I’ve mentioned in a previous post that my NY resolutions are probably always going to be some sort of echo of what I came up with back in 2016.

make, think, join, give.

Here’s what think meant at the time:

Thinking this year is mostly going to be about waste. Planning the way I spend my time, money, and most importantly, global resources. I want to eat less meat, buy local food, use what I buy, and prevent the plastic pile-up. Restrict myself from buying fast food and fashion, and generally spend more on big purchases and experiences, instead of spending on small disposable things.

I think most of this still holds true to what I want, but my actions have definitely slipped a lot in the last couple of years.

I’ve always bought second hand clothing, to the point where- outside of socks, undies and a pair of sport shoes- I can’t really think of any new clothes I’ve bought myself in the last years?

The problem with this is that:

a) I still buy a hell of a lot of clothes. Like, A Lot. In fact, the whole second hand thing definitely makes this worse, because I find it much easier to justify in terms of consumption. I’m fairly incapable of giving things away (hoarding genes), so there is now a volume that exists in my house. Weight gain has made this more of an issue (I need new clothes, but should I get rid of the stuff that doesn’t fit, should I hold out?), and Covid times (awfulness + a desire to have a nice little mail treat to break the awfulness) really increased the buying sprees.

b) I do still also buy other ‘things’. Mostly earrings. But also household items. I do very very much love my nest, and love that my home feels like me- this is important to me. But also, moving in with my ex, and trying to set up a new household also marked a bit of a shift to a more ‘amazon-y/ why not buy it’ mentality, which I ultimately just don’t really like for myself.

c) Buying new things takes my attention away from the old things. Which is where mending comes in.

I have an uncountable number of sewing projects on the go, and infinite more ideas pinging around my head. And I also have a lot of items that maybe don’t quite fit, aren’t quite right, or need a bit of TLC.

This jumper is a superfine wool creature, which I often travel with as an emergency layer.

Of course, the problem with superfine wool is that it tends to run, and it also tends to be incredibly tasty to moths.

I tried first to fix the holes in an invisible way, but that didn’t really work (at least not for my low level of skill). So I took to visible mending, with a mix of green-y blue embroidery threads.

It is… not perfect.

I was definitely making it up as I went, I definitely should not have tried the big (kelly green) hole first (and that one definitely should have had denser stitching), and I probably could have considered slightly more even shapes.

In the longer term, I guess I can work on this? But I also kind of already love it.

There’s a cognitive bias called ‘The Ikea bias’, which states that if you have a role in building a thing, you tend to think it has higher value. So maybe that’s at play here. But I don’t really care. And I really really enjoy wearing something that I had a role in making, or altering, or even mending.

Note here, the slightly stupid/smug selfie from back when I first wore the jumper in Liverpool, after deciding that, while ‘jumper with holes’ is not suitable for a Professional Conference, ‘jumper with holes that have been patched chaotically’ certainly is.

03.02.2026