Hobby Lobby March 14, 2004 - 6:44 p.m.

I convinced Chris to take me to Hobby Lobby last night. It just recently opened and I wanted to check it out. He asked me what was there, and I was like 'Hobby Lobby... I'm kinda guessing hobby stuff.'

Ever the smartass.

He expressed worry that it was going to be a quilting store full of old ladies, and I reassured him that there were other hobbies to be found there, including art supplies. Which he needs. So he relented and I got to go to the craft store.

As soon as we got out of the car, he looked at the place and saw what he could through the windows.

"No!! You lied! You tricked me!! This is an old lady store!!"

All while walking arm in arm, still heading into the store, and me laughing at him.

If I were him, I would have been worried too. From the outside and a little when you first walk in, all you can see is home decorating, furniture, and fake flowers. All the good stuff was in the back of the building.

They had tons of really cool furniture and different types of bookshelves, which I love. They also had a wall full of unfinished furniture. Another craft I'd love to do. Buy, or even make, furniture and paint it in whatever funky designs and colours I want. They had rows of stamps and inks, and several rows for scrapbooking. Which is really cool, but I can't see devoting your life to it like some of these people. There were stickers all over the place, and rows full of different kinds of paper and fabrics and foam sheets. Pens, pencils, paints, brushes. Beads and wires and threads and ugly charms. They had a fabric section and a framing area complete with pictures to buy that were ready to be framed. I would have loved it if they had puzzles and wacky board games, the kind you can't find at Toys R Us, but they didn't. Not that I saw, anyhow.

Despite walking around and trying to act like the annoyed boyfriend being dragged along by his girlfriend, it was obvious that Chris enjoyed looking at all this stuff. I was ready to go straight to the embroidery floss then head out, just to save him some agony. But he's the one that started looking around, purposefully on the opposite side of the store.

When we got to the cross stitch section, he was looking through patterns while I was looking for floss. He kept pointing out these really awesome designs that I'd love to make one day. Then he grabbed an Indian design and said my mom would love something like that, so he said I should get one to make as a Christmas present. I picked one that was a chic holding a wolf puppy. It was pretty cute. I'm personally not too keen on the whole Indian art thing, but she likes it.

I still have to get the actual fabric and floss for the design, but that may only be around $10. The pattern ended up costing less that $2. And had I known their patterns were half off, I would have gotten this really cool geisha one too.

Their embroidery floss was on sale, five for a dollar, so I got ten colours. A few shades of grey, maroon, white, and some bright colours. They had every single colour, except black. It was sold out. I never learned to make friendship bracelets as a kid, and I always thought they looked neat. So when I recently learned how to make them and found a site that offers several very different designs, I decided I needed to get more floss.

Hobby's are fun, and they keep your mind busy.

Chris even grabbed a thing of candy, and our total was less than five bucks. Much better than the $20 he spent at the comic shop, and the $30 at Best Buy.

While we were there, I realized just how cheap of a hobby cross stitching can be. If you find the right deals, of course. Patterns can often be a little pricey. Also, it reminded me that I'm still looking for a really good design for Starry Nights. So I did a search and found a couple of sites that offer great designs. There were several places that provided a pattern, but they looked like cheesedick interpretations done by a four year old.

Then I found this site that offers loads of patterns taken from classic art. They show framed examples, and they look really nice. They even have Salvidor Dali and M.C. Escher! I'd love to create this piece. And it only needs eight colours. And then there's this colourful thing that needs fifty-three.

I have to stop looking at this site before I want everything on it.

Oops, too late.

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