My Moo cards arrived today, just as I'd begun to despair of them ever arriving. They don't look like the picture in my previous post. The design is the same, but the colors are more muted. Probably a blessing in disguise, as I am not really a bright, neon colors person. Muted is much more my palette. The color discrepancy was a real surprise, as I have previously been very pleased with their color reproduction. Moo's photo printing is amazing, almost as good as National Geographic, which still uses a photogravure process. Other things I like about Moo: they track customer histories really well (including a welcome back card with my order), have awesome packaging, and are very distinctive. No one throws out a Moo minicard.

In other news, I am working through my procrastination list. It's been very easy to let things slide this summer, some of which has bitten me in the ass. For example, I needed new tires for my car. Four of 'em. Needed them for a while. If I had gone out and bought new tires when my mechanic told me, I would still have been able to get a free alignment at Pep Boys under the service agreement from my last one. Because I waited those extra three months, I get to pay all over again. I also won't be going back there, since they didn't tell me that my car didn't need realignment, but did the work anyway, which cost me $100. Unnecessary repairs? Screw that. In my adventures in adulthood, I learned that you always need a realignment after you get new tires. I had no idea, having only replaced one or two tires at a time before. If that had been explained to me when I picked up my car, I would have been less pissed about it pulling to the left. It was a very tiring day.

Other adult type things I have done lately: attempted stain removal (a mysteriously new pursuit), a trip to the dry cleaners (as I could not remove said stains myself), the acquisition of three new pillows, and getting all of the yarn that I need to xmas knitting early enough to be able to make all the gifts without crippling myself. Maybe that's overly optimistic, but I managed to get almost all of the yarn that I needed at the recent Malabrigo sale at Nina. Absolutely beautiful yarns to make scarves and shawls aplenty, already wound into cakes and waiting to go.

I am currently knitting a Damson shawl in Malabrigo sock, archangel colorway. My mother informs me that this type of shawl is a shetland, as it is shaped to match the slope of the neck and shoulders. She is unaware that she will be getting one as a gift in a different color. The yarn is really breathtaking in the garter stitch pattern, which almost makes the tedium of garter worthwhile. It was a darker skein, with very saturated purples. Knit up, it reminds me of one of Monet's haystacks at dusk.