It's All Temporary

I didn't realize that my parents spend all summer indoctrinating my daughter about the evils of tattoos (we call them tattoons here cuz that's what a little kid who lives here used to say). Apparently, every car trip was laden with parables about how they look bad when you're 80 and they prevent you from getting a good job. (Given that the parents are free-spirited hippie-types, I'm kind of surprised (but not).)

What's ironic about this is that, totally in the dark about those conversations, I recently bought M these:

WhitneyJane Temporary Tattoos

C'mon, who doesn't love woodland creatures??

Note to my parents: You've somehow managed to make M more determined to get a tattoo than ever she was before. Let's call these, in your language, "damage control".

Note to M: Wait till you're 25 and you have your tastes figured out. Tattoos aren't for the young and capricious. And then consider a woodland creature.

Socked In

So, I'm sick with a cold and I'm making a sock. Exciting times here, really.

Actually, it's frustrated times. Frustration is the watchword of the last few days. Having difficulty sleeping, last night I was amazed to wake from a dream that was entirely about anger. I can't remember the substance of this dream, but OMG, I was out-of-control, steerage-class-plane-passenger-during-a-4-hr-runway-delay, deliriously angry. Have you ever woken from a dream enraged?? Till last night, I don't suppose I have.

I can't say if it's this anxiety-provoking bug*, which has effectively torched my holiday enriched my opportunity to rest... I don't know if it's the sock (a fast-tracked 2013 goal vis a vis this challenge**), which has managed to fuck up in just about more ways than any other project I've ever undertaken... I mean, it's snowy outside. I should just be grateful to have an excuse to sit on my ass and knit a sock.

Allow me to tell it like it is:

Here's a tiny little piece of the sock:

A Nice Ribbed Sock by Glenna C. It may be ribbed, but it ain't nice!

• For starters, who makes a sock in royal blue?? Seriously. I only ever wear black socks. The shop had this same, very nice (if somewhat sheeny) merino-silk blend in black. Why didn't I just make a black sock? That, I might get some use from! The yarn has a lot of spring and strength (imparted by the silk). You know I ordinarily don't like silk yarn in any amount, but I was looking for strength.

• I will never darn a sock. So how is it that I'm making a thing that's gonna need to be darned, or discarded, in some period of time (and probably sooner rather than later the way we walk around here)?? My choices will be, presuming I don't just burn these things on completion, a) wearing and breaking them (and wastefully throwing them out, which might be hard to do) or b) never wearing them and keeping them in a drawer doing nothing (also hard to do and wasteful). Socks, they really give you all the options.

• Those of you debating whether to knit socks or a sweater: Please be aware that you can knit a pair of simple socks in about half the time it will take you to knit a simple sweater. I don't know about you, but I'll go with the sweater - which people will actually SEE when I put it on. And which won't rip in the toe. Note: I've never had a pair of socks that didn't eventually die in this way, so I'm sensitive. I have no actual indication that my hand knit socks will go at the toe. Specifically if I don't use them.

• And a tiny bit about specifics: Magic loop may not be the best way to make all socks, especially if your needles are a US 0 (2mm). Admittedly, I'm a total newbie with this degree of magic loop - small-diameter knitting though, I've done quite a lot of in the past. However, I've never managed to pull out half the needle, exposing mini, microscopic live stitches (taking forever to replace on the needle and then leaving an unsightly tension-change ridge) quite so many times or in so many ways. 

• A propos of tension-change ridges, I used such a crappy needle (one a new LYS sells and which I'll never purchase again!) that it's actually snapped while I was in the middle of a row! I was not knitting hard, peeps! The needle, so sharp at the point that I couldn't actually push on it without it hurting, routinely split the rather pliant yarn. How many badnesses can I expect to block out? Really. Cuz now I'm using a slightly larger needle to complete the project (2.25 mm). On the plus side, the new needle (also that terrible brand) seems to be handling things much more naturally and without any tension differentiation. I did think to myself, when I swatched, that the 2.25mm felt better than the 2mm. I guess I should have listened to my gut.

• The sock leg is going to be too big, I'm pretty sure, esp. after a wearing. I should have cut an inch out of the pattern (8 stitches) but I really didn't know how much negative ease a sock requires till I started making one. (This is a reasonable learning curve experience I can't take umbrage with.)

