I come from a long line of shoppers.

When my grandmother was in her early 80s and sick with cancer, I was charged with the task of taking her shopping for slippers. For what seemed several hours, I drove her from one store to the next until we found exactly what she was looking for. With each stop she seemed to gain energy while my strength waned.

Today, I would have much appreciated it if I had been able to channel my grandmother’s shopping energy, but as it was, I have only my own paltry stores from which to draw. What my purchases lacked in volume, however, I think they made up for in interest.

The first purchase I made was a hands-free LED, HUGlight the packaging of which promises to “light up your adventure” with “less shadow,” “superior illumination,” and “stereo light:

I have yet to open the package, but I am wondering if, when I get it home, I will regret having purchased just one as this item just might meet the requisite criteria for what my youngest son would term “gadgety goodness.”

After another hour of walking, I came across a vendor selling Nuno Felting “101” Sampler Kits. While I only have the faintest notion what Nuno felting is, I saw the word “Nuno” on enough signs in different booths as I made my way through the exhibition and sales arenas that I was curious to learn more, so I bought this sampler kit:

Brenda Martell, one of the owners of Fallen Leaf Farms Alpacas who sold me the kit, assured me that it could be done in 45 minutes. In as much as none of my projects is ever that straight forward, I figure if I budget 3 hours, that should give me just enough time to do it.

My next purchase, and the one that took me by far the most time, was of some buttons. After much deliberation and sending several pictures to someone whom I thought would like some of the buttons, I finally settled on these:

and these:

and these:

After three hours of shopping, I was spent in just about every way possible, so I went back to work on the camouflage circle jacket I want to get done. I was working on the last round and had gotten this far before the sun set:

Since then, I have finished the final round and am ready to begin work on the sleeves.

While I am no where near the champion shopper my grandmother was, I like to think she would be at least be able to take a small measure of pride in the extent of my shopping excursion.