It is a sad state of affairs that in the past year I have purchased little or no new yarn with which to knit.
Seriously…
No. New. Yarn.
I have been progressively knitting through my stash and as 2009 draws to a close, and I still have yarn to make choices from!
This fact has astounded even me…and has made me feel incredibly materialistic and not in a good way at all. I have enough sock yarn to knit socks for an army of feet and if I were to knit one pair in a week, I would be able to knit socks for the entire year of 2010. Yes – that means I have at least 52 skeins of sock yarn, or pretty darn close!
Oy.
Not a thing to be proud of, to be sure!
Were I to perform the same inventory of fiber waiting patiently to be spun, I fear that the list would be almost as long if not longer!
I spent some time a couple of weeks ago cleaning out my closet and after an afternoon’s worth of work, I had totally emptied one entire closet of things that either, A. no longer fit, or B. I will never wear again for a variety of reasons. They have been relegated to life somewhere else, but not here. I can assure you that I have not missed one nor do I have any desire to replace it with something new.
It seems to me, and has for quite some time, that we are a society that is not happy with ourselves – we are ever in search of something more, someone more, that “something” just beyond our reach. Yet, when we have attained it, it does little to quench the “want”.
We are an empty society searching for something to fill us. Yet, we are looking in all the wrong places and in all of the wrong ways, and to make this personal – I am looking in all the wrong places and all the wrong ways.
A podcast I listen to recently had a series on “Make Do, and Mend” all about how during WWII people had to make do with less. Much of what Ms. Dayne talked about in those pod-casts (which you can find here, if you are interested) is very relevant for my life today. Therefore, in addition to trying to searching for inspiration in 2010, I believe that I will add into that becoming inspired about a simpler and more relaxed lifestyle.
I invite you to join me in my journey.
I was thinking of this similarly over the past week. It may have been because of all the holiday buying… As I was reading Agnes Grey there was a line about mending clothes and having turned the collars and bands of the shirts to get more use out of them. I remember my mother talking about removing a collar, turning it over and resewing to the shirt. Also having 3 dresses for school (one to wash, one to wear and one for special occasions.) Although I do try to live simply it is no where near simple enough. Time to be more serious in this endeavor. I did it out of need when the kids were younger. But the same principles should apply today.