• This pattern isn't designed to be made up with magic loop, so I had to go online and learn how to make a sock with magic loop and then tailor my pattern to the method. I suggest, if you don't want to use DPNs, and I don't, that you start with a sock pattern devised for magic loop in the first place. It'll save you some time and energy. Having said this, I'm glad I figured out the magic loop version because the idea of carrying around 4 or 5 needles to make a little circle seems ridiculous to me!

Alas, I'm going to have to finish the first sock, make up its partner and then make up another pair (or 2) until I get it right. I may not like making socks but I'm going to figure it out and become proficient. Then, when people talk about the activity, I can be as obnoxious as I want with the benefit of experience.

So, knitters, come clean. If you hate making socks, you can share your true feelings here! Tell us about it.  And, those of you who don't knit, what's the core knitting project of your imagination? What's the thing you would want to make if you did knit? Is it socks???

* I should clarify that, even though I caught this bug hard - as you'd expect given that I'm still recovering, in muted ways, from pertussis - I can breathe (if not through my nose). I'm coughing a lot more than Scott and M did when they had this thing before Xmas and, I sense, I feel worse than I would, ordinarily, with a cold (though I'm a misery when I have a cold), but this is a totally different scene. It would great to recover in the next 90 minutes by Monday, when I have to go back to work, so that at least I will know that, once again, I can get a regular virus and overcome it in a standard amount of time. Weird, when catching a cold can corroborate one's health improvement.

** I have come to realize, in my 40s, that I'm actually quite competitive in some ways and I love a test! Gillian, apparently, has my number.

Gauge the Situation: The Fingering Sweater Revealed!

Don't you feel it gives some ballast to your titles when you add an exclamation mark?

OK, don't want to drive you crazy with anticipation :-) so here's the sweater I chose:

The Princess Jumper

 And here's a little preview of the knit, so far:

Remember, it's unblocked and this yarn really needs blocking (as my gauge swatch revealed). It's not this fuzzy or uneven seeming when blocked.

A word on the yarn:

I'm using Jade Sapphire Mongolian cashmere in 2-ply. It's a light fingering and those plies like to untangle on a regular basis. This is not the easiest yarn I've ever worked with. It's as princess-y as the sweater it's making. For starters, it comes in hanks which, I've read, are not machine windable because this yarn snaps like a bitch. I can confirm that it breaks pretty easily as evidenced by the fact that, after laborious, 2-person hand winding (my husband acting like an umbrella swift and I taking on the role of the skein winder) I discovered that you can't pull this yarn from the centre of the ball. Instead, I'm working from the outside, which is kind of a pain.

I'm a fairly loose knitter so I haven't had any problem with the yarn snapping as I knit, though it's challenging to keep my tension even given a) the small needle, b) the very light as well as thin yarn and c) a concern about being too tough on it.

I haven't got to the upper chest of the sweater front, as yet (the part with the TW4 pattern) but I hope that I'll be able to keep that nice and even as it involves knitting 3 stitches around a fourth stitch which takes a certain amount of tension on that 4th stitch. I've done it on the back placket and it seems to be working fine, though more practice will improve my outcome, I hope.

Happily there are no mid-ball yarn joins to worry about and given that one ball is 400 yards of yarn, there's very little mid-knit joining of any sort. Not that it's difficult with this yarn.

Elizabeth Zimmerman said that, if you want to save money knitting, you should knit in fingering-weight. For starters, it takes a long time to get through any project with such skinny yarn but for another thing, fingering weighs less than just about anything else. It's cost-effective. Of course, it's not so cost-effective when you spend $150.00 on pure cashmere (on 40 per cent off sale?!) but Cascade makes a yarn called Heritage which is part merino and part silk which is very affordable and quite lovely. Springy and tight, not too drapey from what I can tell. You could make this sweater for 40 bucks using that yarn, at full price!

I have wanted to use pure cashmere since the day I started knitting, and I only just feel ready for the challenge. Thing is, I'm not sure if I love it. Really, I can't say as yet. I might like something less plied or more robust a bit better than this 2-ply stuff. And, given that it's kettle-dyed, I'm knitting small variations of grey throughout the fabric. That's not really my thing, a variation on variegated, but I'm trying to see it for its artistry rather than its rustic-ness.

It depends on how this thing hangs when it's all put together - and it's a 4-piece seamed knit so it's going to be a while before I know.

