I took a trip to Jo Ann Fabrics the other day. This is not a shocking fact. I needed a pile of Lion Brand Wool-Ease for a massive Christmas knit. This is also not shocking. For some reason I like a giant challenging Christmas project each year. I feel it keeps me sharp. I also really like Lion Brand Wool Ease. It is inexpensive and comes in a lot of stylish colors. I am knitting Trilobite hats for my co-workers. 
We work at the Ohio Historical Society and the Trilobite is Ohio's state fossil - it is really too perfect. My initial estimates put the hat count at about 24. It takes me about 6 hours to knit a hat...
This trip to Jo Ann Fabrics was unlike other trips. They had recently trimmed quite a few of their home decor fabrics for swatches. When people come into Jo Ann's looking for the ideal accent fabric for curtains, chairs covers, pillows, what have you, they will often ask for a swatch to be sure that fabric aligns with existing decor decisions. Eventually the raw edge of the bolt can start looking a little chewed-up (I know all this because I worked at the cutting counter VERY briefly). So they trim those edges down and turn them into sample swatches. These sample swatches are stored in the plastic pocket with the brand and price info and you are welcome to take them. So my issue is - I have no intention of using any of the swatches in this pile to make home decor decisions. I plan to work them into a quilt. I also plan to go back and skulk around the home decor section collecting more swatches. I have justified this questionable behavior by thinking about the large quantities of hard-earned money I have spent at Jo Ann's over the years...I feel that the shame of walking up to the register with my purchases and a conspicuous wad of "cell phone" in my hip pocket is punishment enough...right?
2 comments:
I "liberated" paint color strips before from the hardware store to craft with. If they're free, they're free. And I think JoAnn's should be paying you by this point ....
Interesting question. It's like Garrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons" played out at the retail level. If each individual simply acts according to their own interest (and without regard for the long term sustainability of a shared resource) they will eventually deplete that resource.
Framed that way, I'd suggest the question is not really, "Is this stealing?" but rather, "Am I being respectful of this shared resource and the others who use it?" I'd say if you're mindful of other users, and give the collection a chance to recover from your occasional trips to JoAnn you're probably fine. That's probably more than you wanted to hear, but I find pop-sociology fascinating.
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