why paying $5 s/h is worth it!

I started making what I think is going to be a super cute teddy bear for my niece.  It's this pattern, which is first saw on Craftsy - it's called huggable bear, and I think it will be!  I found some of that Lion Brand Luxe Fur at JoAnn's - I'd seen it in their ads, but never at a shop, AND it was 40% off, which is good because I'm not too keen on paying $8+ for some fancy fun fur yarn! And just for the record, I like it, but I don't love it - i think it knits up to resemble carpet, and the thread that holds it all together needs to be nylon or something tougher than whatever it is - it's very easy to break, like when you're threading it back through stitches at the end of a piece.

 I got 3 skeins which was pretty close to what the pattern called for, but even the pattern is a little sketchy about how much you need - it seems to be based just on the yarns she's used (and I believe she's from the UK, so i couldn't get my hands on any she used, plus I was wanting to try the Luxe Fur.)  Turns out that 3 skeins only got me through the body, head, and part of one arm!  Billy suggested that he could be a disabled bear.  I decided to buy more yarn.  Shipping was $5 on Joann's website unless I spent $50 so i was like "no way".  I went today and, of course, spent more than $50!  I did get a remanant of some black fur fabric because my uncle gave me some vintage teddy bear book a while back, and I thought maybe this bear would like a bear friend of its own!  There were three skeins left of this color, so I got all of them!  i'm not going to risk this again! I also got two of these packs, not because I needed more fabric, but because I hadn't seen these before and it seemed like a neat little packaging idea (geez, i'm such a sucker for merchandising!)  It's a Denise Schmidt fat quarter pack, but it's all one piece of fabric with cut lines.  Anyone else seen these yet?

What the heck - spending a few hours at Joann is more fun that ordering a couple skeins of yarn online!