Impulse Control and Lack Thereof

My favorite yarn shop ever (besides WEBs. But that doesn’t really count as a ‘shop.’ It is definitely a ‘Yarn Emporium.’ Completely different category.) is going out of business. It is this little place called ‘Hither and Yarn,’ about a half hour drive away from where I’m currently living. About a half hour depending on the time of day I go and how bad the traffic is.

I’m actually really depressed about this, because I find that there are so few yarn shops in Connecticut. The reason why I like Hither and Yarn is because not only do they always have the yarn I’m looking for, but they always have some kind of sale going on. Which makes The Good Stuff pretty affordable. Plus, the owner and pretty much the entire staff, are really nice and always interested in your project. Every time I have gone in there to purchase more yarn, someone that works there asks me what I’m working on and do I have any projects with me.

I LOVE that. They are the only yarn shop I’ve been in in Connecticut that takes that much of an active interest in their clientele. It makes me incredibly sad to this place close its doors.

Although now that they’re going out of business, everything is on sale. Everything. I have more Noro than I know what to do with right now. (What am I saying? We all know I’m going to make socks out of about 90% of all that Noro. Who are we kidding here?) And I’ve got enough yarn for all the projects that have suddenly come to mind. Not only for Christmas (Almost August! Crunch time is already here!) but for future projects much further down the road.

I’ve been up to Hither and Yarn twice now for their closing sales. There is this whole point system where they send out letters in the mail, and if you bring the letter in on the designated day, you get x-number of points. Bonus if you bring the envelope it came in. And you get more points for spending: For each 1$ you spend you get 1000$ ‘Prize Dollars.’ And if you buy certain items in the store, you get even more ‘Prize Dollars.’ And if you just come in on certain days of the week and participate in the Event of the Day, you get even more ‘Prize Dollars.’ 

There is like… this Point Raffle going on. Between the time that the going out of business sale started and the time that it ends, you have the chance to accumulate what they are calling ‘Prize Dollars.’ They have a whole list of things that you can win for having the most ‘Dollars.’ Like a boom box. Or a mini-fridge. I-pod shuffle. Digital camera. Pretty cool stuff, really. And I figure I can at least try to participate. I mean. I’m going to want to buy the yarn anyway. Might as well try and get a bonus from it.

I think I have a problem. I feel like I’m justifying my spending now because there are prizes for buying yarn.

Let’s just say I have no impulse control and call it good. We’ll call it what it is.

But now I have the yarn for all of my Christmas stuff. And after my first trip to the sale, I told Sam what my intentions were for pretty much every skein, hank, and cake of yarn I bought. If it wasn’t a Christmas present, it was going to be intended for bridesmaid gifts for when we eventually get married. Ideally, I would like to knit something for each of my bridesmaids, and (ideally) have them wear it in the wedding. That is going to take some time. But I figure now would be a good time to start on it. I mean. We’re not even engaged yet (still no ring dammit!) but we’ve already discussed marriage and it is going to happen. So I might as well prepare for it in advance, right?

Besides. I would much rather make a gift for each of my girls than buy something and have it not mean quite as much.

So figure if I have intent for everything I’ve bought thus far, it isn’t just lack of impulse control. Yes? Do someone agree with me? Please help me justify this.