I do believe that the delicate yarn is strengthened by the knitting, so I'm not concerned about wearing it.

My rationale for knitting the Princess Jumper:

I've been considering which sweater to use the cashmere on since the summer (when I bought the yarn online). I do LOVE vintage sweaters, especially those re-interpreted by Susan Crawford. My Jan Sweater, the second thing I ever knit, was a Susan Crawford pattern and I love it, if not on me. Note: Since I made the Jan I've learned a lot of things about knitting and sizing and fitting and fitting with knits etc. So I don't recommend the Jan for someone short-waisted and busty. But it's just a gorgeous design...

Anyway, while it didn't excite me, on first glance, as much as some of Susan's other patterns, the Princess Jumper kept coming up when I considered making something sleek and fitted and "pin up" but with an edge of work-place conservatism.

Though it's super-fitted, I like that the "cables" are above the fullest part of the bust. (Pam - you called it when you said I would avoid the Sun-Ray because of the boob-attention it would provoke.) And I really love how the shoulder shaping is tight. I have small, narrow shoulders and reasonably slim arms and it looks good on me when a sweater really fits in that area.

Furthermore, the photo of this sweater makes it look as if it's been knit with a yarn that has similar properties to my Jade Sapphire. In fact, I suspect it was knit using Susan Crawford's rather less-delicate yarn, Excelana, which I've tried (and love for it's vintage colours) but which isn't soft enough for my fussy tastes.

So, what do you think of my sweater choice, given my rationale? Do you like the fabric or is it too rustic for you? Have you worked with this yarn and, if so, what are your thoughts. Let's talk.

Gauge the Situation: Fingering Weight Options

The price I may pay for a truly awesome New Year's Eve (and, trust me, I'm not into this holiday on any grand scale) is the crappy cold that's so going around. Don't pity me. I went in with open eyes. I drank that booze and ate that sugar and fat and flour and dairy and côte de boeuf. OMG, the côte de boeuf... I danced around like a banshee. I yelled dirty jokes across the room. I stayed up late. I stayed out. I walked home in the cold. (And who knows, I may stave if off with a couple of days of doing nothing, my new and only activity till the weekend. If nothing else, it would be novel to have a common bug, for a change :-)) Just please don't tell my mother.

There's an alchemy in long-standing friendship, a peaceful, playful camaraderie. The best thing about aging, I suppose, (in addition to the improvement of one's intelligence and skills for all of the extra time to learn) is the opportunity to know the people you've loved for that much longer.

At any rate, blogging is one of those things I can happily accomplish while sitting on my ass.

Let's get back to the Gauge the Situation series. You know, that endless trail of posts wherein I talk about the outcomes of making 4 sweaters of different weights (fingering, sport, DK and worsted) and discuss the merits and detractors of each.

Thing is, I can't say no to any sweaters so I've actually knit 3 others that weren't in the queue. And a couple of scarves. What? There's no deadline!

But now we're back to it - to the last of the 4 weights and the slimmest - fingering. I really want to ask you for your impressions of the options which are to follow but I fear it would be disingenuous because, truthfully, I'm almost half way through the fingering sweater I long ago decided to make. Of course, your feedback is incredibly appreciated and useful on so many levels, but I have a bunch of rationales for the one I chose.

Instead, perhaps you'd indulge me by guessing which one of the following you think I chose:

Obsidian by Lisa Mutch

Raiun by Kirsten Johnstone

And then my (apparent) pictorial-ode to vintage-knitting queen Susan Crawford:

Princess Twinset Jumper

Sun-Ray Ribbing

Knitters Delight

 And here's the yarn I'm using (lots more on this to follow):

Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere (100%)

I'd love it for you to tell us which one you'd make or have made or which you think I should have chosen! I'll let you know if you called it right tomorrow! :-)

Musings on Productivity

I'm not a particularly speedy sewist. I know this because all of the skirts that seem to take others 4 hours take me 8 to 10. I mean, don't feel bad for me. I'm not unproductive and I make sure my finishing is nicely done to the best of my ability (which generally takes extra time). I'm just not lightning fast.

No doubt, the last 6 months of 2012 were not about the sewing output. I made half of a fitted shell (part of a fitting project I undertook with S), 2 peplum shirts and 2 dresses.

