Practically a cedar closet

Well. Here I am back up and running after we were so rudely interrupted. Turns out our old webhost (for we have turned our backs on them and their multitude of problems, poor support and perhaps a smidge less forthright behaviour than one wants in a webhost) was completely unable to handle how many people wanted to contact this page, (not that many, really, especially when you consider how well the “adult” industry seems to run online) and that my site was making their server “sluggish” (Considering that their server moves as fast as I do fair isle with my toes, I don’t know how they could tell.) so instead of doing anything else, they renamed my blog folder, put a new IP on their server and unplugged my domain without so much as a by your leave. (I don’t know much about this sort of thing, but that reaction to a whack of knitters and a sluggish server seems a little over the top.)

Here, look at some wool. It takes the edge off.

Lawool12306

Essentially (to continue a metaphor from the last time the internet bit me hard on the hind parts) if the blog is a house that keeps it’s stuff in a closet, this time we didn’t try to put to many blue shirts in a closet, we tried to open the door to the closet way too often. (Too much bandwidth) Naturally this would have been far less likely if the people renting me the closet had been clearer about the size of the closet, the number of doors we could open, or that it was a really big deal to all try to look at once. (Since the advent of bloglines, this is a really good thing to tell people about their closets.) Maybe let me know that the number of times you could open the door was sort of variable, or if they had warned me that we were opening the door often enough to generate a breeze that ruffled hair and ticked tech guys off…) In any case, there was too much with the opening and this time (unlike the last webhosts) they didn’t just close the closet door and lock it, or (unlike two months ago) they didn’t just tell me that they would only let a certain number of knitters open the door per minute before they locked it (throttled my bandwidth) this time they took all my stuff out of the closet and put it somewhere else, papered over the door to the closet and sent me an e-mail to that effect- after they had done it. (I actually got three e-mails. They noticed a door issue at 7:56 and the whole shebang was taken completely off the rails at 8:05.)

They did say they were sorry, but they won’t undo it. There are other people in the house who need to open and close closets (it’s a shared server) and I am in their way.

I know this is upsetting. Here. Let’s look at some nice knitting.

Lawool22306

Now, I might have noticed this sooner, except earlier that evening their mail server had belched and routed me duplicates (or triplicates) of the last 1400 emails anybody had sent, so I was a little bit distracted by sobbing and stringing together filthy words. Thanks to that little glitch I can’t tell what e-mails I answered, what I read or what I dealt with and then deleted. (I believe that this development may actually qualify my always-very-very-bad inbox as an official disaster zone. I’m looking into it.) Wool?

Loslaw32306

I am resisting the urge to think that it is absolutely no co-incidence that the 1400 emails came flooding into my inbox when they did, and that they were actually sent to bury the three infuriating and upsetting emails telling me (in the politest possible language) that I didn’t have a blog anymore…but Ken and Joe think that I’m reaching for a conspiracy. As it was, I noticed about 20 minutes after the blog ceased to exist, when, like everyone else, I got the mysterious “Server can’t be found” message. I didn’t panic immediately though, since the service has been (for quite some time now) unreliable at best and a flaming dump of pig dung at worst, I thought it would come back. I sat and clicked “refresh” for a while, imagining no end of ways in which I would like to fix me a server or two (“fix” involving a sledgehammer) and waiting for my turn to open the closet. While I was waiting, I tried to sort the email mess (more filthy language- creative though) and found the emails telling me that they had dealt with their sluggish server by taking 9 minutes to think it over and then taking me off line. The emails said that they would put the blog back up whenever I could prove that I had solved the problem.

Kanlawool42306

When I regained consciousness, I tried to sort it out. It was unsortable. This may have been because my whole tactic with the tech guy consisted of saying “What? What?” and “I don’t understand what you’re saying but I think I quite like your tone.” as well as the ever effective “MAKE BLOG GO!” This guy was convinced that the blog was experiencing some strange “attack” where many people tried to all contact at once. (I think they are called “readers”?) He kept telling me it was like a DoS attack where one IP contacts you so many times that your site can’t function, but my attack was weird, since instead of one guy contacting many times, it was many people contacting one time each. (Again. Readers?) We looked at my stats, and I tried to tell him that this was a pattern, and he told me that clearly I had been under attack for some time and that he had protected me and the other people on the server from this malicious attempt by shutting it down. (If I am ever in charge of it, I assure you that this tech guy will not be receiving hand knits for Christmas this year, nor any other as long as he draws breath on this earth.)

Now I need to look at wool.

Klaw52306

Fine. Enter our hero Ken, who (once I found a new webhost who has promised me that there is nothing they enjoy more than the opening and closing of many closet doors) has packed up everything we keep in the old crappy closet and moved it over to our brand new house with a fancy new closet. This closet is nice. This closet is like a walk-in closet that you don’t have to share. (It’s a virtual dedicated server.) We can keep anything in it that we want to. We can open the door as many times as we like. We can put blue shirts, green shirts…shirts with polkadots and nehru collars. (If you wanted.) This closet has shelves for shoes and this closet won’t post comments twice or three times, and it won’t be locked one minute and unlocked the next. This closet is practically a cedar yarn closet it’s so darned nice, and it should (pleasepleaseohplease) solve all of my blog problems for the rest of my life.

Can you tell a difference? Are things working better? There may be some little things to work out as we move. (I hope not. This is all so upsetting.)

The only downside (well. Aside from the twitch that Ken and I both have now) is that this new closet is now the nicest thing I own (the irony that I own a virtual closet this nice but that my real whole house only has two tiny crappy closets is not lost on me) and even though it was the only way to keep the blog up and running, it’s a little (a lot) on the pricey side. It’s going to hold a whole lot of blogginess though, so I’m going to think about the money another day. It’s good to be back. I missed you.

372 thoughts on “Practically a cedar closet

  1. This is my first comment to you, although I read your blog daily. Not only do I love your books, but I love Elizabeth Peters, too. It’s funny how knitters all have more than knitting in common. Congratulations on your new closet.

  2. Well, maybe consider adverts on the blog or a kind of blogck party fundraiser…

  3. Stephanie, you tell a story like no one else. I’m sorry about your server disaster, but your way with words makes it hilarious. You make my day! Thanks.

  4. Wow. At least when my yarn shoppers crumpled the server at my last host, I was just plainly asked to leave. They weren’t polite about it, but they did give me a few days to gather my things and vacate. Thank goodness for new closets. May yours last forever!

  5. Lordy I missed you too and I’m So glad you now have a closet we can all fit into, beautiful yarn and all. So far so good — thanks for letting us know what was going on . Thanks also for all the work from you both to get it rectified.

  6. Yes, this is a nice closet. Very roomy, good lighting and lots of shelves to put our knitted sweaters on. I especially like the hanging rods specifically dedicated to lace shawls!
    Who needs reality closets when you have such a nice cyper closet.

  7. I thought it was my computer’s fault. Many bad words were said which I better apologize for now. Can we subsidize the closet? A small can located next to the door for spare change? I could tithe part of my yarn budget……

  8. Would a discreet ad help to defray the cost of our door-opening? Crazy Aunt Purl has blog ads to pay for her server, I believe, and I don’t think anyone is complaining over there. Small price to pay for your readers.

  9. Damn servers…… We all need to get together and knit Ken something. Maybe a big blanket as a thank you for letting get our daily dose of Stephanie!

  10. I’m so happy you’re back because besides entertainment, you are a resource! I picked several lbs/kgs of cherries and need the recipe for cherry cordial that was posted last year. No matter how many times I asked Google, the recipe would not come up, as the closet door was firmly shut. In celebration, I will buy two of your yarn tourist books. Even though it’s very green.

  11. It’s nice to be able to visit again! I’ve got an audible account and know I know what book I want this month;-)

  12. Ooooooh, pretty closet! Lucy has the right idea — I was planning to buy your newest book right before an upcoming plane ride (so I wouldn’t cheat). But I am compelled to help defray the new server cost immediately, so off to the bookstore with me. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

  13. I’ve never posted before, but I just had to tell you how happy I am you are back. I think I disguised it well, but all day yesterday at work I was in a tizzy becuase your site was down. I thought I had lost you forever. So glad you’re back!

  14. Your new closet is lovely. And bully for Ken! And the wool pictures are very soothing.
    Enjoy your new home!

  15. y’know…………… it is the little things. Drink tea, knit, breathe. Alllllllllll issssssssssss weeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll…….

  16. I was fine, reading the post, looking at pictures, when I came to the end and saw that beautiful painted yarn in those wonderful colors (the pic was titled “kanlawool”). What IS that stuff? I can’t stop looking at it and the perfect candy colors.
    Sorry about your server – everything looks fine now. Welcome back.

  17. Stephanie:
    For the pleasure of reading your blog daily, I would be happy to contribute to your blog fees. Let me know.

  18. “a flaming dump of pig dung”. Yup – I would have used those words myself.
    I figured there was another closet problem – it was getting a bit crowded in the old one every time I dropped by. This one is nice and roomy. Hope we can all stay…

  19. Several years ago, I had a friend who worked for a local ISP, which just happened to host a popular site for computer geeks. Said site was hit by a DDOS, and the ISP decided to take down the site, because it was either take down that site, or having ALL their customers lose their connectivity. I remember the backlash then (for the geeky among you, this made the front page of Slashdot), and, well, the geeks protesting then weren’t armed with pointy sticks like us knitters 😉

  20. Gosh, and here I was just putting it down to heavy traffic. I actually posted a link to your archives a week or so ago and told people NOT TO CLICK ON IT for a while, as your server seemed to be so overloaded that it had taken me a good half-hour just to find the post in question. Never occurred to me that the problem was actually at the server end, because I was still thinking of it as the shiny new haven of the post-blue-shirts era. DoS – hmph. I used to be in the computer business myself, and if that’s the kind of problem-solving logic they’re using these days I am gladder than ever to be out of that racket. Sheesh. Well, give you joy of your new home. It’s good having all the closets to oneself; must be worth some extra cost to have a setting befitting the enterprise. And yes, OF COURSE it must be a deductible business expense. Do they think you’re doing this for FUN…?

  21. Several years ago, I had a friend who worked for a local ISP, which just happened to host a popular site for computer geeks. Said site was hit by a DDOS, and the ISP decided to take down the site, because it was either take down that site, or having ALL their customers lose their connectivity. I remember the backlash then (for the geeky among you, this made the front page of Slashdot), and, well, the geeks protesting then weren’t armed with pointy sticks like us knitters 😉
    And most amusing of all…I got a timeout when submitting this comment.

  22. Yep, missed you, glad you’re back. What gives with blog servers that can’t handle blog readers – that’s kind of the whole point, isn’t it? Anyway, as you said, more wool…
    Speaking of which, which yarns are you using in the gorgeous aqua socks and the pretty multi-colors just below them? (Already know about Laura’s lovely hand-dyed, asking about the other two socks now.)

  23. Stephanie? —- OMG! I thought we’d LOST you!
    I tried and tried last night, and figured it must be another closet problem. I’m glad you’re back with a new closet. You told the story so well that a non-techie can generally understand. Whew!

  24. The new server seems to be working great. Glad to have you back. You were missed.
    One little glitch…the time stamp seems to be off. I see lots of comments that show after 12:00 PM on June 23rd. Unless all my clocks are crazy it is now 11:28 AM EDT on June 23rd. Lets see what it time stamps this has on it when it posts.

  25. Greetings from Frederick, MD. I’m posting for the first time because I am so thankful that you’re back up and running again. I’m a new devotee (addict??) to knitting and have been buying up all your books and reading your blog everyday. On the upside, I think most folks who spend as much time on computers as knitting projects probably felt it was just one of those tech things and didn’t even realize the pain and agony you were going through! We just wanted you back as soon as possible and the new digs are looking great! Thanks for all you do to feed my little obsession!

  26. It was quite a shock having you unavailable for quite awhile. Made me seek out an addiction counsellor….you are such a great story teller…

  27. WHOOOAAAA! So glad you’re back. Since my last visit included only the post about everyday civilities and basic human courtesy, I thought perhaps it was something I had said that got me blocked from your blog. Whew! Now about the people (we’re still giving them credit for human race status, right?) that run the old blog server. Is there any place on that “Best Blog” voting thing to vote for “Most Idiotic and Pathetic Service” by a provider? I’m thinking you had a strong candidate in those last folks. All hail Ken, the new provider and periodic wool infusions for helping you transition to the new closet. Now, about the increased cost… perhaps your current readers can buy a few gift books for friends (although that might again up the blog readership and closet door opening). It’s a vicious circle..

  28. Under attack – love that. Chalk that one up along with sock yarn club disbelief. Another option is wait for one of the girls to move out (hello, 18?) and convert their room into a server room. Move in some racks, some air conditioning and presto! Or is that worse than wanting one of your kids to move out because you want their room to store yarn and house a floor loom?

