When I teach people to knit, I tell them, "If you become a knitter, it will sustain you."

Tangled in yarn and wonky circs, they look at me like I'm daft. 

"No, really," I say. "Someday you'll be at a hospital or stuck in an aircraft or waiting for a mechanic and you will be grateful that you knit."

Isn't that how it is today with the economy collapsing around our ears? Aren't you glad you knit? Aren't you thrilled that lurking underneath floorboards, in closets, underneath beds and behind doors, you have stash? Hard assets, baby. Not paper wealth, but real wooly riches all set to keep you warm when you can no longer afford to heat your home?

I'm not dissing yarn shops or even advocating stash knitting at this point. If the economy tanks, really tanks like in 1929 and '33, we're going to need our yarn shops as loci of solace. Places to go to commiserate and share ideas. I'm saying, it's wonderful to have a skill, and some spare balls, to turn to in a time of need.

And thank goodness these arrived before they deactivate my credit card.

Mason-Dixon Knitting and ColorSense