MS#3, part two - Beading

June 30, 2007

The Mystery Stole hints give the option to incorporate beads into the stole. Again, there has been a lot of chatter in the group about what type of beads, bold or subtle, where to get them, and how to attach them. All (okay, most) of the beading conversation has been interesting, some intriguing.

I hadn't decided whether or not to bead the stole mainly because of the whole "not that kinda gal" thang. While out Addi-buying yesterday, I checked in at a couple of big-box craft stores for some 8/0 seed beads to see if something rang my bell.

Uh, no. It seems that 8/0 beads are a rare bird, at least around here. Not to be so easily dissuaded from shopping, I came home and started surfing Shipwreck Beads and FireMountain Gems. Of course, it's pretty tough choosing beads when a) I don't know for sure if I want to use them and b) I'm looking at a photo on my puter screen.

I found some opalescent beads (that I'd kinda had on the brain anyway) at Shipwreck. After narrowing it down to one or two that probably would work, I clicked them into my cart.

Well.

Shipwreck has a minimum order of $25. While I have nothing against spending $$ on beads and findings (they also carry the eyeglass leash rubber thingies that I've been looking for), right then all I wanted was a measley 350 seed beads. Maybe some eyeglass thingies. Oh - and the beads are sold by the hank, which in general is great but a hank is almost 3,000 beads. Again, I only wanted 350 or so.

Okay, off to FireMountain. I found THE beads that I wanted. Transparent Rainbow Cream Soda in a 40 gm pack. Cool. Into the cart they go!

Uh huh. The page it took me to said something along the lines of "have a cookie, my sweet". Okay (kinda). I went into my firewall settings and opened some doors. Still no dice. Went back to the firewall and very hesitantly opened another door. Nope.

That was as far as I was willing to go. I understand that cookies are necessary for internet commerce, don't get me wrong. BUT (and you knew there would be one) I will not, under any circumstance, throw open all the doors and windows (no pun intended) so that I can spend $$ online. There are plenty of online vendors that are able and willing to take my money while still allowing me some semblance of (puter) security.

Now, I realize that sounds harsh. FireMountain is well-known and if they were dicey I'm sure I'd have heard about it by now. I really have nothing against the company or their goods. It's just that I am the one and only technical support in this household and I bear the scars from a Trojan War (of epic proportions) based upon a miniscule burp in the security of one of the biggest non-vendor online sites in the U.S. It was purely a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time and it took me DAYS to troubleshoot, clean out, rebuild, blah, blah, blah.

Oh. I got sidetracked a bit.

No, I'm not using beads for this project.

Labels: MS3

permalink 1 Comments:

At 7/01/2007 6:18 PM,  nancy Babbled Back:  

As a fellow M.Stole 3 knitter, had to let you know I had the same problems with beads, well, at least as far as way too much shipping! Wound up ordering mine from Fusionbeads.com. The beads were $2.80 - and No Shipping! Also, I ordered on 6/13 and had them on 6/16, which I thought was really amazing. Fiber Hugs, Nancy A

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