  29. Closet space is always a selling point.
    Contact your publisher and see if they’ll fund your ISP costs. Your blog and the tours sell the books, so I’m sure they can find a way to expense it.
    Take the weekend away from the PC and knit. Hang with the family. Garden. Drink beer. Repeat.

  30. The (not-so-)help(ful) desk rides again I see!Closet issues are certainly a pain… glad you are back. I thought perhaps the pictures might be causing the server angst, because for several days before the new wallpapering occurred, I could only see a few pictures each time I tried – and they rotated. Each refresh red Xed and displayed a different combination!
    Welcome back!

  31. Whew! Am I glad you are back. Love the new digs. I would be happy to contribute to the closet fund. You are more entertaining than most things I pay for in life. Even if it was a voluntary contribution, I think you could get lots of people to donate. I would happily subscribe (like Knitty) if that would help you. Just don’t take my Harlot away anymore! Need … Harlot.

  32. Glad to see you’re back! As I’m about to embark on a website with blog, I shudder to encounter these issues. Fortunately, I have an invested techno geek close at hand, and trust he will deal with them, as I have enough trouble keeping track of my knitting and spinning paraphernalia. Good you seem to be home for longer than a two day stretch. Enjoy the beautiful weather!

  33. A lot of people were twitching with Yarn Harlot withdrawal so were glad you’re back. The new closet is lovely! 🙂

  34. I knew something was up yesterday as I kept knocking on your closet door, trying to get in. I’m glad you “upgraded” to fantastically LARGE closet so we can all fit in. Oh, I forgot to mention in my last comment that I’ve DVR’d your Knitty Gritty episode for next week. I’m so glad you mentioned it.

  35. Oh, the Harlot is back in the house, or closet, so to speak! The horror of the withdrawl was too horrid to recount. This is more of the whole thing “represent” is meant to addresss, no? Hey lady knitting blogger, there is NO WAY that that many people actually want to read what you’ve written, honey, let us tech guys save you.

  36. Wow, it took all of Russia to shut down Kyrgyzstan’s computers; they should have just put some knitters on the job.
    As for the cost of the dedicated server, I would think that (if you lived in the US anyway; I don’t know anything about Canadian tax code) a good accountant would be able to find you a way to write that off. The blog is certainly part of your business as an author!

  37. Phew … luckily you had some soothing wool to look at … really, tech guys (that call themselves ‘helpdesk’). I hope this comment is not considered an ‘attack’

  38. Hey, Steph, I did notice the interruption, but thought very little about it. The new closet looks, from this vantage point, just like the old one – which in the world of computers is a Good Thing. Thanks for all your hard work on the back end! Thanks for the yarn pics!

  39. Kudos to Ken.
    Sorry about the tech disaster. I hope all the wool helps. And the new closet seems very nice so far!

  40. I love your new closet. I get the bad internet voodoo. No matter what kind of printer I buy it hates me. As a graphic designer that can be a hair pulling experience! I have my husband do a ritual over the cursed thing and make it all better. Don’t you just love having a husband that’s not just another pretty face?

  41. I’m most sorry about that old bad closet! The new house and closet are looking very nice and I must say it’s Most Delightful how you keep interjecting pretty wool and knitted items to help everyone be OK. 🙂

  42. Creative financing. Knitters supporting knitters.
    I bet, if you made a spot in your sidebar for readers to buy donated knitter stash, it could supplement or support the blog’s new digs…
    What you think? I’ve got stuff to donate.

  43. Yay! I’m glad you’re back! I can’t tell you how frustrated I was getting with that “Server can’t be found” message. Oh wait, I guess you know about frustration recently. Well, it’s nice to have you back. Let’s hope your new closet does well by you!

  44. I had two thoughts about the traffic issues on your blog (this is very cheeky of me since you didn’t ask for said thoughts!). In the US, I would wonder if your blog might be considered a tax-deductible business expense – seeing as how I’m sure your blog leads to a lot of book-buyers! (It sure made me buy them!). I don’t know how taxes work in Canada…but maybe? Second, your publisher is surely grateful you sell so many books – perhaps they could pay for – er, subsidize – the blog? I think you deserve it!

  45. Help. I tried to put a little tank top in the new closet and it would not let me.

  46. wow new closet . walk in…. nice. Now it needs some new sweaters on those nice new shelves……keep knittiing girl.

  47. Same thing happened to me three years ago. The host of my website (not my blog, which is new) simply stopped supporting both my e-mail and my website. It was a company that had eaten a smaller company and I guess I was one of the few non-corporate customers and they just… stopped. Without telling anyone. Luckily, my husband is a computer geek by profession and he managed to shift everything over to a new host, while we were out of town on a romantic weekend away (and his mother was flooding our house, not that I’m bitter.) Anyway, he did it and left plenty of time to go out for dinner before we got the call from the disaster recovery people about the flood. Hurrah for Ken for doing the same for you and for no one flooding your house!
    Anyway, sorry to tell that scintillating story here. I’m glad you’re back!
    Barb, who just posted this on the previous entry and might need more coffee

  48. Well, it let me do that post. I can empathize with these IT woes. It does help to knit or touch or look at yarn while dealing with the techies. I’ve joined Brenda’s KAL knit along. I wanted to say that Uta who owns wollsucht.de and the real German yarn shop it is an extension of is great. After I ordered on her website and responded in German to the German e-mail I got, she started e-mailing me in her excellent English about international shipping. Enough Kauni rainbow together with shipping by registered mail and insurance cost me $54 which is good, given the bad exchange rate, and cheaper than sources importing it here. Rather than navigating the German website, if you have no German, you could e-mail her at wollsucht@e-mail.de. Steph, thank you for e-mailing me in response to my last post. It is almost like having you sign one of your books for me. I couldn’t get to your April appearance in St. Paul MN, though the Yarnery is my LYS. (Sob.) Hope you’ll return here on tour soon.

  49. I missed you, too, Stephanie. You are one of the things that is keeping me sane right now. I am at the end of term, facing a final in Greek on Tuesday, and I need breaks once in a while from studying. You are my favourite break, and when you were not there last night, I screamed. You see, I had saved you to read with a glass of wine right before bed, and there you weren’t! I have your books, so could have read them, but it isn’t the same. Thanks for getting a new closet. And welcome back!
    Katherine

  50. hello, stephanie. this is my first post. i love your blog. it helps me get through the day. i was diagnosed with RA about 6 weeks ago. and there have been days where i can not knit i read about it, and i have had many laughs to cheer me up. i want to thank you for that.
    thank you very much.
    Denise
    p.s. today your blog loaded way way way quicker then normal.

  51. “Flaming dump of pig dung” – I have got to find a way to work that phrase into my everyday conversation! I love that you’re hilarious even during moments of crisis.
    Wool is indeed very soothing, I’m glad you (and the blog) are doing better now. =)

  52. Welcome back to cyberworld. I thought my crappy computer(not even high speed internet here in my part of Michigan) had spit up again.
    My husband really misses pencils with erasers so you can imagine how he feels about computers.
    I had tried to leave a message about great mysteries on the last post but …. you know.
    So today I left a message there and a message here.
    Besides Charles Todd(a British Mother and son actually) you can’t go wrong with a Engish mystery and I even like to reread Agatha Christie-she is so complex in her plots that sometimes I forget I’ve already read the book. You might like The Cabinet of Curiosities by Preston/Child also.
    The wool was soothing to see, the knitting your usual awesome work(play).

  53. Dear Knitting Goddess, so glad you’re back on-line. It seems I must have daily or regular (no pressure) blog entries to keep balance in my world. I have Yarn Harlotry fan stuff bad.
    Elizabeth Peters, the Amelia Peabody series: I’ve read them all, and am about ready to read them all again they are such fun. Will consider trying them as audiobooks so I can keep spinning and knitting while I listen.
    You have the BEST knitting blog on the net, no matter what the awards say, but hope they recognize what your readers all know for fact.

  54. Missed you tons. Glad you’re back. I thought it was my computer, which really wouldn’t surprise me! As usual you crack me up!!!!

  55. I’m so glad you are out of that particular closet! Last evening there was much moaning and wailing at KH because people couldn’t get their daily fix. Of you!!! Missed you! Happy this is fixed now. :O) The monkey sock yarn looks wonderful! samm

  56. I really wish you’d let us contribute to your blog–especially considering unexpected expenses like these. I contribute to sites that I receive far, far less from, so it would honestly be a pleasure to give something back to my most favorite site of all time. So, c’mon, give us a PayPal button. Don’t be shy about it. After all, it would be completely voluntary. We WANT to help!

  57. Congratulations on the new expensive closet. May there be much opening and closing of the doors at will without further headache to you!

  58. Missed you too.
    And yarn never looked better!
    And I just received my order today: “Knitting Rules” and the CD of “Casts Off.”
    And I missed you!
    Happy closet-day!!

  59. Yay, you’re back! Silly hosts, don’t they know you’re THE Yarn Harlot… and you get loads of hits. Glad to hear about the virtual dedicated server. That should make things much better!
    J

  60. Thanks for bringing back a hidden memory – trying to fathom my father’s nehru jacket (even at the tender age of 6 I had enough fashion sense to know nehru jackets were just…wrong).
    Where was I ogling it at? My parent’s closet.

  61. Congratulations on your new closet. The door was stuck for a while this afternoon. Glad it’s now opening smoothly.
    While you’re fixing the glitches of the world, could you do something about the blog contest? When I tried to open an account it wouldn’t, due to an “invalid” postal code. Anti-Canuck. I fooled them though. I entered “90210” and they bought it!! And I can’t tell them because their email addy says “do-not-reply-to-this-email”!! You’ll be missing scads of Canuck votes (almost at par with US votes at this time) if “my fellow Canadians” don’t figure out how to bypass their rigidity.
    Marlyce

  62. I like the new closet. For some time now, I’ve only been able to see your photos if I right-clicked on them and then clicked “show picture” and said something akin to, but not quite printable, “pretty please?” And I thought it was the fault of the dial-up connection we have that seems to be getting slower incrementally while the internet continues to rev faster and faster as if there’s fossil fuel to burn forever.
    Today? Every photo on your blog’s homepage has loaded, without begging, and very fast. Kinda spookily fast. Did you spring for a faster connection on our end too? 😉
    Glad you’re back and that your knitting tension doesn’t appear to have suffered.
    p.s. I tried to post this comment 5 hours ago and was denied. A temporary glitch?

  63. Hey, I missed you too. I agree with the Paypal button idea. Reading your blog always gives me something to ponder.

  64. Yeah! I’m glad you got it all sorted out and sorry it was such a painful process to get to the new closet. I would also like to ask what the beautiful rainbow yarn in the second to last photo is. It is beautiful. Hope the new closet holds all you could ever want to put in there.

  65. I tried posting the following at #52 comments…here it is now…
    LOVE the new closet! I have missed you so very much.
    So now hey, I will gladly make a monthly donation (it
    couldn’t be a ‘grand’ amount, mind you) but seriously,
    I would gladly share what I have with you…after all,
    you share your very life with me, you know?
    Oh, this IS a nice closet…one can breathe…
    well, crap, now it won’t take my comment…..

  66. Good stinking grief. I wonder what they’d do if more people like me, who read you on Bloglines and don’t often actually come to your closet and open the door, would do so. I’m glad you have a roomy new closet although I’m not so sure about the Nehru jacket.

  67. Stephanie, reading your story about the closet, etc., is almost worth the agony of not being able to log on yesterday! (I said ALMOST)
    I have the perfect knitting retreat location for all of you who need one: Colorado Chautauqua. No T.V., no phone, no a/c; lovely views of the mountains, lovely cottages with screened porches furnished with wicker furniture –perfect for relaxing with one’s knitting– and wireless internet for blogging and reading.
    Ask how I know all of the above . . . .

  68. We loves the new closet. We loves the fact that we don’t have to desperately hit the refresh button every ten minutes, wondering where you had gone.

  69. Thanks for the yarn pictures strewn throughout. It does take the stress level down some.
    I knew there was a mistake when I came here and got that ugly, white screen with it’s obviously, totally wrong error message. I did check back every few hours (maybe miutes). I am kind of drawing a blank about the whole thing.
    Blog reading is kind of addicting. You get used to having these great stories and pictures to see. And then the muggles just take it away. How dare they? It is very sad that there are people in the world like them who have no clue.
    Hope this new closet treats you very well.
    🙂

  70. *breathes in virtual yarn fumes* Glad to have you back. Seriously, I’ll donate to your blog fees. And if it’d make you feel better, I’d donate even more to Knitters Without Borders when I donated to you.

