Lack of sanity, plus a knitting update

[crewgrrl]

A few signs that working in a Judaica store is robbing me of what little sanity I have left

1. I am actually pondering the following questions:
- Is there a subject that Maurice Lamm is not an expert in?
- How many baby name books can one person (yes, one person) write?

2. I am actively contemplating the Artscroll publications imminent price increase (especially on the daf yomi size gemaras)! This is not altogether a pleasant contemplation, as besides a 73 volume set of shas, they are increasing prices on some of the machzorim, and 4 additional single spaced, 8 point typed pages of all the additional price increases.

3. I want to scream at the stupid customers (OK, I've wanted to do that since about day one). Someone came in today and was complaining that a brit milah was called for 7 am, and an elderly relative would not be able to come. "Why can't they call it for later?" Um, because you do a brit milah after shacharit, and typically that's pretty early in the morning on a weekday? Because many people can't afford to take a whole half-day off of work just to go to a brit milah? Oh, I can think of many reasons.

<side note>
That's probably the time that services were called to start. Presumably the actual event will probably occur about an hour later.
</side note>

This is not the stupidest question I have ever gotten. My all time favorite has to be "Do you have any frankincense?" This guy wasn't joking. He was dead serious. I felt bad for him. This was immediately followed by someone I know very well coming up to the counter and saying (in an overdone British accent) "do you have any myrrh?"

I have actually been knitting, between complicated dental visits and working overtime. I started an afghan as a wedding present. It is a log cabin (scroll down to the February 15 entry to get an idea of what it looks like) blanket, done in 4 neutral colors, perfect for draping over any couch or bed, no matter what the decor. I am actually using a synthetic yarn ::GASP:: for this one. While the couple will certainly appreciate the work that went into it, I have doubts about their understanding of the care and feeding of hand knit items.

I also started a coat. It is long, and purple and fun. The fabric is a chunky wool and DK weight baby alpaca held together to make a nice, warm, bulky fabric. The borders (cuffs, collar, etc) are knit from Iro, which is a lovely silk/wool blend in loud purples, blues, greens, pinks and oranges. Just the touch of whimsy that really strikes my fancy. (Points if you can guess the exact purples that I picked. I don't think that my color of Iro is listed.)

That appears to be all for now. Hopefully I will be a better public blogger this year.

Comments

Frankincense

[groovin-reuven.livejournal.com]

A friend of my parents' once brought us some frankincense as a curiosity. It smelled nice when burned, and the smell was familiar- apparently it is burned around Jerusalem by various Christian groups (?). Nominally it is odd to expect a Judaica store to have it, but if I were looking for it, I wouldn't have a clue where to start, thus a Judaica store might be a reasonable place to try.

[glowing-fish.livejournal.com]

Your next entry should have something for those of us who aren't Jewish and don't knit. You could discuss your favorite dinosaur and Terry Pratchett novel.

(Protoceratops, and Feet of Clay, for the record)

(Although, Feet of Clay has some Judaica in it, and if any dinosaur could knit, it would probably be Protoceratops)

[masteraleph.livejournal.com]

"2. I am actively contemplating the Artscroll publications imminent price increase (especially on the daf yomi size gemaras)! This is not altogether a pleasant contemplation, as besides a 73 volume set of shas, they are increasing prices on some of the machzorim, and 4 additional single spaced, 8 point typed pages of all the additional price increases."

This is why we should all learn the hebrew and rituals (for the machzorim) and switch to using Korens.

As for the gemaras, well, they were already rediculously priced (actually not bad per volume, it's the number of volumes that kills).

I don't know how many are on the used book circuit, but if you were thinking about them that might be the place to get them.

[crewgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm not thinking about getting them, I'm thinking about having to re-price all of them!