Maybe I just need to not have an email address at all and then I won’t succumb to tempting messages offering money off! and cheap! patterns. My pattern-buying amnesty is was going moderately well. I may have picked up a couple of patterns on eBay but other than that, I have not been buying Ravelry downloads for myself and have therefore been feeling smug. Then a new Knitting Daily email arrives and before I can remind myself that I AM NOT BUYING PATTERNS, I have bought the digital issue of Interweave Knits Winter 2011 for what works out at being a very reasonable £2.30. So much for not buying any more issues because I never knit anything from them… 
And what makes it even worse is that I really love Bettie’s Pullover:
but I don’t know if I could wear it without looking ridiculous. Some people can look wonderfully stylish in retro clothing. I suspect I’d just look frumpy. I find it interesting that I would even want to wear a sweater with a feather and fan lace pattern. I used to have a (possibly) irrational dislike of it because it reminded me of so many patterns in my grandma’s People’s Friend, which never was a bastion of trendsetting knitwear design. I guess with it being my birthday in two days’ time that I am just feeling my age. 
Aw bless you…I think you can treat yourself for your birthday!
I, too, used to have a strong dislike for feather and fan – until I saw this pattern
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/charlotte-3. Now I’m rethinking that dislike. Don’t beat yourself up about the pattern, you have been doing very well with the no buying thing. Think of it as a very inexpensive birthday present to yourself.
Think of it as an investment in your old age…!
I am knitting Bettie’s Pullover. The ribbing took me forever. But maybe I am just slow.
When I read the title of this post I had visions of you sticking your head into a chocolate fountain (like Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibley!), so I was quite disappointed to find you’d only bought some patterns! hahaha