  71. If you had the ways and means by which we could contribute a voluntary subscription fee, I’d be there in a flash. I am a long-time reader (first-time commenter) who opens your closet door on an obsessively regular basis. Thank you for the genuine pleasure I derive from your blog. My ever-increasing knitting output is testament to your influence on me!

  72. Someone earlier also mentioned this, but you might consider having a small ad or two over on the sidebar. That could defray the cost of your excellent new cedar closet. We would be MORE than happy to click away on them to generate the needed revenue! You might refer to advertisers who carry the yarn or pattern, or whatever you are currently working on, so that the masses who inevitably follow can locate the said supplies. Just an idea. (For example, the rainbow Kauni yarn is now sold out most places and knitters must pre-order it. Thankfully, I got my Kauni yarn before you ever blogged about it.) You would be an extremely attractive web site to a knitting-related seller.

  73. I wondered what was going on the other day when I tried to post. Sorry you had to go through it yet again. Glad that you have found a big fancy closet. =)

  74. Tap, tap.
    Hmm…
    Is this thing working? I tried commenting a couple of hours ago and nothing went through. Maybe it’s on my end.
    How’s this?

  75. Think ‘tax write off’! You poor chook – bad pantomimes AND crappy server issues. I hope the Glenlivet got another belting.

  76. Trying for the second time to post that I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get into the old closet yesterday! The PayPal button would get a small monthly donation from me as well, Steph. I hope you’ll consider it.

  77. steph think of the nice new closet this way… you get many more visitors to your nice new big closet than you do to your house. so its only fair to assume that the blog should take precedence:)
    hugs glad you got it worked out:)

  78. I marvel at the way you are able to explain everything from the geeky to the steeky stuff, and I get it. You are amazing.
    Yes, that expense is a tax write-off.
    If there were another book to buy, I’d do it. Now considering the audio version…
    All the Best, Stephanie. You’ll be fine.

  79. Don’t you hate it when you are treated like you are white noise. The nerve of those tech weens not taking knitting seriously. When I couldn’t get to you last night, I figured it was a repeat of the “closet incident”… Glad you’re back. I need my dose of harlot.
    Monique

  80. Stephanie, sorry you’ve had so much trouble with the blog. I know you said it’s a busy and hectic time of year, and having all your blogging dragged out of your closet and having to put it back in a new one isn’t likely to help.
    But congrats on the new closet, may it hold as much yarn (or posts on and photos thereof) as you’ll ever need.

  81. This is my first time posting…other than the “test”. I read your blog everyday, first thing. I am very glad to have you back; I like your new closet and it makes me happy too!

  82. Thank goodness you’ve found a descent closet this time! I kept yelling at my computer the past week or two becuase i couldnt’ get on to your blog. I guess I should apologise to the computer. Maybe I’ll just leave it thinking so that everything else continues to load as quickly as your blog did today.

  83. Bless your heart! A whole nine (9) minutes before they shut you down? Who are these yahoos anyway? Sheesh!

  84. Ditto on the PayPal button. Also, the yarn shops around the country(s) should give you a kickback for all the baby sweater kits they’re selling. Hundreds of kits might be an understatement. There were three of us knitting them all day today in a restaurant.Mine is called Sweet Baby Sweater and the others said Tulip Sweater on the pattern. Same sweater. What gives wid that? It’s the girl version but ordered from different places. And they all were saying “as mentioned ….on your blog”.

  85. You are sooo lucky to have Ken! He deserves a red cape. Well, maybe a very small one ~ symbolic, you know. And, congrats on your new closet. I love the smell of cedar!

  86. What is the yarn in the fourth picture? Lovely! I’m so glad you’ve got your server sorted. A friend of mine who runs a very popular website had a similar problem two years ago and ended up switching to a dedicated server because her hosting company was so cruel. I’m left to wonder if you were using the same as she was, for they sound like they come from the same idiot pool.

  87. happy you are with us again i had a hard time
    this afternoon i know who you are they did not
    dust baiis or ghosts in the closet- i would think
    ghosts leave the door open so they can get out

  88. Missed you! I wondered if the blue shirt thing had happened again. I’m impressed that you and Ken solved it so quickly and got it up and running so smoothly — and it’s a very nice closet.
    I’m off to be head pirate for my 5-year-old’s birthday party (after putting singed edging on treasure clues and maps to treasure until 1 am). Wish me luck! Aargh!

  89. #108: (This would have been #53 if things had been working properly a couple of hours ago.) I’m just jumping in here at the end, after reading comments only until I saw one that echoed my thoughts – “Slap a PayPal button up there!”
    I would cheerfully give you a dollar. You are worth way more than that to me. Maybe even as much as a dollar a month– .
    Any excess you might acquire could go to Doctors Without Borders, and I would trust you to determine where to draw that excess line.

  90. *shrug* Distributed Denial of Service attacks do happen (the ‘distributed’ referring to the ‘not all from one IP address’ part) and in general, the only defense is to temporarily disallow connections to the site under attack. Otherwise, everything on that server is taken down by the one victim.
    That said, the idea that the site owner should be responsible for ‘making sure the problem was gone’ is completely inane. The problem goes away once the attack has been thwarted and the people attacking recognize that they can’t have any more ‘fun’.
    You’re better served by the new host anyway, if that’s the attitude they took.

  91. Oh my goodness, not AGAIN?! And here i had shrugged off the “No server found” message as a piece of crap that MY computer had handed to me. I rebooted and then had forgotten i was trying to open your closet before i did so. Sigh. I’m so glad you’re back!

  92. I fight these things every day at work and I must say having yarn to hand does help keep the blood pressure down.
    Why not have a few selected ads in the sidebar – when you posted about your books being available on audible.com I’ll bet we all went over there to have a look using your link – if you’d had an ad there (or one to Amazon) that would have generated traffic and revenue for you from your advertisers – who are benefiting from your mentioning them and from your writing work. Or how about a couple of yarn stores who are stocking what you are knitting – if you warn them beforehand of what you are about to cast on then they can get extra stock in to satisfy the demand if a proportion of your readers are inspired/enabled to make the same thing themselves as seems to happen fairly regularly – the Kauni cardigan for example!
    I don’t think having advertisers in the sidebar would detract from the content of your website and you are already providing links to many of the potential advertisers already.
    I’m glad you’re back!

  93. Closet space is a wonderful thing. We live in a nice 20-year-old house with plenty of closet space built in, at least for anyone who doesn’t need to store 50 pounds of wool. (I don’t actually know that I have 50 pounds, since I’m afraid to take inventory, but it wouldn’t surprise me. My husband, were he here, would choose this moment to point out that “need” is a relative term; luckily he’s not here.) Your wool is lovely.
    I shudder to imagine (now speaking metaphorically as you were) what Blogger would do had I as many people as you do trying to ogle the wool in my closet.
    (Maybe this will work now…)

  94. I missed seeing the blog. I know what you mean about small closets… looking for a new place to live and the whole moving thing. hope it’s a good move for the blog.

  95. You wouldn’t believe the actual cedar closet I was in yesterday — it was a cedar room! I swear, it was bigger than some of the bedrooms in my house (and they’re all a decent size). I was told that the lady of the (still under construction) house is a “crafter.”
    Yeah.

  96. Thank goodness you are BACK! I felt as if I was banging my head against the closet wall…here it was only a door. Yipppee!

  97. Help . . . must know . . . what you’re knitting . . . beautiful . . .
    So glad you’re back! Hugs for you and Ken both.

  98. I am so glad to not lose your blog. Its my daily read. Its my daily up lifting fully knitting related reading. Don’t ever go away.

  99. Stephanie – I am willing to send donation and I am sure others will to to help with your closet renovation. I did order your two books on Audible (actually used my credits that I had backlogged) and also the book you recommended, can’t wait to get download and start listening – but I am saving them for my cruise, what better than a cruise to the Bahamas and Bermuda listening to The Yarn Harlot and knitting on my Mystery Stole 3 project. You your books and your blog make my day…
    Sharon

  100. Looks like things are running slicker than snot now!
    After still having issues this morning, now the page loaded zippily. Zippier than zippy, in fact.
    And we’ll see if this comment works since it sounds like I wasn’t the only one having problems trying to comment mid-day.
    Thanks for the yarn pictures, we all needed that.

  101. Fantastic new closet, and I love the views – esp. that multicolored eye candy, yum! Just call me a left-wing nut case, but my first thought was that Dick Cheney didn’t want us to have any more fun…
    I would vote for the PayPal button, and I really like the idea of using any excess contributed to support MSF’s work. But it can’t hurt to hit up your publisher for maybe a 50/50 split, or to perhaps suggest to all those LYS’s who are making a bundle on baby sweaters to kick in 1% of their take – that would probably cover the cost for the next 10 years!
    I thought I couldn’t have more in common with you after the yarn, and the scotch (though I do tend to go with the Balvenie 12-yr-old Doublewood), and the make it instead of buy it thing – but now I discover it’s also Amelia and Emerson and Ramses and Nefret and of course The Great Cat of Ra!
    And Ken? and Joe? what can we say? they already have a lifetime supply of beautiful soxes, but will also be receiving heaps of grateful vibes from all of us. Joe gets props just for having had the good taste and sense to marry you, and Ken for giving you back to your adoring public!
    Now go have a couple of beers and enjoy your weekend – we’ll be fine for a day or so!

  102. Flaming pig dung *snark*…that about says it all, yep! I thought it was something my ISP(or myself) was doing or not doing! Dude,I had a glass of good Merlot & knitted for a good long while….felt it was best not to ponder it too long…technology-schmecnology….like the new closet.

  103. Clearly your blog host doesn’t live in an old house like mine… we have 3 closets total.. it’s sad really.
    Welcome back, I missed you!

  104. I am a creature of habit and when I couldn’t find your web page to see if you had blogged, it scared me. I’m better now! Welcome back.

  105. What I meant to say is nice closet, I like it…the cedar smells good. Not that it was schmecnology…oops.

  106. Since I’m guessing you don’t have a Cold War-era backyard bomb shelter, what do Joe and the girls do when the blog goes down?

  107. Ooh….pretty closet! And that ‘splains what happened..I, too, kept hitting “Refresh”, thinking the problem was on my end. Even got up for a cup of tea, thinking perhaps I’d tried too many times and needed to wait a bit.
    Your comment about “‘fix’ involving a sledgehammer” reminds me of a tactic we often use. Although we call it “threatening percussive maintenance”. 🙂
    So good to have you back.

  108. Well we’re glad you’re back – I’d put it down to heavy traffic too. Hey, at least you know you’re popular?

  109. yay! Now I can read about yarn without crappy error messages. Good job Steph and Ken.

  110. I tried commenting before and couldn’t. Let’s see if it works this time. I really like your new closet and thank you for explaining it all so clearly. Glad you’re back. Now to click Post. Will it, or won’t it? Here goes…

  111. Hi,
    I tried to post this yesterday, but now I know why I was unsuccessful.
    I saw your book “At Knit’s End” in the book store on Friday. I’m in SINGAPORE!!!
    Now, if I could find a specialty yarn store, I’d be all set. I found a good general one though, so all is not lost.
    Any idea when your new one will be in Asia? How about a tour here? 😉
    Jill

  112. Here’s another knitter who would happily Paypal a few bucks now and again… glad you’re back. Nobody should be forced into or out of any closet!

  113. Yesterday I had something pithy to say about the steeks….
    Today I’m certain it really wasn’t that pithy.
    I’ll contend with a hearty
    Welcome Home Harlot!

  114. Ah, this explains a lot. I hope your new server (don’t you love that word?) is better than your old one. My question is, Is there any wool in this closet? All this talk of blue shirts and other shirts is very well and good, but where’s the wool?
    Shine On,
    Lill

  115. So glad you are back up and running! I was so worried! I have to say that this server is the bomb. It loads super fast! Good choice and thanks for the wool pictures. It helped me cope with the stress of no Harlot. 🙂

  116. You’re back! Again! (I tried posting this comment hours ago and got an error message. Grumble.) I figured there was another closet problem. Odd that it wouldn’t occur to these people that you might actually have readers. Oh, right, the knitter thing. Hmm. You’re onto something about the “adult” industry. Maybe tell your next host not that you want the site for a blog but to post yarn porn? But I guess the (non-yarn) porn sites probably have their own servers…
    You are claiming the cost of the blog as a business expense, aren’t you?
    Btw, I had a dream last night where I was talking to you and you told me you were pregnant. What was that about?

  117. I love your new closet! Ahh, the smell of cedar… The yarn pics are tops. I think a little donations bar for the price of the new closet would be an excellent thing. I know that I for one am willing to pay for the joy that is a yarn harlot post in the RSS feeder in the morning over coffee. May your closet be moth free forever. (little known ancient knitter blessing.)

