A Sprat To Catch A Mackeral!

Earlier in the month, I received electronic notification of a $10 gift voucher from Spotlight (for non Aussies, that's a mega haberdashery store in Australia).

With only 48 hours remaining before its expiry, my daughter alerted me to this fact. On Thursday morning, en route to work, I detoured and hot footed to my local store, about 10minutes drive away, eager to make use of the gift, hoping to spend the voucher on yarns that I will inevitably use for knitting in cooler months.

Knitting is one of my passions. Settling for a long knitting session on cooler days is right up there for me with losing myself in a book. I find it very therapeutic, I get a kick out of seeing seeing garments, especially throws and scarves, take shape from yarns of different textures and colours.

I always keep my eyes open for unusual, well priced yarns to add to my considerable stash of yarn, for future projects, be it car boot sales or op shops..

While prowling the yarn section of the Spotlight store, I smiled to myself, as once again I found myself in the situation of feeling like a rabbit caught in a headlight, frantically running up and down a fence trying to find a gap. In my case, frantically rushing up and down the aisle, trying to decide which yarns to choose, from the amazing variety of colour and texture arrayed before me, keen to get the best value, constrained by budget and time. How many balls will I need when the time comes, which colour will be the best choice; should I buy more than one colour of this very well priced yarn? Constrained by time on this occasion by the presence of my husband, who intensely dislikes Spotlight, and the need to arrive at work punctually and budget because there is only so much that one can decently spend on such an occasion...isn't there?

Something I have become aware of about myself in recent years, is my inability to make a decision when faced with too many choices. This becomes evident when choosing shoes, fabric, yarns even making selections from a menu in a restaurant. Too many options can cause me to freeze and I have been known to do nothing when overwhelmed with choices. Thinking about this revelation probably explains why I am so much happier shopping opportunistically, when there is only one of each kind,size, or style to choose from - so much easier.

Back to Thursday morning, keen to enjoy my voucher and having approximated the total cost of my selections, I hurriedly withdrew to the checkout. The ten dollar voucher cost me thirty eight dollars! I was delighted with my purchases, my exasperated husband was only too happy to exit the store and drop me at work.

Later that day, having displayed my purchases to fellow workmates, who love knitting, I remembered that I had another ten dollar voucher in my purse that the generous Spotlight store had bestowed on me as a birthday gift for the month of January! Whoopee.

Being so enamored with my Thursday selections, and feeling the need to buy more of certain yarns for future exciting projects, I returned to the store on Saturday morning! That expedition cost me a further forty one dollars!

Do I hear you chuckling and identifying with me or muttering SUCKER under your breath? How easy it is to get caught up in a good offer! I have no regrets, but I recognize the old saying that my Dad used to use regarding using using a small sprat to catch a large mackerel! Oh he was a wise man!

I'm going to have a busy winter...
Simply Susan

Perhaps I should mention that though my husband dislikes visits to Spotlight, I have used this to my advantage, by explaining to him exactly what I am looking for, he is very good at finding things for me, (whereas I get distracted) this ensures for him a very quick visit and we are both happy. He actually has a pretty good eye for my haberdashery needs!