Knitting with Katherine
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Workshops and Classes
  • Knitting Know How

The Power of a Voucher

19/5/2011

1 Comment

 
This morning, Knitting Friend and I attended a knitting coffee morning: 90 mins of coffee, cake and knitting chat with like-minded people.  Wonderful.  New yarns to play with, new patterns to oogle and stories to swap.  Lovely, just lovely. And as if this wasn’t enough, there’s a goody bag to take home and, in the goody bag, a discount voucher for yarn and yarn-related products.  Dangerous, very dangerous.

The morning ends and, with our cake-appetites sated, we all dash down stairs to appease our yarn cravings, vouchers burning holes in our bags.  There is, however, one catch: The voucher isn’t for 100% off.  Yes, I know, they rarely are but in the heat of the moment, it’s a fact sometimes easy to forget.   Well, easy for me to forget.  Or maybe not today. 

I hang back while Knitting Friend and others search pattern books.  Friend spots a pattern that she thinks I’ll like.  She’s right: A gorgeous tank top, knit in 100% cotton in an intricate, yet stunning mixture of cables and diamonds.  I desperately try to find fault with the design and eventually, with a mixture of relief and regret, replace the book back on the shelf.  But not out of my mind.  We move on.

Knitting Friend and I have been admiring the same shrug.  I’m wearing a shrug but its not the same so it doesn’t count.  We pounce on the pattern and, while I study the details, Friend studies the yarn.  Initially she selects a light blue yarn.  It’s a lovely shade and compliments her well.  Unusually, it’s not the shade I’d pick as I’ve spotted a stunning darker blue, almost purple.  Which leaves open the possibility of Friend and I both knitting the same pattern without producing exactly the same garment.  But this doesn’t negate the issue of me already having a shrug.  If not two.  And then Friend does the best thing ever: She rethinks her choice of colour and opts for the darker shade.  An excellent solution, not only for her own colouring but the versatility of the finished garment, “trans-seasonal” I believe is the term.  And so, in a matter of seconds, she saves me: Saves me from a beautiful, but unnecessary yarn purchase.  But this doesn’t completely solve the problem as my voucher is still unspent and expires in only two days.  Oh the pressure.  The anguish.  My stomach turns and I’m not sure whether it’s the unfulfilled desire to spend my yarn pennies or that the decaf coffee I ordered isn’t quite as caffeine-free as I hoped.

We part, Friend with the glow of a knitter delighted with New Project, me with the desire to lie down in a dark room.  Not good.  Home to the boys and I take the opportunity to review Stash in the hope that it’ll help quench my thirst for a suitable new project.  I rediscover my small cashmere mountain and study the proposed, accompanying pattern.  It’s still lovely but not what I want right now:  Its beauty is in its simplicity and I fancy something a bit more challenging.

We end the afternoon in our favourite department store, sharing a very early supper before Knitting Club.  Knitting Club Friend arrives, marvelling at the spectacle of two reasonably intelligent adults trying to coax a toddler with food.  It’s been one of those days.  Consultation with the crepe chef allows us to head down to the yarn department for the 25 mins before she stops cooking. Attempt Two at relinquishing yarn voucher.  The boys depart, and we browse the patterns.  I show Knitting Club Friend the pattern for tank top and she can see its merits.  We view the yarn and there are only eight of the required nine balls.  Is it a sign?  Helpful sales assistant finds the missing ball.  So maybe not a sign?  I don’t get given a voucher every day so I use the excuse to stock-up on baby-related necessities (i.e. fresh patterns and yarn).  Purchases made, and voucher finally surrendered, we head back up for pancakes and knitting.  But all is not right.  I am fretting about my purchases.  Fretting big time.  I already have a tank top.  It took ages to knit and I still love it.  Do I really need a new one?  When I have yarn for another garment arriving in the next week or so.  When, next season, I’ll have to, just have to, knit something new for winter.  When I have a stash of other garments-to-be still in their ball / skein form.   Something kicks in, logic?  Sense?  I’m not quite sure, it’s an unfamiliar feeling.  But I act upon it, curtail knitting and return the yarn and pattern. (Not all of it, after all baby needs clothes.)  And I leave, happy and voucher-less.  But only having knit three rows of Rose’s collar.  Three rows sixteen cm does not make.  I am behind.  Way behind.  Deadline again looks shaky.  Oh dear, silly Katherine.
1 Comment
Mummy
21/5/2011 11:11:41 pm

Well done the finish and fit is lovely, and what a refreshingly zesty shade of blue. The jumper and you look familiar with one another in a cosy way. I can see that it will be very useful in amongst your wardrobe.