  118. I’m so glad you’re back! I was yelling at my computer for not letting me get my daily ray of sunshine. My need for yarn talk was temporily sated with a trip to Wool Fest in a nearby town. Oh, the sight of all that yarn!!!! I like the idea of being able to get the yarn/projects you are working on by going through your site and then that could help pay for the site. I know the pain of lousy closet space – I have one in the living room (craft supplies), one in the bathroom (towels), and one in my daughters’ room (mostly junk) – and six people in the house! Thanks, again for my laugh for the day.

  119. Love your analogies. Love Ken. Love all the knitting interludes. You’ll have to use them for the Olympics – quiet knitting interludes.
    Might even love the server, if this finally goes through!

  120. Welcome Back. Thank you Ken and Harlot family. Virtual dedicated server sounds good; Powered by Wool. I did breath deeply as I stared at the photos…yarn fumes are restorative. FYI it is 7:13pm PDT. Welcome back…wayy too long without being able to read you words.

  121. Welcome to your new closet. 🙂
    I just wanted to give a shout out for Amelia Peabody. Are you as disappointed as I am that we didn’t get a new book to dig into this suumer?

  122. How nice to see you up and running – and what is that lovely yarn on the double pointed needles that looks like it will be a sock in the near future?

  123. The wool was lovely and had the desired effect over here. Glad you are back as the Harlot-less world is not a whole lotta fun. And I am jealous of a walk in that you do not have to share.

  124. First the Blue Moon gals *couldn’t possibly* be selling all that yarn, so it must be a scam and now you *couldn’t possibly* have that many readers, so it must be an attack.
    Just how often do these folks crawl out from under their rocks? Hello, Knitting Revolution in Progress. 😉

  125. Hmm, let’s see…when you show up to sign books and/or give a talk, bookstores expect a dozen or so blue-haired old ladies. And when you adjourn to a pub, pub expects it needs rocking chairs for the evening. And when you post a blog, they can’t quite believe that people are reading it and consider it some form of attack. Maybe people just under-estimate you and your fellow knitters, eh?

  126. The thick-headedness of some people. Sheesh. I’m glad you’ve finally found a hosting solution that should work. And the wool definitely did take the edge off and keep back the swooning better than any smelling salts. (Wool smells so much better, too.)
    So, do tell about the tantalizing yarns and projects I see up there . . . not only did the beauty of the wool distract me from the dire straits of muggle internet hosts, but wondering what each wip on the needles might be eased the anguish I felt for your blog being evicted and imprisoned by such a boorish military tribunal.
    So, when’s the closet warming party? ;o)

  127. So good to see you back. I was worried there. (And am now very glad I upgraded re ISPs. Crossing my fingers and hoping I hopped to a good one.)

  128. Lady, you are one of a VERY short list to whom I would send my sofa-dug coin to keep your hyperventilation to a bare minimum. Therefore, pop a wee paypal button someplace on the page, there, and let us send a little love your way in return for making us laugh, cry, and knit with you so happily for all this time?

  129. Technology. . . can’t live with it. . . can’t (legally) throw it out of a 30th floor window. Techie guys are something else too–I’m just not sure what. I have two blogs going but not enough visitors for blogger to care. That’s kind of nice in a way. . . . enjoy the new closet. Maybe it’s time for some fancy hangers ( I have no idea what that means.).

  130. Thanks for solving the ‘closet’ issue. Somewhat ironic to be dealing with such during Pride week in Toronto…. Hope the cost is not too exhorbitant and cuts into the yarn budget.
    And cheers as always for Ken!

  131. Well, I tried to post this *hours* ago, but the closet door kept getting stuck on the carpet. (or maybe it was the yarn and fleece…)
    The new walk-in cedar closet is great!
    Kudos to Ken for moving you to the new closet.
    The Kauni sweater and the Monkey socks are gorgeous!
    When will these people learn that Knitters are Out There?????

  132. It definitely loads better on my machine. It used to be slow and would often make internet explorer crash on me. Hopefully this is the end of the madness.

  133. You knoooow, Neil Gaiman never has trouble with his server. 🙂 *Ducks and runs to hide in her own closet* Crap! no good, closet is too full of wool!

  134. Ohhh….Roomy….spacious…shelves…I LOVE your new closet!! And it’s a measure of my own level of insanity right now that I clicked multiple times (from bloglines) and got the server crap message and went…oh well, I check back tomorrow. It STILL didn’t dawn on me what you were going through.
    Sweetie – I love the idea of a PayPal button and a dollar donation.
    What amazes me is your ability to explain all this and have it make (relative) sense to someone who’s pretty much a techno-phobe.
    Not to mention you had me rolling in the floor!
    (as usual)
    I’m sending you many many
    ((((((((((Hugs))))))))))
    (oh..and I LOVE the wool shots…what is that pretty self-striping yarn?)
    🙂

  135. Ms. Harlot,
    Welcome back! I’ll have you know that the lack of your blog stopped work at our business for about 30 minutes while the four of us computer illiterate ladies tried to (quietly) figure out if it was a problem with our personal computers (probably not since it was all four) then tried to figure out if it was the company’s computer brain (could be) and then there was whispered discussion about what could have happened.
    Obviously, it was a CHOKE conspiracy. Nods all around.
    When work reconvened the next day, the first order of business was to announce to the others that none of us could reach you (ok, the blog) from our homes either. I’d like to say we were slightly calmer than panic, but four knitters at work with no wool at 8 in the morning with barely any coffee in us, well, it was touch and go.
    Then you came back! Happiness!
    Then reading the post, oh my, Harlot spent a fortune so that we can all be happy. What to do?
    Well, we must support Harlot, we must.
    So some friends and I went to Powells today in Portland for the sole purpose of buying one of your books. You know how large Powells is, but for those of you that don’t, it’s huge. HUGE. So down we marched to the Orange Room right to the knitting section to do our duty by the Harlot, and you know what? No Harlot books. None. How can this be? It’s Powells for goodness sake?!! It’s HUGE!
    The only answer, obviously, is more conspiracy.
    We checked at the information booth, and sure enough, since you spoke there, all your books have been sold out.
    Shock and grief all around, I must tell you. We had to recover with gellato at the store across the street from Powells.
    Could you please tell Jamie the Wonder Publicist that we would like to buy your books in support of the blog — but obviously nobody except your devoted readers care if you go broke and can’t afford your blog or (gasp) buy more yarn???!!!
    See? Conspiracy.
    I’m going to go look at wool now.

  136. Alas! I’m sorry I got you hooked up with dreamhost – who knew they couldn’t deal with a busy blog?! Good luck with the new host! I owe you a beer or two. Or a few really good music mixes.

  137. Yay You’re back!!!! We missed you too!
    Saw you in Petaluma….loved, loved, loved you! And love you books! Thank you.

  138. HOORAY! I was sure it was ME, that my computerdumb had caused me to screw something up. Add my voice to those who think you should be able to write this off as a business expense or to those willing to contribute somehow… Welcome home, can you tell you were missed? Someone’s not getting it: too few chairs, too small closets…. and we all have sharp sticks!

  139. As someone who works in the world of webhosting (not hosting the servers, but supporting software that runs on the servers that we host), the reaction of your hosting service was not entirely out of line, in honesty – if they thought they had evidence for an attack (which, maybe, from what you’ve said, I don’t know that I would have interpreted it that way), the most efficient way to deal with it can be to take the address offline – remove the target and the attackers move on.
    With a shared server, they have a responsibility to all the customers on the server, and that includes doing things like shutting down an address or site that is causing problems.
    And given how Bloglines and other RSS feeders have changed the nature of blog traffic, having a blog as popular as yours is on a dedicated server makes a lot of sense from a number of perspectives.
    I’m certainly happy to see the site responding faster and more consistently. And wow, this is a book length comment, isn’t it?

  140. I can’t resist… I am attacking you with a comment! Since I read your blog regularly, clearly I am a hacker. I will Deny you Service with this comment!
    This closet seems pretty nice though. When you are truly happy with your webhost, do tell who it is. I need to know of an accomodating host since my contract is up.

  141. Great closet!! Thanks for the photos of the yarn–it helped. Couldn’t your publisher pay for some of the server expenses as advertising for your books???

  142. Ever so much better!
    By the way, I’d bet there are plenty of us door openers who would be happy to help fund the brandy new closet. Just saying.

  143. So glad your back. I was worried that it was me because my e-mail server also went down. ARG!!! And since my husband was out of town, you know it had to be my fault. Sorry, but I’m relieved that it was you. SORRY! Nice closet.

  144. So that’s what happened. I’m very glad you moved. All your pictures loaded up at a proper cable speed (Was the old, annoying closet still on dial up?) and so did the comments when I opened them. How do people make up their minds in 8 minutes? Really. My Mr. would like them to take me shopping so they can help me make up my mind about what to buy. I think they would probably take all my stuff out of the cart as soon as I get to the till and start throwing it around. Twits.

  145. This just begs the question…
    How many knitters CAN you fit in a closet???
    He he … Great to have you back.

  146. nasty technology-we hates it….except it’s sort of a neccessary evil. Glad you are back, and am looking forward to being able to see *all* the pictures in any given post! Meanwhile, having spent a large percentage of my precious spare time today in computer/internet hell trying to establish a comlink with my husband overseas, I am very impressed with your ability to write about your experience with such good humor(All I could do was rant incoherently in an email to said husband, which probably just worried him)—not to mention the beautiful yarn photos! You’re right, it really does take the edge off. I hope the new closet is all you hope it to be, and also would be willing to contribute, if you can’t get the publisher to cover it. keep us posted, won’t you?

  147. Hi Stephanie, welcome back!
    I’ve often wondered why you don’t have ads on your site. I know it may seem a bit gauche, but imagine if all of us readers sent you snail mail–and you had to pay the postage to receive your fan mail (ahem, comments).
    I guess the point I’m trying to make is that you entertain (and educate!) us, and this reader is more than willing to pay for the work that you do.
    (And if it weren’t for reading your blog, I would have never discovered Fleece Artist, whose yarn transformed sock making from an enjoyable experience to a sublime one.)

  148. I tried earlier to post here and it wouldn’t let me. I had already apologized to my computer for calling it nasty names and promptly renamed it when I could look at your new closet and not comment on it. Let’s see if tonight my luck is any better!

  149. Oh, thank you!! I was thinking…well, I was thinking it was my inability to know how to leave a comment. Whew! I so look forward to your entries each week.
    Thank you for showing me how to steek. It is a part of the knitting world I have been wary of entering. It just looks too good to be true, like quicksand. I think I will reference your pictures and courage to branch out in making a cardigan using steeking. I have been very envious of your sweater and its beyond beautiful colors. Maybe after the heat of a California summer.
    Your blog has given me the encouragement to expand my knitting and reach out into “fiber-land”. Thank you again.

  150. Am I ever glad to see you back up! I was really, really wondering what was up when I kept getting the “Server Not Found” message.
    The new closet seems to be very nice and roomy, and the combined smells of cedar and wool are heavenly.
    I really loved the way the colors of the wool on display become more and more brilliant (one could almost, but not quite, say “strident”) as the frustration level with the previous ISP grew during your tale of woe. Nice touch!

  151. To use a different analogy, does this mean your blog ran out of chairs?
    Sorry, I had to say it 🙂
    I’m with the last couple of commenters who suggested putting ads on your site. Adsense is pretty good and if you’re uncomfortable with folks sending you money for the server it’s a good alternative.

  152. Oh, thank god you’re back! Yeah, PayPal button. I’d gladly budget for that, youdamnedbetcha, no problem. Heck, I’d go out and pick up bottles for the deposit refund to get the money if I had to. What’s a day without a Harlot? A bad one, that’s what! A serious jones ain’t the word for it.
    Hooray for the new closet (ahh, the scent of cedar and wool), and Ken, and Joe for helping you test comments (Hi Joe!) and you for not melting down totally and persisting, and lovely pix of wool. Thanks for all the hard work, and sorry you had to go through that frustration *again*. Have some more Scotch.
    And carry a big sledgehammer. You know, just in case. [eg]

  153. How can they not realize that we are simply trying to read, not attack, your page? And yes it’s a lot of people at once. I wonder how many people are like me. I know that when I come back from lunch at noon (Mountain time) that there is usually a new entry, otherwise I check later in the day again. I have a schedule. Sheesh!

