation and ask for their help. I Googled the beads and emailed any stores that carried the right brand of beads , and emailed a lady I once bought beads from in the past. I was a bit embarrassed to admit to her that I bought beads at a "big box" store, but I was desperate.
The results of my efforts are as follows:
A wonderful lady (or free-thinking man) named Duchess emailed me from Art Beads to thank me for my inquiry, saying they didn't carry the beads I was looking for, but providing a link to the closest thing they had. (I hadn't explained the part about ripping out hours of knitting if I didn't find the exact beads) Not what I needed, but friendly and helpful.
Lydia at Bead Wrangler sent me a very nice email saying she didn't carry Japanese seed beads--only Czechoslovakian ones--but directed me to Jane's Fiber & Beads, which DOES specialize in Japanese seed beads. When I am less pressed for time, I think the whole Czech/Japan bead thing is fascinating and worth looking into, but this was not the time.
Barbara at Jane's Fiber & Beads responded within 15-20 minutes saying they did indeed carry the beads I was looking for and they had 3 tubes left. Only 3 tubes!!!!!!! I wasted no time and called them with credit card in hand to order all 3 tubes. They were a little more expensive than the ones I had been using, but they were available and I was desperate.
That was all on Monday.
Today these came in the mail:
They are the perfect size, the perfect shade and the tubes are almost twice the size of the little tube from Craft Warehouse, making Jane's beads far cheaper than the ones at Craft Warehouse. They are perfect, perfect, PERFECT and the sweater has been saved (OK, I have been saved from ripping out the edging, restringing the beads, and reknitting the edging, but as at that point I might have been tempted just to cram the whole thing into the food processor, it really counts as the same thing)Oh, and my email to Craft Warehouse? It has never received a response or even an acknowledgment.
I know the economists are stressing over all the "big box" stores that are closing because of lack of business, and I am indeed sorry that jobs are being lost, but perhaps some of them are closing because of the "big box" mentality rather than because of the economy. I have no idea, but I won't be dealing with Craft Warehouse again.
Later edit: The following day I did finally receive an email from Craft Warehouse--5 days after I emailed them--telling me they would be getting more Toho beads in on September 1 and I should contact my local store after that. So they did actually acknowledge me, but too little too late.
1 comment:
totally agree with you. I prefer to deal with smaller stores if possible. I think it is very much worth it.
Glad the sweater is rescued!!
Post a Comment