Have you surplus yarn for a Daniel jumper? No pressure!! XXX

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    All sewn up:

    "Munro Socks" by Jo Storie.

    Picture

    Currently on the needles and making progress:

    "Winterly"

    Picture

    Stalled:

    "Mahy"
    by Karie Westermann

    Picture

    Archives

    February 2018
    July 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All
    Addiction
    Alda
    Alexus
    Alicia
    Amy Butler
    At Knit's End
    Audit
    Baby
    Baby Boy Lymer
    Baby Hat #2
    Bag
    Baptism
    Battersea
    Be Inspired Fibres
    Blanket
    Book Review
    Byatt
    Cables
    Camping Knitting
    Cat
    Charity
    Chat
    Chickens
    Children\'s Bag
    Christmas
    Christmas Bauble
    Christmas Knitting
    Christmas Stocking
    Crafternoon Tea
    Craft Market
    Crochet
    Cushions
    Deanfoot
    Denis
    Easyknits
    Edinburgh Book Festival
    Edinburgh Yarn Festival
    Ella Austin
    Erika Knight Booties
    Fair Isle
    Family
    Fine Art
    First Workshop
    Fyberspates
    Garden
    Geeky Puffin Knit Palooza
    Ginger Twist Studio
    Giveaway
    Grief
    Guest Blog
    Hair Band
    Hand Knit Warmth
    Handmade
    Harris
    Harry
    Harwood
    Hearth
    Heriot Watt
    Holiday Knitting
    Homemade
    Hot Tub
    Husband's Jumper
    Husband\'s Jumper
    Husband\'s Jumper
    Isis Tailcoat
    Jack-be-nimble
    Jacket
    Jam
    John Lewis
    July
    Jumper
    Kathy's Knits
    Knit London
    Knitting Bag
    Knitting Club
    Knitting Code
    Knitting For Baby
    Knitting Group
    Knitting Holiday
    Knitting In Public
    Knitting List
    Knitting Retreat
    Knitting Shop
    Knitting With Texture
    Knotted Cable Snood
    Ksh
    Kurt
    Lace Knitting
    Lace Scarf
    Learn To Knit
    Library
    Lickety-split
    Lima
    Luxury Workshop
    Machine Knitting
    Macmillan
    Margery Daw
    Moon
    "My Best Jumper"
    Necklace
    Neckline
    New Project
    New Year
    Not Knitting
    Oldest Son
    Patchwork
    Pattern Mistakes
    Phone Covers
    Posture
    Professional Finishing
    Purl Alpaca Designs
    Quality Workshop
    Rachel Coopey
    Resolution
    Retreat
    Ring-a-ring
    Rose
    Rowan
    Rowan Coffee Morning
    Rowan Design Consultant
    Scarf
    Secret Project 1
    Secret Project #1
    Secret Project 2
    Selvedges
    Sewing
    Sewing Basket
    Shaping
    Shoes
    Simpson's Knitters
    Skye
    Snip-snap-snorum
    Socks
    Son's Doggy Hat
    Spring
    Starr Jumper
    Stash
    Stitch Gathering
    Summer School
    Svala
    Swashbuckle
    Tangles
    Tank Top
    Tension Square
    The Guardian
    Tickety-boo
    Train
    Train Knitting
    Vintage
    Voucher
    War Knitting
    Wee Cria
    Winner
    Winter Flower Brooch
    Wool For Ewe
    Woolly Wednesday
    Workshop
    Yarn Diet
    Yarn Envy
    Yarn Pony
    Yarn Shop
    Yoga
    Ysolda
    Yuletide String

    RSS Feed

✕