  154. Stephanie, I’m so glad you’re back. I do have to say, I was a bit worried for you when I was unable to post a comment this afternoon though. . . I enjoy your blog (and books) very much. And the wool helped tremendously . . .
    Karen

  155. Oh, my… I can only imagine… but hey, at least you have wool to look at to make you feel better. And the new closet -very nice! And getting rid of lousy service -even better! Congratulations, and I hope you can forget about the bad experience with the help of some wool and the wonderful colors in Kauni. 🙂 (I wonder how they came up with the name, but “kaunis” is “pretty” in Finnish…)

  156. What? Closets? I was so distracted by the wool…oh, wait, it’s coming back to me…way back…the extra three days I spent at work because my school’s grade closet decided I had the plague and kept dying whenever I entered… Closets are dark, scary, crappy places, and I’m glad you found a good one…enjoy this beautiful closet…I’m going to go have a “My grading program died one more freaking time” flashback…I’ll be back when the shakes and sobbing is over…

  157. Clearly, no one at the ISP reads your blog. If they did they would understand why you have all these people in your closet.
    I love it here. I’m never leaving.

  158. I’m relieved to know it was a server problem. I’d assumed that my anti-knitting workplace had blocked access because of the “harlot” part, and was trying to figure out the appropriate target for my anger. It’s a lot easier to be po’d at Canadian geek strangers than at people I see every day.

  159. Get a nice, safe P.O. box, and print the addy under your email address.
    Then, if the server goes kaput, and your readers start getting itchy to communicate, they can still write you.

  160. tried to post earlier but couldn’t, just wanted to say advertising might be a great way to defer costs.

  161. Oh dear. It sounds like there are a whole cr@pload of awful webhosts out there – I was doing battle with odius webhosts myself this past week – like your hosts, they were most disagreeable and not helpful at all. I’m so happy to see you have a brand spanking new lovely closet that loves to have its door opened many many times 😀
    If you don’t mind (and have a moment to share) I’d love to hear who you have moved to. If my host pulls these shenanigans again, I will likely be firing them and hunting for a new host. One that doesn’t mind the frequent opening and closing of a closet door 🙂
    I’m glad you’re back. I missed reading my daily Harlot 🙂

  162. It’s kind of like the chairs at your book signings, huh. Or the sock club/banking debacle. Geeks and muggles. Don’t we outnumber them yet? Actually, I suppose these stories (not to mention, you know, some African countries, for instance) only go to prove the point that those more numerous do not always hold the power.
    But Steph, when will you run for… I don’t know… what could you run for to redress the power issue? Do you think we could make you, say, International Knitting Queen? Do you think they’d start to listen to someone with that title? Probably not while the title has the word knitting in it. Would you be okay with say, International Leader? I’ll vote for you 🙂

  163. That pretty yarn everyone is commenting on looks to me like Lorna’s Laces in the Watercolours colourway. In fact, it looks just like the finger of a glove I knit in that very yarn. Gloves? Mitts? Will more be revealed?
    Joy
    Rewalsar, H.P., India

  164. Dear Stephanie, I have often wondered why you don’t have ads on your blog. It’s not crass or commercial, it’s business. It goes toward paying for your bandwidth. Give whatever is left to Knitters Without Borders. Or buy yourself some yarn. I don’t mind paying for your books because I think they are great and I know how much work you put into them. You obviously put a great deal of thought into your posts, too. they are always (well, usually) meaningful and thought provoking. Like a good sermon, only I don’t have to leave home and can enjoy them while wearing only underwear. No one would think you were selling out if you had some ads on your blog. Of course, I’m just guessing at your motives here, what do I know? Slap some ads up there to help pay for your server, you silly knitter!!

  165. I was starting to worry about you! Very glad you’ve gotten sorted out – the old webhost doesn’t sound like it was very good to deal with. But that’s as it may be; you’ve got beautiful yarn and beautiful knitting.

  166. Dear Harlot and Ken,
    Perhaps Ken has already considered this idea? Please forgive if this has been commented about already. Have you looked at the idea of a PLIGG? Look at Alison’s set up for Sockapalooza 4.
    http://alison.knitsmiths.us/sockapalooza4/blog/upcoming.php
    (You know Blue Blog right? Right!):)
    Anyway they’re using it for a KAL. Each person who is blogging about their progress can link their blog to the PLIGG. But my question is could you re-tool the PLIGG and use it differently? Perhaps Stephanie could simply link her blog content to the PLIGG and we could leave our comments there instead? I mention the PLIGG because it is more robust and should be able to handle the traffic. Just brainstorming, I’m blogless and am making a big cyber-space guess. I offer my thoughts in the hopes of keeping technology in its place. We should be in control of it – bossing it around just like our knitting. And remember the olden days of the internet? There was a time when many were simply just sharing things online for free. My hope is that your sharing can still be relatively cost free, and I think others would agree! Good luck.

  167. I thought maybe you’d been abducted by aliens or muggles or something. Glad you weren’t.
    Hey! Excellent! There’s a beer tap in here. Way to go, Steph.

  168. I often think how lucky we are that you take the time, effort, and now considerable expense to bring us entertaining stories, inspiring knits and a really great heart. I’m sorry that your web people keep screwing you over. Thank you for your blog 🙂

  169. Welcome back; I wondered if your anti-nasty comments post had provoked a nasty response!
    BTW–it’s not ‘hitting it with a sledgehammer’. It’s a ‘specifically modulated directional vibrational adjustment’.
    Friend of mine told me ‘Yeah. Also known as BELT THAT SUCKER ONE!’. And she’s right. It worked.
    And it was fun!

  170. Maybe you should think about using ads to offset your expense. It’s not like anyone here is against yarn shopping!
    or needle shopping,
    or notions, love the notions,
    or maybe a new knitting bag,
    or, speaking of closets, maybe some yarn storage solutions.

  171. I will admit to be incredibly stupid when it comes to the blog thing. I tried for an entire day to reach your site and was redirected to a page that acknowledged your existence, but didn’t let me access your blog. I mistakenly believed that perhaps when you write to your blog you had to actually sort of turn it off. Because this isn’t the first time it wouldn’t let me view your blog.
    On another note, I agree with the other ladies about having sponsors. You are very generous with your endorsements of these fine companies. I believe that we, the Harlot groupies, have been directed by you to all sorts of places to get OUR YARN FIXES SATISFIED. I think that having advertisements is not selling out, but the cost of doing business.
    It is good to have you back.. I look forward to my morning coffee with you. You bring good things to LIFE..

  172. I’ve been having a ton of problems lately with that same webhost, I wonder if your blog is the reason my site was failing? 🙂 Not that I blame you, of course… That host is freaking stupid. I’ve had nothing but problems with them… The minute I have time, I’m finding a new one that’s got a few less employees with lobotomies.

  173. All the time I was getting the “server not found” page I had visions of you on the phone saying “Blog broke. Fix blog now!”
    Yes the page does load much faster.

  174. It is so good to have you back online. The blog is faster than before and just as lovely. I especially liked how you took the edge off by showing us photos of yarn. It’s surprising how relaxing wool can be – better than ativan.
    I was wondering if you could ask one of those magic people who ‘make blog go’ if they can modify the code a bit so that it can be viewed on a PDA web browser. I would love to be able to read your blog while I’m on the go.

  175. I must say I get really upset with the “webpage not available” message. I have become accustomed to reading you every day and things just don’t seem right when you are not available. The sun doesn’t shine and I don’t get my daily chuckle!
    Thanks for the new server!

  176. I missed you too. I always check your blog first when I take a little break at work, and it just wasn’t the same without you! Glad you’re back.

  177. I’m not surprised that you need a server to yourself, your blog is way to popular for a shared server! To follow your analogy – you’re clothes are crowding out everyone else’s in the closet!
    Consider it one of the crappy parts of being a popular blog. And, if you ever needed to get a good stats counter, just to prove that you’re getting a lot of readers from all over the world, gostats.com offers great service (shameless plug on my part, it’s my boyfriend’s company).

  178. I missed you too, Stephanie! I made my husband check the cable because I was convinced it was broken – Yarn Harlot never goes away…
    I think it’s just lovely to have so many people miss you when your blog goes away. I think my sister asked me once if I was posting or not, but that’s about all the attention I ever garner at mine!

  179. I am glad you have a new blog provider. I was concerned when I couldn’t get to your blog. If you have more troubles I highly reccomend my provider- blogcity.
    If you come to the Knox Farm Fiber Fest in the fall, I would be happy to help in anyway you need, including introducing you to the Buffalo Brew Pub. They are a microbrewery that is not far from where I live, and I don’t live too far from Knox Farm

  180. Thank you for opening back up the closet. I don’t understand all that stuff – but it must be bad. It is a sad day when Readers are considered a ‘malicious attack’. I am sorry that we have hounded you so dreadfully. I do have all your books and i will be happy to buy them again if it will make it easier. I can open them as many times as I want and no mysterious ‘Server Muggles’ can stop me. At least I haven’t come across a locked-unopenable book by anyone yet.
    This is a community and I was worried about what happened. I thought it was a retaliation against one of the previous posts. It seems awfully fishy to me that this all happened so closely together…conspiracy conspiracy conspiracy…

  181. Stephanie
    I’m sooo glad you’re back. I know it must have been pure hell on your end. Like many of the others, I kept clicking to see when you’d be back up. Unlike many of the others, at first I thought my wifi had gone kablooey again. With my sweetie out of town, I had scant hope of fixing it myself, although the tech guys and gals at sonic.net are worth their weight in qiviut. You know, they’d probably have been able to walk me through it. Anyway, I think you must have had a major vocabulary lesson to come up with an adequate collection of terms of abuse for the closet twerps. Sheesh. Attack, they say??? WE’LL show them what an attack really looks like, won’t we??? When will these snerts learn that READERS read blogs, we don’t attack them!
    Thanks for the soothing yarn. That, and breathing, kept my blood pressure within safe limits.
    I’m in total agreement with the knitters who have already offered to help subsidize the closet. A nifty PayPal button, or something even cooler (Ken, do you have any ideas? Please???) and you *know* how the knitters will respond. Think KWB.
    We love you, dearest Harlot. We’d be proud to help keep you afloat. (Ahem, no enlightened self-interest here, just pure altruism. Yeah, that’s it. Altruism. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)
    ARRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
    I just tried to preview this post and I got an error message!!!!! (she runs screaming into the woods….)
    AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!
    I can’t even POST it, now!!!
    AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa………..

  182. Oh, I’m so glad your blog is back! (That amount of relief after only a couple days loss is telling …)
    Do you suppose that your webhost believed it was DOS because he just couldn’t conceive of that many knitters in the world? Haven’t you encountered this prejudice in other arenas before?
    Also, I get so much from this daily read, that I would be willing to subscribe. (Hey, that’s a big deal, coming from Mrs. Always-Looking-for-the-Free-Lunch!)
    No site ads, please. Their flashing and gyrating are mostly a pain, but if what they advertised was really keyed to the blog topic — i.e., yarn/knitting — I might not mind so much.
    Just no mortgage offers, credit card deals, diet pills, insurance, ‘investments’ or dating services, LOL!

  183. I wondered what had happened. I’m glad you and Ken (and the new Closet People) fixed everything. I also love Elizabeth Peters…maybe I’d better reread her books…

  184. If you have even a blip of a problem with this one, please post something. My husband had the same problems and ended up having to get an actual whole server all to himself. Not a problem since. I am sure there are other readers that can point you toward good directions too.
    That said, I am glad you are back and hope this fix is the last one.
    Nice closet…love the shoe racks. 😉

  185. Ken, thanks for letting Stephanie “play” with us.
    And I’ll assume that buying your books are in part paying for the blog space. Just tell us when we need to start paying dues to read the blog.

  186. Thank you for explaining this! I thought the reason I couldn’t open your closet was *my* internet server! I thought the reason it finally worked was because I finally paid them!!!

  187. Tried commenting before, but got an error message, several times.
    Just wanted to congratulate you on coming out of the closet. So to speak.
    This is definitely much faster. Are you taking up bandwidth contributions? I’ll send in a donation if so.

  188. Oh thank goodness! This closet is much faster – much more efficient! I am so happy you’re back. If we need to kick in a buck or two, let us know. You know we would! 🙂 xoxoxo

  189. When will those muggles realize that knitters really DO do things in massive numbers . . . like visiting well-written blogs, attending book signings, signing up for sock clubs . . . The frequent pauses to look at pretty wool definitely helped the story along without making my blood pressure go up, but yours? You, Ken, and Joe deserve something nice. Like, say, more actual wool to put your physical closets?? Glad you’re back! And the new closet looks really roomy. Lots of room for (more) wool!

  190. Whew!! Welcome back! I am sure you know you were missed…and am glad you have taken measures to assure no repetition of such a disaster! Hey, you’re part of my knitting world; the part I look forward to visiting daily. I’ve been looking at wool in an effort to stay calm…so glad to have you back, Ruth in NJ

  191. You renovated the bedroom. Maybe it’s time for someone to mysteriously redo an entire closet and put cedar walls into it while you’re away? Just a thought…
    Glad you’re back!

  192. What is the yarn in the first photo for Saturday’s post? It is lovely! And what are you making with it? I adore the colors, but the colorway is even better!

