Canterbury Tales

Pin It I've recently become what I like to call a "Minimalist Consumer".  It was only a matter of time before my logical brain came to the conclusion that my constant need to declutter was due to the constant purchasing of said clutter and that the only way around it was to make our disposable income far less disposable.  We've totally reorganised our spending and the withdrawals from our account are now designed to cover our weekly grocery spend, perishable food at the local market, petrol and the daily ins and outs of family life.  There's no allowance for "stuff" and it's been a revelation.  Our rubbish bins are now only half full on collection day, walking through a shopping centre provides no temptation whatsover and while there's still quite a bit of clutter to go, I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Unfortunately, when we were devising our new spending plan, I forgot to add in an allowance for things I might want need for craft.  Oooops.

For about six months now I've been driving past Sunspun, a little craft shop on Canterbury Rd, just between the gorgeous shopping strip at Maling Rd and  the traffic lights at Balwyn Rd, Canterbury.  It's a very busy section of roadway and  I'm always on my way to something and in heavy traffic when I drive past their door.  While the little "A" frame sign out the front has been  beckoning me with it's tempting words of what lies within, the opportunity to sample the delights of what is obviously a lovely place to spend some time,  just hadn't arisen...and now that I wasn't actually spending any money, would it still be as enjoyable as I'd once envisioned? 

Sunspun

The short answer is yes!


I went with a plan.  Having recently taken up crochet, I decided that my one 4.5 hook I'd purchased from a discount store probably wasn't ideal and Louise has told me a few times that knitting with great needles makes a difference.  Surely it was the same with crochet?  So it was going to be a new crochet hook and then perhaps some wool, but only if it was discounted.

Sunspun is one of those heavenly little shops crammed with wool of every type and colour tone, patchwork fabrics that cry out to be cut and sewn, kits, books, buttons and more, all of which stretch from what seems like floor to ceiling.  Given my plan, my eye was immediately drawn to the little baskets of discounted wool that lay temptingly around the store.


I located the knitting and crochet paraphernalia  and decided to purchase the Knit Pro 4.00mm crochet hook (soft grip).  I really had no idea there are so many crochet hook styles.  While I purchased the "Soft Grip" this time, I think when I'm ready to move onto the next hook size I could be tempted by the wood, all in the name of crochet research of course! 

As for the discounted wool... I picked out a couple of balls of Zara Merino in a divine shade of palest blue.  Lucky for me, it was a different dye lot to the rest of the stock they had on the shelf and so reduced accordingly.

 ...oh and a note to my children, please don't bring any notes home from school asking for cash for an excursion, my purse is currently empty...


Deb