Sometimes you just find the things you need: February 27 2019

Marie Kondo has been featuring a lot recently, and today I read an article in the Guardian about psychological de-cluttering, something I'm sure will strike a chord with a few people here.

Source "Along with owning too much stuff, we also pile unreasonable demands on our time. It's time to limit our focuses."

Actually, that reminded me of a conversation I had with Alison in the local wool shop: yet again, I had been in, rummaging in the sales baskets. Mostly, it was odds and ends, a ball of this and a couple of that.

But sitting beside them was a pile of Erika Knight Vintage Wool in a range of about five or six colours - pitch, dark, mulberry, flax, drizzle and pretty.

Vintage wool is an aran weight yarn spun with an ‘old-fashioned’ twist to give a beautiful ‘homespun’ look to your project. Made from the fleece of the Masham sheep, this 100% British wool yarn is easy to work with and comfortable to wear.

It was just what I needed for a knitted jacket I'm planning. I have one already, shop-bought and made of acrylic, a bit the worse for wear now, but still garners lots of compliments. I want to make one in the same style, but in wool.

Finding some wool that had been pre-selected by being placed in the sales basket was lovely: I was excused the hours of walking up and down endless arrays of different types and colours of yarn, trying to decide which to buy. Instead, here was a pile of suitable wool: I only had to decide whether I wanted it or not (and which of the colours I was going to choose).

It's one of the reasons I no longer go to large supermarkets, unless I have a list and a definite purpose and definitely not into anything calling itself a superstore. All that time and energy expended making choices.

Just as I sat down to write this, I noticed a flyer on my desk for the Leicester People's University. Next month is a session about Leicester Fixers:

Leicester Fixers is a community of problem solvers – amateur and professional repairers and non-repairers – that work together to mend the broken and learn more about repairs.

Every four to six weeks, usually on a Saturday, we run community repair events called Restart Parties where anyone can come to get help to repair a range of items. These events are entirely run by volunteers and are free to attend. However, we encourage donations to ensure we can keep running repair events in the future.

Mainly electrical stuff, but they'll have a go, or help you have a go, at fixing anything. There's lot of Restart Parties in the UK, but also Belgium, Hong Kong, Spain and Sweden.

Source I love pictures like this - used to promote the South London Maker Festival taking place this Saturday.

My friend and I have been talking about making life more simple. I think I'm on my way, in spite of the constant pull of Steem - do more, do more, do more!

Walking