  193. what a great metaphor. What a bunch of lousy tech support. another example of how the world outside doesn’t understand how our crafty community works and how involved we all our! well done for sticking with it and getting a new giant amazing closet sorted out!

  194. Obviously this was just another CHOKE mission to disturb the knitting ethos. I am so glad that they were inadequate to defeat the power of the Yarn Harlot and her team of operatives.
    And the yarn…and the knitting thereof… simply priceless – not to mention gorgeous. Inquiring knitters want to know – names, stitches, etc.! But only when the time is right.
    Glad you are back and have survived this experience, as well as the “how many events can possibly be crammed into the last moments of the school year” turmoil. I think I have spent most of my weeknights since about May 31 at something related to school – and I don’t have a high school graduate until next year!
    Help keep us parents of teens sane until school starts again (last summer you were such a help).

  195. Yay for big new closets and boo to guys who don’t/won’t accept the knitter traffic as OBVIOUS.
    I just spent 10 days in Nova Scotia and at Have A Yarn in Mahone Bay they’re longing to have you come, envious I’d see you in person. And at Lismore Wool and Baddeck Yarns you were spoken of fondly.
    Your Canadian knitting-mates are so proud of you! (and I bought yarn in all 3 shops, doing my part for international relations!)

  196. The pains of popularity, huh? What you really need to do is find a webhost run by a knitter. That would fix everything. Or at last you would have to explain less.

  197. Beware!! Attack of the knit-blog readers!! Tech geeks everywhere beware, no server is safe from the maurading gangs of yarn toting, pointy stick wielding cyber-space spies!
    (geesh)
    Sorry you had to endure not only tech issues but also crappy service – there is a special circle in hell for those who provide bad customer service (and a special section for tech service) a decidedly hand-knits free zone [or maybe they all have to wear bulky acrylic sweaters with ponies on them…]
    **Day 2 of trying to post this comment…**

  198. Hurray, you’re back! We’ve missed you too!
    Can I touch back on a previous subject? The “episode” regarding your age… I have a simple solution that my dad taught me many years ago, but can still be used with slight modification. All you need is a tape measure (that’s probably the worst step in your house… finding the blasted tape measure!). Here’s what you do… pull it out to the current year in inches. Since this is a new millennia from when I learned the trick, you use the 100 inch mark as representing the year 2000. So, the year 2007 would be represented by the inch mark of 107 (just remember the last two digits of each). Now, fold the tape measure in half so that the beginning end is even with the 107 inch mark. Look down the tape measure to the year of your birth (For example, I was born in ’69, so I look at the inch mark of 69), and directly across from that will be the age you turn for that year. (For me, I’ll be 38 on my birthday, which is the inch mark directly across from 69.)
    For what it’s worth, your blog is my favorite!! It’s not just fluff and rambling, it’s also useful and tutorial (and not just about knitting!), that’s what I find so compelling about it!

  199. Some vaguely malicious/bored deity has been messing with us this week…ALL of us I’m beginning to think. I’m not going to name names but I know his work. My beloved bike was stolen out of my garage when I was MOWING THE F#$KING LAWN, a beat-up drug-ho ended up on my doorstep (I live in a NICE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!), AND the muffler fell off my car. This week. I’m afraid to look up or stand under tall trees at this point. And some people at work had large woes as well, and when that “server not found” thing popped up Friday I KNEW you had gotten clobbered too. Cause it’s just that damn kind of week.
    I’m thinking of you, and co-miserating. A new bike is going to cost a pretty penny too. But if we can support your server costs in any helpful way, you know we will. Just let us know Stef. We love you and don’t want our crazy numbers to make you broke.
    Julie, aka, Bikeless in Madison

  200. Hi Stephanie — I’m sorry to hear about your blog trials and all that, but the photos you posted were sufficiently distracting that I’d like to ask that a future blog post devote some space to that utterly delicious sea-glass-green yarn that looks like it’s about to become a gorgeously patterned pair of socks. Glad that you’re back in business. — Yvonne.

  201. me again from florida i only had two you can not
    do that so far
    i am reading dean koontz brother odd this may be
    an attack of the badach and this is just a very
    good series of books does any one remember
    open the door richard we will keep hollering

  202. Thank goodness you’re back. I wondered what happened to the closet when I couldn’t access it yesterday. Does your former closet owner know the rage of a million un-entertained knitters? We have pointy sticks and we obviously like nothing better than to use them. Perhaps we should all e-mail them to this effect. Anyhow, glad you have a nice, open closet now. I am trying to explain your popularity and the sheer number of knitters in the world to a non-knitting muggle friend. He doesn’t get it, but if it’s any consolation, he says he wouldn’t lock your closet.

  203. Funny story, well-told, as usual. Thanks for letting us know what happened; I was wondering.

  204. Gee, Harlot, funny you should mention the adult industry. Several years ago, I was consulting to a small, very creative company that did stuff that was computer-related. They needed to figure out how to do certain things efficiently on the Internet, so one of the managers suggested one of the programmers look at adult sites as those were miles ahead of the rest of retail sites at the time. So the female programmer did so and learned some interesting things, some of which were actually related to computers and very helpful to the small company.
    Alas! Small creative company was bought by uptight, controlling, non-computer company thousands of miles away. Next thing you know, a corporate Borg wanted that programmer fired for visiting porn sites during work hours. Unbeknownst to anyone, Corporate had decided to monitor everyone’s computer use at the small company. The manager in question let the Borg know exactly what was going on and why they were idiots. But it was a marriage not made in heaven and soon everyone in small company had to look new jobs.
    Anyway, I had a Canadian beer in your honor at dinner last night. Glad you’re in a spacious new closet.

  205. Thank goodness you’re back!!! I also blamed my yarnless work environment/mgmt for being unable to read my daily fix of Harlot! Breathe, fondle yarn, everything will be ok . . .

  206. Fortunately, I’ve been busy the past few days and totally missed the blog breakdown. Ken seems to have pretty good tech skills–would it be possible/less costly in the long run to buy your own server and have him help you maintain it? I’m sure it’s a greater cost up front, but as previously mentioned, you could host a fund drive for it. Just think, an end to relying on strangers, rude, clueless IT guys and their lying closets forever!

  207. There’s a special spot in Hades for techies who do not consider user needs over technological needs.
    (Same level as ambulance chasers and a certain business manager, who shall remain nameless and sends a lot like the people in your old closet.)
    So it is wonderful that you have a new “closet.” I lust for a real (not virtual) walk-in closet. Heck, I’d kill for a linen closet.
    Can’t you tax deduct the cost of the new one? (at least part?)
    Janet

  208. So far so good, imagine, websites having readers, who knew?
    To combat the priceyness of the new closet I suggest knitting stash yarn for awhile. It always makes me feel like I’m saving a bundle.

  209. Makes you wonder how those techs can be so computer smart and yet so dense at the same time. I’m glad you found one that has a little common sense. I was getting so aggravated just reading about what you went through, although the pretty yarn pics did have a soothing effect. Glad you’re back!

  210. The picture of the cool blue wool was just the ticket to cool down my blood as it began to boil.
    I have a mental image of you flipping your hair like the prettiest girl in highschool and saying “I’m so popular. Do you know how popular I am?” 😉

  211. Well, aside from the fact that I think a webhost should be appropriately publisher-expense account worthy, it’s clear it’s time for you to find a monkey to shake a tin can at all us doorknob turners.

  212. YMMV, but I believe that you need a wee chat with your accountant. I believe what you have there is a deductible business expense for advertising for your writing. I am vaguely familiar with the Canada Revenue rules for performing artists, and I believe the ones for writers are quite similar.
    And you also need to smack those techies upside the head. Anyone who can’t tell a DDoS from popularity is a moron. I’ll even send them my latest copy of IEEE Security magazine for them to figure it out!

  213. I find it hysterical that they thought it was a DoS attack from each IP address contacting you once. Do they know you have a knitting blog, maybe they- like the bookstores- refuse to believe that there are this many knitters.
    Thanks for getting a dedicated server to keep Yarn Harlot Blog alive. I’ll go out and buy another book, if that helps 🙂

  214. Well, poo. Handled with aplomb, it sounds like. And I like how many projects you have on the go too…

  215. You only said “…pig DUNG?” I know which coprophagic term I would have used. It would not have been “dung.”
    Now I’m mad again — this is exactly like the Blue Moon Socks thing. They arbitrarily shut your blog DOWN! Just like that! Assuming that there can’t be THAT many knitters, so there must be a PROBLEM? What a dis!
    Why is it that the “adult” closets are never locked??? They have all kinds of crazy people running in and out of their closets all the time, often more than one at a time, and their closets contain no shirts whatsoever, although they ARE full of horsewhips, cucumbers, handcuffs, spike-heeled shoes, leather underwear, and activities more properly conducted in bathrooms than in closets … but THEIR closets work just fine, the doors are always open, and, in fact, their closets even overflow and generate junk mail and pop-ups to clutter up other people’s closets, who did not even invite them over!
    Damn, the government should pay knitters to make a daily visit to Al Qaeda sites if we have this kind of shut-down power.
    As for cost? Do a Pay-Pal contributor button. We won’t think it’s crass. Or do sidebar ads like Crazy Aunt Purl. Nobody complains over there.
    Rant over. Glad you’re back. Thanks for the pix… Wool. Pretty, pretty, wool.

  216. I shouldn’t find it so amazing to share yarn preferences AND a love for Emerson … I mean for Elizabeth Peters and her Amelia Peabody series. My strategy with that is never to read so fast that I am on the last book available in the series. When a new one comes out, I go ahead and read the one just before it.
    Obviously that can’t work with your blog. When it’s down, all entries are down. Rats. Better go buy another of your books. And see me raising my hand? That means count me in with everyone who said we’ll chip in for the cost of the new closet in whatever way you offer up to us. And I can’t forget this — Bravo, Ken! Bravo!!
    ~ Dar, who also thought her computer had failed her miserably

  217. I’m all in favor of your “Here, have some pretty wool” stress-busting tactic. These pics are going in my screensaver slideshow at work – it’s about half yarn/knitting pr0n, and the other half pretty flower closeups because I work in a tiny office in a basement.

  218. I knew whe I saw that “Server Not Found” error that things were not boding well for you – or Ken! Do you pay him in wool :)?

  219. P.S. — Husband agrees, and points out “The Yarn Harlot would not be selling out. It’s an online publication with expenses to cover. Name a serious magazine that doesn’t have ads … Harper’s has ads, Mother Jones, Utne Reader … even the Economist has ads.”

  220. Sorry, I made a serious macro error in my url twice in a row above. Mercury retrograde. Ugh. Here I am.

  221. So glad you’re back – we missed you too! I agree with some of the others that you should have yarn stores/companies advertise on your site. Goodness knows you give plenty of free advertising, but this would help with the cost of keeping your blog up for your faithful readers, and those faithful readers would be happy to check out links to more great sources for yarn!

  222. DH and I had the following conversation the other night:
    me: Is the cable doing that thing again? [i.e. no internet]
    him: Huh? No, I’m transferring something huge.
    me: Oh… I guess Stephanie has a new post up again. Her server’s down.
    Anyway. Where’s your paypal tip jar? If we all put in a quarter, I don’t think you’d have to worry about hosting ads.

  223. Oh my. That’s all terrible, except with a good ending for your readers. I have three closets, only because a staircase has been closed off.

  224. Interesting… How does that saying go? “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” or something like that?
    Again with the underestimating the power of knitting…. do you think that the old server would be acceptable to more bandwidth providing if you let them know that you’re an author? That could help…
    Btw, to cut the cost, you could put an ad somewhere on the bottom or the side or something like that. Make it yarn related. XD
    PS: The comment thing hates me. =(

  225. I panicked a bit, thought perhaps the Canadian interwebs was broken. Yay, new closet. Boo, butthead server.
    A papal button here would be great!

  226. Wonderful new closet! Thanks for making it so easy for us. Sorry you had to encounter so many problems.

  227. As for porn… Your old host does serve the porn industry as well. They even bragged about how they were able to host some of those high-bandwidth adult sites.
    Oh, and your situation was the last straw for me hosting my own sites. I’ve switched web host too… Actually, I followed you to your new host. We’ll find out together if they’re any good. 🙂

  228. You’re so sweet! Thanks for spending the money to keep us all reading. And the yarn pictures were perfect for getting us through all of your frustration. Hopefully this will fix it for a lonnng time. And thank goodness for Ken, ay?

  229. Steph,
    I’m holding to the ‘if you build it, the money will come’ philosophy of blogging. The price was worth the dedicated server. Is this just the coffee talking? I don’t think so. I noticed when I logged on today that your blog (as full of pictures as it was) loaded almost instantaneously. In the old closet, there were days when the pictures would load slowly, partially, or not at all. I think you’re going to be really happy with the dedicated server. Oh yeah, and whatever you’re making with that light turquoise wool, it’s really really pretty (not that the other stuff is ugly, I just like the turquoise ‘thingy’ the best).