Those of you who sew know that it takes a certain amount of space and physical stamina. You have to trace and or cut out your pattern pieces (and they're often unwieldy). Then you have to organize your large swath of fabric which needs to be ironed and carefully positioned. Then you have to cut your fabric. If you're me, that means you skitter around the floor, hoping not to hit walls in you 15-foot wide century home. Then you have to mark all of the pieces (hopefully they fit on the ironing board for this purpose). And only then can you start sewing - which may be muscle-clenching depending on the qualities of your fabric and pattern.

I know I've said it a zillion times, at this point, but between the 6-month reno (somewhat disruptive of my workspace) and the hideous illness (3 months of bad, 1 month of beyond horrible), sewing just wasn't in the cards.

On the other hand, between mid-September and mid-December, I knitted a reasonably involved scarf, a shawl-like cowl and six sweaters. They were not small sweaters (well, 4 of them weren't). One of them was very complicated. Keep in mind, I alter everything I knit to suit my own dimensions - and that takes additional time. Now, I realize that I did spend a month at home in convalescence, but I assure you that I barely knit during the majority of that time. Seriously, it took me all day just to function.

Never mind the technical terms, with a full-time job, a kid, a blog and a house, (in my opinion) that's productive! :-)

So what's the deal?  Am I a sort-of slow-moving sewist and a super-fast knitter?

Um, not particularly, as far as I can tell.

I've seen "real" knitters go at the yarn and it's shockingly impressive. I mean, one wonders what else they can accomplish with that kind of dexterity. :-) On tiny needles with lace-weight yarn (something I'm working with now, fyi, and more to come on that), they zip along - conversing all the while. It's sick.

Don't misunderstand. When I'm not chatting - aka what I do when I knit with others and which really slows me down - and once I get into a groove (10 rows into a session), I go at a fair clip. Given that I've been knitting for less than 2 years (though my father did teach me the skill when I was 12), I'm probably somewhat naturally adept. (I've mentioned before, I'm dextrous.) And Lord knows, if one's knitting style mimics one's nature, I'll be very fast one day.

But I don't think this is how I've managed to knit lots of things. I think I've managed to knit lots of things because I'm focused.

In brief, this is how I tackle knitting projects (see this post for more details about pre-knit planning):

• I decide on the project I want to make. This takes some time but it's fun! I have to carefully consider the likelihood that the garment will suit me and that, with my current skill-level, I'll be able to make required alterations so that it will fit me as well as possible.

• I buy the yarn and all the materials I'll require. 

• I do a gauge swatch, which I block, and I carefully consider whether I'm going to aim to get gauge or to subvert it for my own sizing needs. Either way, I have to be as certain as I can be that I'm targeting a size my gauge will allow me to achieve. (Note: It's important to use the swatch to determine the amount of negative ease your fabric will comfortably allow. Affix markers 1 inch apart on the same row of the gauge swatch and then pull the fabric along that inch. How far will it stretch before you start to see through the knit stitches? Other note: This is simply my method - I haven't seen it promoted anywhere else and it's not a perfect science. Of course, 1 inch will stretch differently than an entire garment just by virtue of its proportions. But it does provide a very good starting off point that your ever-increasing knowledge of textiles will support and build-on.)

• I carefully read the pattern specifics to determine where I'll need to make sizing alterations for my body. Then I figure out how best to do that in the context of the instructions. (Knitters have 40 different ways to do everything.)

• On my detailed pattern-read: If I hit conceptual snags - either about how the pattern works or about the techniques required - I email a knitting friend or the pattern's designer, visit my LYS or go to a book/website/blog. It's rare that I start something without having a pretty good idea of what's coming at every stage of the project. I may not have "done it" before, but I always mentally work it out to the best of my ability. Note: That's not always enough, alas. See cables on the Chuck sweater. :-)

• I rewrite the pattern, with my notes and edits, in my craft book and I use this to mark off rows so that, if I make the garment again - or if I need to repeat on one side to make the other - it's as simple as marking off the same-rows in the same way with a different colour pen.

• I wind as many balls as I suspect I'll require (or one fewer) so that I'm not delayed, while knitting, by this administrative matter.

To the best of my ability, when I start knitting that's all I do. I knit. I don't think about how to accomplish the next section. I don't stop (not often, anyway) to come up with a work-around or to learn a new technique. I don't need to wind balls. I don't wonder about which needle to use or what kind of increases or decreases or cast on to work.

