I Caved

Well, the moment you’ve been waiting for since December… I bought yarn. I was doing just fine, just sticking to the stash and avoiding the new project lure… and then, *bam*… out of nowhere one of those store closing signs jumped out into the street and wrestled me into a clearance sale. I was powerless to resist.

I’m not sure if this is local or national, but our Hancock Fabrics store is closing up shop and has things marked down. Truth be told, I’m not surprised. Their fabric selection was decent, but couldn’t really compete with JoAnn’s variety or the specialty shop’s quality. Their yarn selection was all Lion Brand, all the time so not enough to really draw in the yarn customers. I think their home dec fabric was pretty nice, but again, the casual consumer is going to go to JoAnn’s and serious decorators are going to use a higher quality product.

But even more than that, I avoided the place due to their customer service… or lack thereof. Yes, I may gripe about the big box store of JoAnn’s where you better know what you need before you go in there because you’re not going to get much advice once you’re wandering the aisles, but this place was pretty bad. They never seemed to have enough employees to keep both the cutting table and the cash register going at the same time. Yes, that means two competent people at a time… tough, I’m sure. It seems like a simple concept… customer service. Maybe we take it for granted as American consumers who are used to being courted. But I either want to be left alone in places like Target, where you expect to get zilch for customer service, or I want to be helped. I didn’t go in there looking for advice. I can sew, knit and everything in between, thank you very much. Just cut my fabric in a reasonably straight line and don’t make me wait for 15 minutes before you get a cashier to the front of the store. Often, these two demands were ignored. But anyway, they’re closing and they’re having a sale.

Things have been a little on the stressful side around chez Leslie (thus the lack of blog posting) and there are a few known coping strategies around these parts, for better or more likely, for worse. I shopped.

I was hoping to end the yarn diet with some fabulous purchase to end all purchases. Eh, not so much. I caved on some black Glitterspun to either make this shrug from Knitty or try to design some sort of lace bolero. I convinced myself that I needed this to go with a halter top I’ve started cutting out. Granted, summer will be over and the halter top/bolero/shrug layered combo look will be oh so over before I finish (or start) either of these, but whoever said I was timely in my fashion choices. The yarn was 50% off and I’m sure I can find a use for black yarn with silver glitter. And since I was caving, I got some sock yarn and wool as well, just for good measure. It was all Lion Brand, as pathetic as that is. Laurie has since informed me of her great disappointment with my collapse at the sight of cheap acrylic, but at least I didn’t totally go for Red Heart or something. It could be worse… maybe.

And then, hell, since I was on a bender, I placed a Knitpicks order. I started justifying it by saying that it is partially for my secret pal, but then I just caved and ordered two sets of needles and laceweight for me since I joined the Mystery Stole II KAL.

Yes, when stressed I run from my problems by buying yarn and signing up for complicated lace projects. At least I’m not a crack addict who turns to the pipe when all ain’t well in diss-land. Well, not yet anyway… I’m only on chapter two.

Anyway, happy post tomorrow, I promise.

Oh, and the contest winner, Erica, will be treated to a dinner on me. I thought about knitting something for the winner, but we all know that would never happen.

So will I wait until Rhinebeck for my next hit or will this be the start of something very, very bad…