  230. I’m glad you’re back! What a lovely new closet. (Too bad it’s pricey… but I guess that’s the real estate market these days?) I think you should make a stink at the old closet and try to get your money back.
    Oh… and sorry for maliciously reading your blog with great frequency. I hadn’t realized it was so offensive. I wonder if the bookstores are going to hide your books, to protect you from offensive readers maliciously buying and reading your books? I sure hope not! (Good thing I already have copies of the first four.)

  231. Ahhh, so it wasn’t my little rural ISP. I’m sorry the new closet is so much more expensive. But it’s sure nice! I wish I could think of some constructive way to help you pay for the new closet. I so look forward to reading what you have to say on a regular basis!

  232. Is not the purpose of an ISP (internet SERVICE provider) in general, and specifically a web server to serve files? This is an example of yet another IT department untethered to the profit-counting side of the house. Had the sales people explained you were now using a higher tier of service, there was some chance greater than zero that you might have remitted the additional funds (aka profit) to the service provider. In what business model does it make sense to say “take your business elsewhere” without attempting to renegotiate for a higher price? In this case, the outcome is exactly the right solution if you are dealing with NSPs (no service providers). Good luck with new guys. Might be worth offering to teach them to knit.

  233. As my husband said, “How freakin’ rude!” of the ISP! I’d gladly pay a dollar or two for the privilege of reading your delightful blog, though I think the folks who suggested it should be a business expense may also have a good point.
    The new “closet” looks nice! Good luck! 🙂

  234. Having spent many years of my life coming out of the closet, the irony of being invited to revel in being ‘in’ the closet is almost, but not quite, too much! For the entertainment and yarny sustenance I will venture into your closet. It feels ok as long as everyone else is invited in too – which is exactly how you have constructed this closet. Have you thought about turning your hand to cabinet-making?

  235. Thanks for making sure that we got through that with the lovely wool that you added….. I can’t imagine how you got through it without it!!
    And I am sure that you ahve seen this several times in these comments but, what lovely distracting wool it is!! I paticurilaily like the top picture! (le sigh)

  236. I was convinced that someone got very mad about your telling people to be nice on the world wide web, so they somehow made you go away. (It’s the conspiracy lover in me.) Sorry to hear that it has been such an ordeal.
    Not to be a wet blanket, or a pain in the ass even, but I’m still getting a “server not found” message using Firefox. (I’m on IE right now, much to my dismay.) Just thought you’d want to know.
    Glad you’re back. The world is a sad, sad place without you.

  237. So glad to have you back and check out the happening cedar closet with all the room and fancy door!
    Loved all the wool.
    Oh honey, put up a donation button. I’m sure we all will donate. Even $1 from every reader will go quite a long way.

  238. My, it’s been an odd couple of days in the blogosphere. Perhaps Mercury is retrograde.
    I think that porn companies own their servers, instead of “renting” space on them. You could always ask. Or get Ken to.

  239. You’re right. Wool does take the edge off. But still, how infuriating!
    Love the seafoam socks, and the rainbow socks. (And also the sweater and the Monkey socks.) But the seafoam has to be my favorite – where’d you get the yarn?
    Computer guys’ reasoning is always a little weird – almost as bad as certain bankers, in this case. My sincerest condolences, and I hope the twitch goes away. And the obligatory “All Hail Ken!” (I hope his twitch goes away too. But fortunately, there are such things as wool.)

  240. Ahhhh a new closet! The bigger the better, I always say. Lots of room for all of us! 🙂 Again, the muggles just don’t know what they are dealing with, right? “It’s JUST A KNITTING BLOG” … “how many people could be interested in that?” HAH! As always, Stephanie, you tell a GREAT story….it’s always a joy to read. Thanks!

  241. OK…………………I just kind of missed all those EXTRA–duplicate–triplicate, etc., posts that we all got used to …. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

  242. Thrilled to have you back, Your Harlotness! I add my *ditto* to all those who whould be happy to contribute to your new server costs. Hey, you’re one of us and knitters help knitters.
    PS – I’m another Elizabeth Peters fan! Woo hoo!
    Barbara L in MA

  243. wow – I am shocked by how often technology just blows up in your face! Isn’t there some sort of rule that these kinds of things can only happen so many times to one person? especially such and nice person? I think you’ve had way more than your fair share already!
    Glad to see you’re back up, and I second (or 292nd) the option of ads or a “donation to the blog fund” button 🙂

  244. Definitely in favour of the idea of having little advertisement buttons linking to sites where we can buy all the yummy yarn we see you knitting with. As an Aussie, I drool every time I see all the gorgeous yarn pictures on your site, but have nowhere to get it here 🙁 So, by having links to where I can buy all that delightful yarn, you win (getting advertising dollars to pay for your server) and I win (getting to add to my stash).
    BTW, what is that gorgeous multi-coloured striping sock yarn you’re knitting with? (2nd pic from bottom) I love it!

  245. Stephanie,
    I have just discovered your blog and think you are marvellous. I am a knitting addict and have just given up my high-flying (read stressful and soul-destroying) job to find a job that somehow involves me knitting for a living.
    I feel for your techno-craziness. I have just spent the whole weekend waiting at home for my internet provider to fix my broadband, only to be told today that they accidentally closed my account and would I like to open a new one?
    Really?
    Keep up the funny writing and I look forward to reading it.
    Angela

  246. Many goodnesses to KEN !!
    Congrats to you Stephanie !!
    It sure took abit of doing !!!
    …THREE TIMES THE CHARM !!!
    Now THAT’s something to celebrate !!
    ~~did I hear someone say Closet Party !?

  247. It’s still not right though, I’ve tried three times to comment and failed. Keep the receipt for the hosting fees and set it off against the tax on your writing, you could probably offset some of your more interesting yarns this way but don’t get too creative with that one (“I’m only knitting them to be interesting to the blog and thereby increase my book sales. I hate cashmere really”) Talk to whoever does your taxes about what you can claim as allowable business expenses.

  248. You might want to put your old server people in touch with blue moon’s old bank people. Nahh…they’d never get it!!!!

  249. Hi. Good news on cedar-lined closet.
    Any chance of updating total of MSF donations with new bells-and-whistles capabilities? I so enjoyed seeing the total mount until all went “boom” last time betrayed by server.
    There is probably a Murphy’s Law for Servers out there somewhere, but in its absence, I do like one of the Addendums to Murphy’s Law which runs:
    “Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.”
    Keep up good work. You too, Ken.

  250. Phew! Just as I´ve discovered you, I thought I had lost you – welcome back!
    This is my first post and maybe you have answered this a million times before – but do you ever come over to Europe on one of your trips? because I for one would love to meet you and I don´t think I´ll be making it Canada or the US anytime soon. But I´m willing to travel in Europe!!
    Another quick question for you and your readers:
    I´m going to Latvia/ Estonia and Finland on holidays this summer. Is there any yarn in particular I should look out for?
    Congratulations re your new home. I hope it brings you health, wealth and success!

  251. I knew you were funny in a wonderfully realistic way but I have to say I was quite impressed with, “Here, look at some wool. It takes the edge off.” Funny. Profound. That is exactly what I do in when stressed, something related to handling or ordering wool. I can’t figure out why BMFA and STR came to mind when I was reading about your server problem? At any rate, I, too, would click on a PayPal Donate button. And one last thing, I finally have to admit it, I’m a knit-like-the-Yarn-Harlot wannabe, the Kauni is already ordered.

  252. OK I am sorry to ask you a question that needs an answer, but WHAT is that beautiful bottle-green yarn that is being knit into a cabled thingie? I adore that color. It makes me think of the color of old 1960s coke bottles and the ocean off certain special northern shores. If you have time and can say so in your next post, I would love to know what it is.

  253. I’d like to recommend pair.com as a Web host. They are awesome and would never pull such shenanigans.

  254. Hi!
    I’m often reading; no; let’s say attacking, your blog, and I’m often laughing because of what you post, but actually, I’m laughing loud because of your adventures on the web! This, and “Socks that rock”…….. My God!!!!!
    Welcome back!!!

  255. Nice closet! I got in it much, much faster than the old one, and the wool therapy pictures tempered my rage at your former host as you told the whole sordid story. I really missed peeking in your closet lately! Glad to see the new one.

  256. Rather than understand that there are thousands of individuals that want to read about your knitting, they find it more believable that someone would attack a knitter’s website. A crocheter’s conspiracy perhaps??

  257. You’re back! I thought it was *my* computer acting up all this time. I even missed the previous post about Peters & Audible – loooove Audible and looooove Elizabeth Peters!
    I’m going to have to order your books on Audible so I can listen whilst knitting and spinning and get some of the Harlot’s crafty-mojo. 😀

  258. Glad you’re back! I so enjoy reading your blog was quite upset when it wasn’t there. (Even though I’m a muggle and don’t know from yarn. Or knitting.)
    Hoping the twitch goes away soon!
    -k

  259. You’re not going to like this, but how about a ‘donate to the closet’ button?
    I pay $20 a year for magazines I like/read a lot less than I like/read your blog. you can make it a tiny, hard-to-find button if you like, would be happy to contribute a little for my entertainment.
    Oh, and strangely enough, I had an urge to re-read “The Crocodile on the Sandbank” the very day you posted about it (although I read your post later) and my children obliged by being good, and I was able to sneak the whole book in at various points from 7 AM until 1 AM the next day. Then I read your post…

  260. Hi Stephanie, I know that we (readers) are a joy to accommodate and your blogginess helps generate books sales but have you considered posting one or two ad links on your site in order to pay for the continued upkeep of the cedar closet? I’m sure you would be rightly picky about who you allowed in but considering your readership I’m sure you have some statistics that could make vendors drool. –Rach

  261. Thank goodness! I thought it was something with me or on my end. I, too, kept hitting the refresh button, all for naught. Glad you’re back and wow, love those steeks and that sweater from the day before. 🙂

  262. I agree with all the folks who mentioned advertising. I know that can seem a distasteful option, but we would not hold it against our Harlot if she needed some help to keep our favorite blog running! Seriously, you brighten our days so much, a few ads isn’t going to spoil that! Alternatively, you might be able to sell ad spots to some yarn stores or purveyors that you would like to support – I know there have been many projects that you have made that have turned into purchases for me! Think of what you have done with Knitters Without Borders – imagine what this kind of traffic could do for a yarn store, book store, or some other small business?

  263. Love the new better closet but find it dismaying you are spending your own money on it when we are getting so much enjoyment out of it. I don’t know which would be easier for you to do: have paying advertisers or have those readers that want to pay a small fee. It just isn’t fair it is your expense.
    The photos of the beautiful wool definitely helped keep the aggravation at your old blog administration down to a manageable level. What twits they are!

  264. Obviously the problem is that your former IT people are not knitters. If they host adult sites… well least said about what they might be into, if they host that successfully. Thankfully your problems have been solved by people closely associated to and married to a knitter. Its always best that way, isn’t it. I’d subscribe or do a paypal as others said, and I’m not averse to ads. Paticularly yarn ads. And needle ads. And hook ads. Oh just give me a string and a needle, please.
    I’m working on some lace! Just lacey topped socks, but it is bonafide lace. It was just a wee short time ago that you gave me the clue to why I could not figure out knitting (I knit combined), and then I found more clues and voila lace. This adventure to knitting is charming, enchanting even. Currently all encompassing. My corchet and ongoing embroideries are suffering and they are starting to shout. Knitting socks works so well in front of campfires and on back decks. Its not nearly as reliant on good light as a lot of things. Its the perfect summer portable activity.
    About this new closet, you do have chairs in the new closet right? And coffee?

  265. Would now be a bad time to tell you that I haven’t been able to leave a comment since you posted this entry?
    yes? Ok, back to look at the wool.

  266. Dude. That was close. What is wrong with the muggles that they just don’t get it that there are a lot of us knitters, and that we aren’t a bunch of dotty old biddies (although when we are, we’ll still be reading) who don’t understand the new-fangled blog thing?
    Geez.
    Anyway. Glad you are back!

  267. I thought it was my computer that wasn’t letting me in the closet. Love your new closet. So glad your back.

  268. Yep still letting people in and out of the closet hurahhhh. Bt the way –HOw many wips do you have on the go at once?

  269. I’ve never commented before but I have to try (do you read past the 360th comment?) and see if you’ll say where that kanla wool can be found! I must have some! 🙂
    p.s. love your blog and am very glad it’s back up!

