#2 son’s sweater is finished, so now I can just fret over its fit.

wms-sweater1

wms-sweater2

The neckline in particular worries me, because last year he said it was perfect, and this year’s is not the same as last year’s

wms-sweater3

Be that as it may, I have begun working on #2 daughter’s sweater, which is in bright coral.

js-sweater

She also asked for the same sweater in a different yarn.

sweater

I got the banners done in time for church, though I will need to press the second one.

I also got the Thanksgiving shopping done. We have turkey, potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, baking supplies, and plenty of fruit and veg. I also wanted paper napkins and cupcake liners. I don’t know quite why; I usually just put out a bunch of cloth napkins and don’t worry that they don’t match.

The grocery store didn’t have what I wanted. I went to Hobby Lobby, where I bought some even though they also didn’t have what I wanted. It was very crowded, full of women in shopper’s trance, and I spent a lot of time trying to find the right path through the maze of crowded aisles.

I called #2 daughter and heard about her latest work crises while I poked around the bookstore, but I left empty handed — I got a free turkey for buying $100 in groceries, so I picked up a couple of magazines at the grocery instead of at the bookstore.

I had been listening to the shopper insights part of The Power of Habit, so my decisions as a shopper interested me. They are, as the author points out, so ingrained as habits that we don’t even notice them.

When I got to the grocery, I turned left. Most people, including me, always turn right when we enter. The grocers put the highest profit items right there — at my grocery, it’s the deli with its special meats and cheeses, and I was actually planning to get some for Thanksgiving’s hors d’ouvres, but since I turned left I didn’t.

Then comes the produce because — and I didn’t know this — people who have bought a vegetable or two feel virtuous enough that they will then buy unhealthy snacks more freely, feeling that they’re just balancing things out.

I don’t know whether I shopped more virtuously or not. When I go to Fresh Market, I do buy produce and then pastry, so I guess that observation is true of me. Today, at Harp’s, I just had trouble finding things. Approaching from the opposite side disrupted my habits and made me search for things much more than usual.

It was a rainy day, and I enjoyed spending most of it in front of the fire working on needlework projects. However, I have to say that I am unhappy with the makers of The Glades for killing off Jim on the day of the wedding. I had really gotten to like those people, and it was tacky to have him get shot and then cancel the series so that his death was the ending.