10 balls of wool

Sometimes I just have to shake my head over Japanese trust and social conditioning.

Case in point:

When I ran out of wool the other night for a project I'm working on I discovered just how easy it is to go wool shopping in Japanese internet stores. I was quite proud of myself for finding the wool and for both getting a better price than at my usual place and saving myself the train fair to boot! I woke up the next morning and had a thank-you-for-ordering-from-us email with the bank transfer info to pay for my purchase (credit cards are gaining popularity in Japan, but the bank transfer is still the preferred mode of payment for many things). By that evening I had realized that the wool was superwash (duh!) and so wouldn't felt (double duh!). I frogged the first 4 balls worth of knitting and was relieved I had yet to do the bank transfer - cancelling my order would be easy, right? Or perhaps not. Welcome to Japan, a country where they mail off your orders BEFORE THEY HAVE RECIEVED PAYMENT. Seriously. There's the trust - trusting their customers will go forth immediately and bank transfer. The social conditioning? Well... you see... I COULD package up the yarn and send it back to them, paying only for the postage. But, well, I DID order it and... Sigh. 14 balls of black superwash anybody? Anybody?

Oh, and I still have to buy replacement yarn for that felting project I'm working on... My tiny dorm room is rapidly being taken over by yarn! I must arm myself with my trusty circulars and fight back!

On guard!!