  270. I’m glad you’re back. I missed going through your closet and trying on the nehru collared shirts.

  271. I’ll have you know I read your whole “closet” post to Mr. Beth last night. Poor fellow was trying to watch a movie or something. But he remembered about the blue shirts from before. (He’s doing well. I’m bringing him around so slowly that he hardly notices. I’m almost signed up for a full-day workshop for beginning shepherds at the WI S&W F. But I digress.) We are both very impressed with the new closet. I say, deduct the cost rather than hassle with ads, advertisers, links, feedback, etc., because it might get complicated if you tried to do both.
    By the way my parents took a trip to Canada last week and felt like they never met a ‘real’ Canadian, just tour guide crews. Suggestions for a better trip for next summer?
    Back to socks….

  272. after i determined that it wasn’t my internet connection and after a day or two figured there was something wrong on your end, I decided not to panic and imagine the worst. I decided instead to wait patiently for the post that explained it all. thanks for not disappointing!

  273. I won’t post my identity as I was attacked on-line by someone because I posted a blog entry about your June 19th post. Stephanie, a LOT of people who “were” your fans feel that this post generated a feeding frenzy looking for the person to whom you referred to in that post. Some of the comments knew who it was and that will get around. One commenter stated that “they will no longer buy their yarn – too bad, because it isn’t bad yarn…” NOT GOOD! I have had a tonne of hits to my blog and that comment which has left me shaken. You had to have know what kind of support for you this post would generate? I can’t even politely disagree with you without being told I was attacking you… “oh YOU must be the one.” and “what the hell is your problem?” and “Stephanie is right!” NO, STEPHANIE IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT as are we not always right. My post was about the feeding frenzy that followed the post and I got attacked. So did some other bloggers who did not agree with you.

  274. I think only you could make the story of a server crashing entertaining. I am also willing to help with the new server costs. I would love to support one of my fave blogs!

  275. I think your site comes up much quicker now. The yarn is beautiful – very soothing.

  276. Steph, girl, (taking you by the shoulders and looking intently into your eyes so you know I’m not kidding) it’s time to swallow your pride and put up a link to allow readers to donate to pay for the new closet. I know you are a proud, “I’ll do it myself” kind of woman, but being a true member of a community means not only creating a community, nurturing a community, but allowing, yes ALLOWING, the community to care for all its members, including, you. I said, INCLUDING. YOU.
    You have received so many supportive comments and emails, we really love you and want you to succeed and WANT to help you.
    I know first hand how allowing others to help you strengthens everyone. I fell off a 12 foot orchard ladder last August and fractured my spine in 2 places. I had just joined a church 8 months prior and not being a regular kind of attendee, I thought no one knew me. I was wrong, people wanted to bring us casseroles and wonderful food and I was really grateful, not only because I didn’t have to eat dh’s beans and weinies, but because it just mattered that I get it that being part of a community means sometimes being in the middle and being cared for. It was very hard. I cried alot (not where anyone could see me, of course). Somehow allowing these strangers to care for me made me a better person. Not that you need improving, of course, that was just my experience, but if you would allow us to donate to fund the blog server, I think good would happen for everyone.
    And I apologize for the long post.

  277. Glad to have you back! If you want to put a paypal button to donate to the yarn harlot blog fund, I would frequently be willing to contribute. I would guess that if all of us chipped in $1/month, we would do a lot to offset your new blog expenses.
    Happy new server!

  278. I totally support the “donate to fund the blog” idea! I love reading your blog and would like to help you maintain it.

  279. Glad you’re back! I hope this new closet treats you well and you won’t have to worry about any of this stuff again 🙂

  280. I knew something must have been up with the server over the weekend… thanks for a wonderful story about your trials and tribulations. So glad you’re back.
    Also: I want to know all the details about the pics you’ve posted. I especially love the pattern you’re working in the seafoam yarn and the rainbow yarn itself is too beautiful.

  281. Oh, I feel so much better! I was afraid for awhile that they locked you in the closet prior to the papering! It is so good to have you back. It can be hard to make it through some days when you’re gone. Enjoy your new roomier closet. Can’t wait to see what you pull out of it.

  282. 1. Welcome back, we missed you too!
    2. How ironic that the Yarn Harlot splurges on a new closet that won’t hold yarn. (Okay, will only hold virtual yarn.)
    3. I suggest that you hook the old web host people up with BMFA’s old bank. That way, none of them will ever get our yarn money (or handknit mittens for Christmas) ever again.

  283. Great story for interviews though. Aligns nicely with the bank story and illustrates the muggle confusion we seem to be generating.
    YES!…we like knitting this much!

  284. Well, the photos seem to load beeter now. Other than that I’m just glad you’ve got a better virtual closet. Put up a paypal button or tell us to all buy your books or something and maybe you can buy a real cedar yarn closet. Before I forget I must go tell my boyfriend that the duplex in the trendy part of town I requested after a few drinks on Saturday needs to have a cedar yarn closet. Thanks for the idea!

  285. Your new closet is very nice! 😀
    Since when is a crazy popular blog a “problem?”
    Welcome back!!
    Long live the Harlot!! hahaha
    Ok, now I’m just getting wierd.. bye!

  286. Your new closet is very nice! 😀
    Since when is a crazy popular blog a “problem?”
    Welcome back!!
    Long live the Harlot!! hahaha
    Ok, now I’m just getting wierd.. bye!
    Ok, I tried to post a comment and got this error:
    “Comment Submission Error
    Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:
    Too many comments have been submitted from you in a short period of time. Please try again in a short while.
    Please correct the error in the form below, then press Post to post your comment”

  287. Well, I’m glad now that I didn’t fire off all those emails asking you “what’s with your site???”
    What a relief to have this done and over with, right? But-the nerve of them! just closing you down like that! Ah, well.

  288. Well, I did just buy your new book, so maybe that will help pay for a part of a hanger in the new closet… like the clippy part of those hangers for pants? or maybe the pin that holds the clippy part together?
    Glad you’re up and running again!

  289. click slam cuss
    i couldn’t get in to comment, glad to see you’re here, absolutely !

  290. I’ll happily chip in for a nice shoe rack for the closet. Just let me know how to get the shoe rack to you, and you will have it.
    And randomly enough, not only do I love Elizabeth Peters and re-read those books every summer, but I also know Barbara Rosenblatt – she’s an actress in New York and I did a show with her several years ago. And still have her tapes of “The Ape Who Guards The Balance”…oops. I should send those back to her sometime soon.

  291. Well Linda in Waterloo had a fine idea.
    Given that you have enough hits regularly to make some idiot IT guy drop the site altogether, more ad places should be chomping at the bit to get on your site.
    Glad you and your Ken were able to solve your server problems.
    If you ever need a new storage space for your stash, feel free to send some of it my. I have plenty of room in my new craft room. 🙂

  292. Glad to see you back and on a new server. Companies like the old one give all IT folk a bad name. Just realize that some of us sit here, at the computer, waiting for something to finish, while knitting a wool sock in the soaring heat 🙂

  293. Oh thank you lord – I thought it was just me! After the livejournal fiasco of three weeks ago (which was a real DoS attack, and kept me offline for 2 weeks) I was thinking the Internet had some type of conspiracy going!

  294. I’ve just started reading your blog and was so upset when it wouldn’t come up. I’m not supposed to be on at work, but I even mentioned it my manager…she affectionately calls you the YarnHo. (She is NOT a knitter). Anyway, so glad you are back!

  295. I knew it wasn’t just me or my connection or that sticky knob! So glad to have you back, and such a wonderful post about wool! 😉

  296. I can’t read all the comments, so apologies if this repeats what everyone else has said… I did notice the service issues over the past few months, applaud your move to a new closet, and would very happily contribute to a “tip jar” if you want to go down that road.
    I understand the issues with this sort of arrangement, and I’m sure you do too. Perhaps if you end up getting a windfall from your readers (I suspect you would, if you did this) you could give the excess to MSF? That way you could get your blog bills paid and do some (more) good as well.

  297. SOOOOOO glad you are back! I kept trying to access your blog for my daily dose of humor, and nuttin’! I thought it was a problem here on my end. As always, you tell the best stories – spun with great humor.

  298. I too am lusting over the Kanlawool. Do tell where I can find some, please & thanks.

  299. This is also my first posting although I read your blog religiously. I stated reading the Elizabeth Peters books several years ago (before I knitted). Right now there are 18 books in the Amelia Peabody series. All are wonderful. I’m anxiously awaiting number 19. I have also read 6 of her other books. I’ve enjoyed all of them. I can’t think of anything better than knitting while listening to one of her books.

  300. I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been having all these server issues Stephanie. That really sucks. I’d be leaning towards conspiracy too and would need a lot of yarn therapy to get over it. I’ll keep my fingers this new server is good for a very long time.

  301. Sorry to hear about the blog troubles, that’s really crummy that your hosting service would do that without even so much as an e-mail warning.
    I’m sure we could easily round up 1400 people to e-mail the tech guy, you know, to represent? 😉

  302. I was heartbroken when I came and found that (to bandit your extremely-appropriate-and-easy-for-a-layperson-like-myself-to-understand metaphor)the closet had been locked. I’m so glad to see you back online! I’d have nothing to do when I got to the point that I wanted to cut this first pair of socks to little former-sock ribbons without you!
    Also, I love the idea of looking at wool to calm. I often go and pet the stash when life overwhelms. They’re quite similar, I think.

  303. If it helps with the price thing at all, I would never have purchased two of your books without reading your blog. I have three; I bought the middle one at a yarn store, had to special order the first after seeing it on your blog, and pre-ordered the third based on your blog as well.
    <3 Harlot!

  304. Gosh. Those wool pictures are soothing. Can we put some of them up in strife-ridden parts of the world? The contrast between the photographs and the wrenching of the story in between felt like a roller coaster.

  305. you know, i just figured that you were blocked for some unknown inane reason. glad to know it wasn’t just me.
    still sucks, but i’m glad you’re back up and running. 🙂

  306. Gosh, I had an evil lunchtime meeting yesterday, and was therefore spared the trauma of finding you MIA.
    Excuse me now, must mop up drool after looking at all the luscious yarn. Mmm.
    I’ve knit for years, but was seduced away from it by the quilting side of the force- but your blog has reminded me how much I love knitting and I’ve now got a couple of projects on needles. And socks next, for sure- I have to do socks, my brother-in-law adores hand knit socks.
    Thanks for the constant stream of knitterly lore and tales of your adventures. 🙂
    (Another first time commenter!)

  307. Yes, yes, I missed you terribly. You really scared me. So glad you are back with your ginormous new walk in closet. Yay *pats new server* Very nice.

  308. Ah, maybe this explains why I’ve been reading the 21st of June entry all week – the link has changed! I missed your entries, but now we’re back on form (thank goodness) and I have a backlog to read. I am a happy knitter and hope that you are now too (despite server problems and mismatching socks 🙂 )

  309. Ah, I as well have been looking at the same post for the past week (June 21), when it came up, so three new posts in one day! Almost more than my little heart can bear…
    I like the new closet – the new closet smell, all the room, the fancy new light, the soft carpet, and all those shelves! Your new closet will be much appreciated and loved by all your “attackers.”

  310. Suggestions for ways to take advantage of your huge readership and cover your hosting costs (probably echoes of what everyone else has written):
    1. Advertisements. These could be Google Adsense that are knitting related – text only and unobtrusive. Or, talk to Amy about how she gets yarn companies to do ads for Knitty. Those are pretty and value added for a knitting blog. Sometimes I discover new shops I didn’t know about.
    2. Take more advantage of the Amazon associates program. Make a book list of your favorite knitting books, provide a one liner of what you like about them, and add a link to buy them (and let people know that buying the books in this way supports you).
    3. You have several free patterns. Add another couple of patterns for sale. Make them download only, so you don’t have to deal with the hassle of shipping – it’s all automated. As long as you have a few free patterns, people won’t mind if you also have some that aren’t free.
    4. Make a “donate now” support this blog button, and let people give you small donations.
    These are all ways that shouldn’t turn off your readers.

  311. Gosh, all this time I thought the problem was on my end…
    If you don’t want to put up a button for donations and you don’t want to put up ads, perhaps you might sell a pattern? You wouldn’t have to sell it for much to get the money you need – trust me, we’ll be all over that like fuzz on mohair. Better yet, you might be able to set a minimum price for it (because companies like PayPal charge for such things) and let us set our own prices. It could be online only, since anyone who reads your blog presumably has access to some sort of computer-like device.
    I’ve been knitting the Snowdrop shawl (very slowly), and I’ve loved it. The pattern is well-written and the diagrams are easy to use. I’d happily buy a pattern from you. You kick butt.

  312. I hope you (and we!) have a wonderful experience with this new blog. Happy belated bday, too. I couldn’t comment on the bday posts because a) i was out of town when they went up and b) they weren’t commentable by the time i got around to reading them. sounds like your day was splendid (even if you did turn out to be a year older). 🙂

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