SALES RESISTANCE

I’m really at the place where I have enough of everything I want, so I try not to buy what I don’t want. This may sound silly, but when you like fabric, yarn, and patterns, the lure to buy is a constant.

My email has been full of deals from many sellers, most of which are small businesses dealing in the aforesaid fabric, yarn, and patterns. I am somewhat sympathetic to them because they feed my hobby interests. My creative endeavor is in pulling together the elements of a cute doll outfit, not in designing and drafting.  

Throughout the “buying season,” i.e. December, I was surprised by what retailers (large and small) offered me as “good deals.” “Free shipping,” says one, and then you find that you must spend $35, $65, even $100 in order to take advantage of that deal. “Save 10% today,” offers a seller. Ridiculous! – unless, of course, you’re buying something very expensive, like a house or a car. For most items, a good sale doesn’t begin until the discount is at least 25%.

“Save $1.00 on this pattern (regularly $5.00) if you buy today.” I’m not enticed by that. The difference between $4.00 and $5.00 is mostly nil unless I’m at the grocery store. Then I’m appalled to see how prices consistently go up and sale prices are higher than they used to be.)

And don’t let them fool you. “Last chance,” they say; “this sale ends tonight, so buy now.” When one sale ends, another begins. That’s just the way it is. Well, most of the time.

And then there are the contests. The offer always makes it sound like I’m THE winner. “Sign up and win this sewing machine,” reads the offer. I resent the implication that my winning is a sure thing or that they’re doing something wonderful for me because they’re giving away one of their products. The reality is that this is a game of chance and it’s very likely I won’t be the winner. And not only that, but when I occasionally consider entering, I discover that they want way too much of my personal info.

In the genre I follow (sewing for dolls), some contests are set forth as “challenges,” wherein contestants make doll outfits using specific patterns and then post pictures on social media. The lucky winner, however she’s chosen, might receive a new doll or a bundle of fabric. After trying one or two of these challenges, I found that I don’t like the sense of competition encroaching upon what I love to do in the privacy of my sewing studio. I prefer to sew what I want to sew rather than what someone tells me to sew. Perhaps I'm not the only one who feels that way, but sometimes it feels like I'm all alone out here. 

Now that I've vented, it's back to work.

TAKING DOWN THE CHRISTMAS TREE

We still have our decorations and Christmas tree and I think I won’t take them down for a few more days. -- Shirley Dobson, Jan. 2, 1933

Our Christmas tree is still up, and I think I'll take it down today. The time comes when it's something that has to be done, whether or not I'm ready, and so I just as well step up to it. It always seems a bit sad to take it down when putting it up is a happy event, but on the other hand, it's time to get ready for next Christmas, and that happens in the sewing room. KW

 

A WARM START TO THE NEW YEAR

A wintry landscape greets the eye wherever one may look, and we’ve had several cold days. Tonight there is a bluish look near the horizon that seems to presage a Chinook. Have had some two inches of snow and frost since Christmas.

Ethel Dobson Robinson, Jan. 1, 1937

A "chinook," the dictionary says, is a warm moist southwest wind of the coast from Oregon northward. It's a word we don't hear much any more. For one thing, it denotes a weather phenomenon that doesn't happen often, and for another, the word is not scientific, and perhaps it isn't even politically correct.

I would say a chinook is an unseasonable warming trend in the Pacific Northwest characterized by wind and rain. Snow will quickly melt, but we don't have a lot of snow. In fact, according to the report, we could use a lot more precipitation. The summer will be difficult if we don't get it.

Anyway, as we retired last night, Mike observed that it was 50 degrees. (That's warm for this part of the country.) The evening was warmer than the afternoon's high and remained warm through the night. It was still 50 when we got up. Christmas week was cold; this week it's warm. "Crazy dang weather," says Mike. 

Here we are midday, and it's 55. I'd predict that Mike would cycle this afternoon, beginning his 2020 goal of at least 2000 miles, but it's windy, and cyclists don't like wind. KW