I guess PA isn't such a hicksville after all. DH took me shopping and all of the stores we wanted to go to were open. I expected Walmart and Zellers to be, but not the hardware stores. That was a pleasant surprise. DH had seen a Black and Decker coffee maker on sale at Zellers so we went to check it out. It is programmable and has a clock on it and was almost 1/3 off the regular price so we bought it. Oh my, but the coffee is good! We also picked up a narrow shelving unit that will fit nicely between my washer and dryer, when I get it assembled. Next, we stopped at Home Hardware for a wooden dowel the same size as an 8mm/11 US knitting needle. I needed to make myself a set of four DPNs (Double Pointed Needles) to knit the hat and purse to match my new Wrap Coat. Home Hardware had a selection of six wooden dowels and none of them were the right size. Next we tried Beaver Creek Home Centre. It's a fairly large store that I don't frequent very often and this is why: I walked in. The place was dead. The only other people in the store were the employees. I stopped at the check out and asked the kid where I would find wooden dowels and he says, "In "The Bay." So I then asked this oh so helpful lad, "And where is "The Bay"?" With a surly flick of his head in the direction of the rest of the store he says, "Past the Customer Service counter. Through the double doors." I slowly headed down the isle and passed the Customer Service counter. The man behind the counter was too busy reading to even look up at me. I found the double doors and went through them only to discover that "The Bay" is actually the warehouse with isles wide enough for a fork lift to travel down. All I could see were mile high stacks of plywood, plumbing pipes, reels of heavy chains and electrical wires and cables. A quarter mile away, lounging by the hanger doors..... I mean "The Bay" doors were two more employees. One of them looked at me and then quickly looked away in case I might need some help. By this time, DH had caught up with me and the two of us set out on our adventure to 'find the dowels'. Find them we, eventually, did and I discovered, with my handy dandy needle sizer that the dowel with the orange end was the one I needed. I searched through them for one that was relatively straight and checked the sticker on the rack that said the orange dowels were priced at 99 cents each. Can't beat that for a set of wooden DPNs. They cost $10.00 plus tax and shipping on the internet and I wouldn't have been able to find them here in town. Proudly clutching my wooden dowel, we returned to the checkout counter where the kid rings up $1.89. No way is the tax on a 99 cent item, 90 cents so my frugal DH tells the kid the price on the sticker was only .99 and to my surprise the kid, who really wasn't a paraplegic like I had begun to suspect, hot-footed it into the bowels of "The Bay", hell bent on proving us wrong. When he came back he told us the shorter dowels were .99 and the three foot dowels were $1.80. DH grumbled that we haden't seen any shorter ones but paid up anyway. Man I hate that store. The last time I was in there the customer service guy chatted with another employee while I waited and when the employee walked away the jerk started doing something else. He didn't look at me once. Then there was the time I asked one of the employees what the wooden dowels were made from. I meant Oak? Birch? Fir? and he said, "Canadian hardwood". I should have asked him for some seeds so I could grow my own Canadian hardwood. Moron. If he didn't know the answer, why didn't he just say so. Anyway, my dowel has been chopped into four equal lengths, sharpened to dull points on both ends, sanded and I am just waiting for the Golden Oak stain to dry before I give them another coat and wax them. They should be ready for use first thing tomorrow.