Sure, it’s Sunday, but here’s a bonus behind-the-scenes tale about hunting down clothespins for the Pinterest Challenge light fixture we’re building. Other possible titles that crossed my mind included:
- “The Petersik Clothespin Tour of Richmond”
- “Wow, I’m a really patient husband.”
- “Sorry environment, we vow to plant three trees to make up for all that driving”
Here’s the situation. When we first started the clothespin light fixture (first mentioned in our project post), we grabbed four bags of clothespins at Ben Franklin to get started. We knew we’d need more but didn’t want to go overboard until we settled on a pattern and had a better idea of how many we’d actually need. At the time Ben Franklin only had four bags in stock, too.
Once we got into it, we realized we needed a lot more clothespins. So, as Clara went down for a nap, Sherry asked me to run out and pick up roughly eight more packs. What we didn’t know was that my “quick” errand would become a two-hour, 54-mile loop through the Richmond suburbs.
Because we had already started using the clothespins from the first four packs, I needed exact matches in size to keep the look consistent and make sure they fit the wire frame of the fixture. That ruled out places like Target and the dollar store, which only carry sizes that are too large or too small. So I headed back to the original Ben Franklin hoping they’d been restocked. They hadn’t. Zero packs secured.
I only knew of two other Ben Franklin locations in the area, so I tried nearby stores in the same shopping center: Bed Bath & Beyond (no clothespins) and Michael’s. Michael’s did carry clothespins, but in large, small, and mini sizes—none of which were the medium size we needed to match the ones we’d already used.
Sidenote: Yes, Sherry has me listed as “Husband – John” in her phone. Apparently she’s keeping things crystal clear in her contacts.
After those misses, I expanded my search to the next Ben Franklin on my list and finally scored three medium packs. Progress—but still short of the eight packs I was trying to collect. That led me to the big-box craft stores: JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby. They were farther out but located on a nearby highway, so I thought the drive would be worth it.
Sherry had called ahead and both JoAnn and Hobby Lobby said they carried clothespins, but they couldn’t confirm sizes or brands, so I had to check in person. Predictably, both stores carried only large, small, and mini sizes—not the medium ones we needed. Fortunately, a Burger King pit stop along the way revived me, but the hunt continued.
With hope dwindling I headed to the last Ben Franklin on my list, driven there in part by Sherry calling to see if they might have our specific size and brand. They did—and in abundance: nine packs. If I’d started there (it’s only eight miles from home) I could’ve avoided the entire two-hour odyssey, the cashier jokes about having “lots” of laundry, and the Burger King stomachache.
Even so, the excursion ultimately paid off. It was a pretty exhaustive tour of our city, and along the way we confirmed a few places to avoid for medium clothespins (Target, the dollar store, Bed Bath & Beyond, Michael’s, JoAnn, and Hobby Lobby for our specific size). The bright side: the chandelier is looking great. Sherry and I have been trying different clothespin patterns and we can’t wait to finalize the design, hang it up, and share a detailed, photo-filled tutorial.
One small downside: we now have four unopened packs left to return to Ben Franklin. Turns out we over-calculated—only four additional packs were actually necessary. In Homer Simpson’s words: d’oh.