A stormy Sunday

Storm Ciara is currently pelting the UK with wind and rain, so I’ve been staying warm and dry indoors today (apart from my usual Sunday morning run – fortunately the wind hadn’t got up to full strength and the rain hadn’t really started then yet).

Inside, I’m happy to say that things are calm and peaceful – very contrary to the exterior world at the moment! I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years wishing for a simpler life. What I have come to realise more recently, is that life can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. I mean that in relation to all elements of life – from how you relate to the people you live and work with every day, to the amount of stuff you gather around you, to how you think about your future and the plans and dreams that you have.

I like to think that by and large, I’m a kind person. However, I often think I should be kinder. I’ve realised over the years, from watching other people interact with each other in negative ways, and the problems that can ensue from that, that actually the capacity to be compassionate and kind toward other people has great power to simplify and improve our lives, and the lives of people around us.

Sure, there will always be some people that I feel a greater affinity for, and liking for than others. But so what? If I make more effort to understand those people with whom I don’t have such innate sympathy, things will be better than they would if I don’t make the effort. So I should try to work on listening to other people more. In this busy world, its so easy for me to rush through life focused only on what is important to myself each day. Sometimes this means hurrying other people through conversations, and not really hearing what they are trying to tell me. However in doing that, not only am I being unfair to the other person, I think I’m also losing part of myself. I’m missing out on finding out about what makes other people tick. And that’s important to me, because despite being an introvert, I like people and I’m interested in them.

The way I see it, taking time to listen to the people around me will help me to understand those people. And, if I understand the people around me, then hopefully spending time with those people will be less complicated than has sometimes been the case.

I also mentioned the amount of ‘stuff’ which I gather around myself. Like a lot of people these days, I’ve started to feel a little bit weighed down by possessions, and to question why I continue to accumulate things I don’t really need, or can’t use for months. And, yes, I do include yarn in this!

I love to knit and crochet, and I’ll never give it up as long as my hands and fingers hold out. But, I’ve allowed myself to accumulate far to many un-used balls and skeins of yarn. I don’t really know how it happened, but it’s reached the point where I have boxes and boxes in the cupboard. I really want to change this situation, because it’s actually started to become a source of stress to me. So, I have some rules for myself here:

1. No buying yarn for at least another 6 months. All projects made in that time must therefore use of something from the stash.
2. No making of things that I have no use for. This will require some creativity in terms of projects given the ban on buying, but I don’t want to end up making a load of items that will just sit in the wardrobe unworn instead of sitting in the cupboard un-knitted. That would not be progress. If I really struggle to find things to make with my stash or don’t want to make the things I can, then I will either consider selling the yarn, or make something and give it to a friend whom I think will appreciate it.
3. Think creatively (see above). Given that I can’t buy new yarn, and am determined to try and use as much of my stash as possible in the next few months this may mean that in order to make things which I know I will either be able to use myself, or find a loving home for, I’ll need to think outside the box. This could mean adjusting patterns for a different weight of yarn (eep!) or combining yarns of different weight to reach the required weight.

So these are the three golden rule which I’ll be following this year! We’ll see how it’s going come July. Wish me luck, and please, if you can any stash-busting tips, please let me know!

I found a brilliant newsagents in London back in January, which stocks heaps and heaps of independent magazines. There are few really great independent mags around now that I really love, but they can be a struggle to find as they aren’t stocked by the regular high street newsagents. So, when I heard that Koel magazine had a new issue just out, I headed over there to see if they had a copy. I was so excited to discover that they did! I’ve heard of this magazine before, but have never seen it for sale in the flesh. So I’ve been happily flicking through that, on and off since triumphantly bringing it home yesterday.

My crochet cotton bed spread is also now in a virtually finished state (ends fastened in and everything), so I am looking forward to sharing details soon, maybe in my next post.