WWLID?

Not "WWJD" but rather "WWLID"- What would Laura Ingalls do?

I found the most amazing book yesterday. Not as good as the Mason-Dixon Ladies (more on that later) but very delightful nonetheless. "Greetings from Knit Cafe" was at the evil B&N and I could not resist its siren song. Not only were there absolutely stunning photos, but there were several patterns that call for my most beloved fiber. As we couldn't remember the last time we had each bought a full priced hard back book we decided it was ok to splurge. This book is lovely. I have five patterns that I absolutely love and one that I decided might become The Brother's wedding gift. It's just so pretty. It's titled "Huge Triangle Shawl", made from 100% alpaca and 88" wide x 30" long at it's center. It was so pretty that I immediately got on the website and picked the color that I wanted. Not until later did I think about making a second one for someone else. We were going to buy them a Cuisinart, but anyone could do that. Not just anyone would be crazy enough to buy all the yarn and then knit them up a snuggly wrap/ shawl/ throw thing.
Back to the original question of "What would Laura Ingalls Do?". This is one of the questions addressed in the book. Direct quotation, "When a customer comes into Knit Cafe desperate because she's having trouble with her knitting (or I find her on the sidewalk pacing when I arrive to open the store for the day), I will often say, "First, take a deep breath. Now ask yourself: "What would Laura Ingalls do?" I mean, there she was, out on the prairie without a local yarn store, without Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book, without Knitt.com. What would she do? She would listen to her instincts and try to fix the problem in whatever way she could." I think that's a nice philosophy. Certainly puts into perspective all that time I spent pacing outside the store at 6 am....

So my evil corporate conundrum of the day: I found the delightful Mason-Dixon Knitting, the very one we had sung praises for the day before, at the evil B&N for 20% off. TWENTY PERCENT OFF! The LYS card could only get me 10% off and tax here is 9%, so I would really only be saving 1% at The LYS but would be supporting local business, or I could save 11% at the evil mega mart and be shopping at the evil mega mart. I am a supporter of local business and enjoy that others do too (especially because my parents' liveihood depends on such support) and yet working for a poorly paid social service nonprofit means that there is not much money in my pocket and what is there is usually intended for food or utilities (or yarn) so I try and save where I can. Hard back books are a luxury and this particular book is priced a smidge higher than the average, making it more of an item for the gift list than one for a splurge buy. I did resist the evil corporation's siren song of the 20% off sticker but, as mentioned above, did buy a hard back knitting book there. (In my defense, I knew the LYS could order M-D knitting and I had never seen the book I purchased anywhere before and instant gratification is powerfully seductive).
Anyway, wrestling with evil corporation dilemmas, wrestling with what to do about my brother's wedding gift (check out the worsted weight colors on blueskyalpacas.com by the way) and attempting to internalize "WWLID" is Thursday in a nutshell.