I keep my eye firmly on the finished object. If the garment must be seamed, at the end, I do it immediately. I weave in the yarn-ends as soon as a section is finished (but no sooner cuz, if you have to rip back, that makes things very tricky) so as to see a finished piece of fabric. I block the minute I weave in the final end.

Proviso: Now, one thing I do regularly, while knitting - and which does slow me down, is continue to review the garment against my own body, with fit in mind. If, as I go, I discover that my gauge has changed and I need more or less circumference, I make adjustments on the fly. If I need additional length in one place, or less in another, I make sure to reflect that in my notes and I amend the pattern accordingly. How do I know how to do this? I stop and hold the thing up to myself or I try it on (if I'm able to do this, mid-knitting) or I take its measurements and compare them to my own (taking negative ease into account, see above). It is NOT rocket-science. Don't get fussed about it. You have more than enough knowledge with a tape measure and your own eyes to fit your sweater as you go. Far better to do this than to make no alterations and to end up with a final product that doesn't work on you at all.

So, there you have it. Are you a prolific knitter or someone who really takes his/her time? Do you use any of the strategies above to assist you in accomplishing your knitting "quickly"? Do you think the whole idea of crafting anything with speed diminishes the creative objective? Let's talk about your process!

Top Five of 2012: Goals

Egad! I'm not into craft goal-setting. Seriously. I adhere to goals in just about every area of my life and they get tiresome, people.

OK, natch, I set goals in the moment. That's how we landed the Gauge The Situation series (that may never end, at this rate and not for lack of consistent movement towards completion). Intriguingly, on rereading the intro post, it appears I started this series at the exact time I came down with pertussis. Hmmmm... It's also how I managed to make a tailored suit (with collaboration from my fitting friend, S). It's how I made the Spring Palette wardrobe. Goals have their place, for sure.

Mind you, I don't want to set myself up for non-completion. Y'all haven't seen many new croquis of me, right? I seem to recall that improvement of my Illustrator and drawing skills was on the roster for 2012. Not that I can rightly remember :-)

I do not make New Year's Resolutions. That process seems insane to me. If I want to change something, Feb. 6 or May 18 or Sept. 12 (for example) are perfectly fine times, IMO. I'm not the most spontaneous person in my daily life so I like to reserve spontaneity for my creative endeavours. Yeah, I need a plan. I need resolution. But I don't like to enshrine my every activity in goal attainment.

Having said that, this post is about goals for 2013. Oh, the cognitive dissonance. What will I do???

I'll follow the rules, sort of. That's my way, after all. So let's make these goals kind of amorphous and stamp them with a watermark "Draft Only". OK?

• I'd like to learn how to knnit with colour-work i.e. intarsia or Fair Isle (eeek). Then I'd like to make a sweater using the technique(s).

• I'd like to make another suit - using a totally different suit jacket pattern than last year's. S, my fitting friend, and I have been serious about this since mid-way through last year but so many things have interfered (renos, parenting, moves, sickness) that it just hasn't happened yet.

• I feel I should make a pair of socks. Everyone who knits makes socks and likes making socks (apparently). Even though I have no interest in them, a pair of cashmere socks sounds not bad right about now.

• I want to continue my new trend of sewing adventurism: If I want to make a (simple) top that doesn't come with a pattern, my aim is to give it a go. If a pattern I use turns out to be a dud, I intend to hack at it till I make it something that works for me. In 2012, I tried my hand at some draping, some pattern drafting and some significant pattern alteration - and the outcomes were good! Why not keep on, I say.

• My final "goal" is such a long shot (she says, from previous experience) that I'm simply including it as a distant plan. You know that I have sewn a number of bras from a variety of patterns and even made my own pattern from a deconstructed Freya bra. My issue with lingerie-making is not that I can't put together a really lovely bra. I can. But the materials and wires available to me, thus far, have been inferior to my architectural requirements. I will make my own bras as soon as I can find the appropriate fabrics and notions to work as effectively (to produce good lift and silhouette) as the high-end RTW bras I wear each day. I sew to make things that are of, at least, the same high-quality as good ready-to-wear. Till I can accomplish this with bras, I'm very grateful to have access to some fantastic commercial brands.

So, what do you think of goals-setting? Do you have something concrete you'd like to accomplish, craft-wise - or other - this year? Let's talk...

