I was woken this morning at 5am this morning by a bubble of excitement in my tummy.  I had a few of those lovely sleepy moments where I tried to remember what it was about.

Were we going on holiday? No.

Did I have the day off and have amazing plans? No

Was a lovely friend coming to visit? No

And then I remembered…

Dunelm – a homeware store was finally opening just up the road from me at 9am.  Social media had informed me the night before that there would be golden money off tickets hidden around the store, there would be goody bags for the first 50 people in…it was a bit like Christmas.

I don’t need bedding or lights or curtains (actually, I do need curtains as over the years Norman has used his claws to create a constellation effect from one side and it turns out curtain lining does eventually break down, but that feels like a bigger version of buying socks – you know you need them but it seems like a lot of money for something so….functional.)

So anyway, I didn’t need those things.  What I need…neeeed…is a haberdashery type shop that sells all things makingness, rolls of fabric and many, many choices of wool, all just a ten minute walk away to cater for all my spur of the moment makingness plans.  And Dunelm sells all that and I was so blimin’ excited.  (So excited in fact that I’d convinced Stepson 1 to apply for a job there in the hope he’d get a friends and family discount card.)

As I was up early I took Percy for a plod early and put the washing on and did a bit of work and it was still only 8.50am I thought I might as well pop up.  I didn’t want to look too eager but a goody bag might be rather fun…

So up I popped.  As did, apparently, most of Beachville.  Seriously.  The queues for M&S at Christmas in Covid were not that big.  There must have been 200 people wound around the carpark, waiting for the doors to open.  I decided to put my excitement on hold and retain my dignity by pretending I actually just wanted to go to M&S.  One tin of extortionate cat food and a bag of chocolate marzipan balls later, the Dunelm queue had all filtered into the shop so I nonchalantly sauntered over and in…and nearly reversed straight back out.  It was like one of those Boxing Day sales scenes you used to see on TV before everyone just went online to bag their bargains.

But this was for the material!  The wool! The haberdashery that I didn’t yet know I needed!  I pushed on through…round the first floor of curtains and bedding and towels.  Then upstairs to kitchenware and lighting and storage and….where was the bloody Fabric and Haberdashery section?  I asked someone proudly sporting a Dunelm t-shirt, badge and lanyard all in lurid green (just incase one wasn’t enough) and…

…’we don’t have that stuff in this store’.

I felt like a child that didn’t get what they had most hoped for for Christmas.

I left.  Deflated.

But, in some ways this is a good thing. My hands can’t keep up with the makingness ideas I have and there is already a lot of wool and material hidden in various cupboards, suitcases, wardrobes, and boxes around the house already.  Maybe it’s best not to be too close to a plentiful supply or frankly, we wont fit in here much longer.

But I do love my makingness.  And this is the best reaction I’ve had to anything to date , I think.  This is a unicorn cardigan that I imagined in my head and made (without a pattern) for my nice – Little Wisp for her birthday – she opened it, put it straight on and said she never wanted to take it off:

And these are the messages I got from her Mum over the next two days:

And I did all that without help from Dunelm, so Dunelm:  I don’t need you.

Although I might need some of your curtains sometime soonish.  And possibly some storage solutions for…the wool.  And the material.  And the buttons, and the cotton, and the ribbons, and the sequins and the….well, maybe I will be up again soon after all. 🙂