Some Things I've Bought For Myself

You know how this fall positioned itself as the optimal platform for my great online spendathon. Caught in the depths of illness, the only thing I could do, it seemed, was to cruise the internet for cool things. It was a useful exercise given that Xmas was on its way.

I practiced that time-worn method: One thing for you, two things for me and, gotta say, I don't regret any of my splurges.

Most of my self-shopping was accomplished via Etsy, where I found the following:

Adorable poster from Loose Petals

I bought a couple of these posters in a couple of different sizes for between 20 - 35 bucks each. They arrived promptly and well-packaged and they're printed on the loveliest, textured paper. Let me say that these are utterly cheerful and I can't wait to hang them.

Vintage Knitting Mag from Libromancer

Oh, how I love this Vogue Knitting mag from Fall/Winter 1968. You may be thinking: Hey, Kristin. Didn't you say that bulky knits don't suit you? Well, peeps, these are not thick in the modern sense. The styles are very structured, just beautiful!, and so sleekly modern. I cannot wait to make something from this pattern mag.

Vintage Garnet Cocktail Ring from Ivy Cottage

OK, not the best pic, but this piece is delightful. I don't wear much red (though this has a very claret kind of vibe) but it perches brightly on my finger with the kind of heft I require to suit my large hands and fingers. It's obviously seen some special occasions and it's very well-made.

Organic, culinary-grade lavender from Lizzy Lane Farm

I spent a lot of time inhaling bowls of steam water with essential oils and lavender flowers (see above). What I didn't have at my access was food-grade lavender. And you know how I love a lavender infused tea or sable biscuit. I also had the idea that I'd make some new eye pillows for yoga (to give away as gifts) but my sister - who made my original eye pillow, which has been well-loved for so many years - offered to make me another. And then, when I said: Yes, please, I was sure to ask her to make one for Hilary too. :-) My new eye pillow is fabulous, by the way! Thanks Allison!

These were purchased outside of the kingdom of Etsy:

Ubiquitous Poster from Super Rural

I'm reluctant to share this one because it's been so popular for so long that I a) don't want to give anyone else any bright ideas and b) don't want to be one of those peeps who undercuts the fab by making it that much more ubiquitous. But finally I said what the fuck. This poster is pure pink, which I love (again, really cheerful), and it totally matches the tone on my walls. I've never seen a happening interior, containing this poster, that doesn't suit my style. It just makes me smile.

Hunter Wellies from Zappos - bought on (very good) sale and shipped for free to my parents in America

Y'all know how I've been trying to make friends with the rain - what with its increasing omnipresence in TO. I didn't know if these wellies would be a failure purchase but it didn't much matter. They're entirely returnable (via my parents to whom they were originally shipped since Zappos doesn't mail to Canada. Don't get me started on that.) I read that they fit big so I sized down and I'm really glad I did. I'm usually a Euro 39 or 8.5 US but I ordered the women's 8 and the fit's spot on. Note: I went to the Hunter site to see the exact dimensions of the shoes cuz Zappos had less than useless info and the chat feature yielded little additional help. An internet person basically corroborated that he didn't have any useful sizing feedback. Note: I didn't order from this site for its fab client service. I ordered for the price. The shoes are actually really comfortable, if slightly on the heavy side, and they look terrific with jeans and pants. I understand that they're entirely waterproof but only time will tell. Can't say how much less miserable I'll be the next time I have to walk in the rain.

Starting to see a theme? Things that look good, sparkle, smell terrific, encourage freedom of movement or my creativity - all of these were on my list.

Let me say I am so pleased with each item - and each one cost under 100 bucks (or much less).

I'd be lying if I implied I haven't bought myself some more goodies, just to express joy at being alive me. I've got a new, cute little stash of vintage buttons I hope to use on some sewn or knitted garments sometime soon. And don't forget the recently-purchased fondue pot (vessel of that which tastes fantastic).

Alas, the fur coat (I swear a pic is forthcoming) and the new Browns boots kind of threw me over the edge, financially, so self-gifting is on hiatus until future notice. Thank goodness I have all of these new treats to keep me warm and dry and cheery while I build up my discretionary resources again.

Today's questions: Whatcha think of these gifts to myself? Which do you like best? Have you ever gone on a spree when recovering from illness? Did you enjoy the spoils? Was it sad when you had to stop spending (cuz you'd got yourself on a roll)? Do tell!