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Happy New Year, friends!

I got the funniest holiday card this year. It looked something like this:

2021, Best year ever! (this part was crossed out with a big X)

2021, Better than last year!

2022, will you be a lion or a lamb?

What will we be saying at the end of 2022? What do we want to have accomplished by 2023?

I generally don’t make big resolutions. I like to write small, daily goals down in a calendar. It’s a physical one, not one on my phone, because I love the feeling of crossing off the tasks that I have accomplished at the end of the day. The calendar squares are small enough so that my daily task list can’t be too big, which means it’s realistic, and it usually gets done.

Is one of your goals, like mine, to tackle your closet or your kids’ closets? This is a great place to start, and it can be done in small steps instead of a full weekend purge.

Here are some small, daily steps to make it less overwhelming:

· Get 2 plastic bags and mark one “throw away” and the other “donate”. If you pull out a piece of clothing to wear and aren’t sure about it, put it in one of the bags. If you regret it later, you can always pull it back out. Keep the bags somewhere handy. It takes the emotional pressure away, and you can dispose of the bags each month instead of a yearly purge.

· Make sure all your hangers are facing in the same direction. When you’ve worn something, turn the hanger around and put the item back in the closet. At the end of the year, you’ll be able to see what you haven’t worn. Chances are you won’t wear that item if you haven’t worn it for a year.

· If it’s a child’s closet, is that item too small? Don’t put it back in, take it out immediately and put it in one of the bags. Is it a top but the bottoms are missing? Out it goes.

· Store off-season clothing in containers somewhere else. When you pull it out at the start of the new season, you can quickly feel if you have a happy reaction to it or an ambivalent or negative reaction.

So was 2021 better for us? I don’t know if that’s true for everyone, but it was true for a lot of the country. I hope it was true for you and your family.

Keep a look out for next month’s blog, where I will share all my information on places to donate your things where they will do a world of good.

Be kind, 2022!

All the best,

Boo & The Bunny

I am always a little nervous when I start to “repair” one of my knits. Sometimes my sweaters have ended up with a pleat at the center front when I’ve tried to sew up a moth hole.

I have found that if you have the correct tools and guidance, and then give yourself the time you need, you will most likely end up with clothing you can wear instead of toss.

Here are some resources that I use.

1- The thread. Make sure you have the right thread or yarn, depending on the size of the hole, in the right color before you start. I can recommend www.needlepointjoint.com. It pays to buy a few basic colors to have on hand before the moth strikes or the sock is threadbare. Look at the yarn and clothing in daylight, because sometimes, for example, a black yarn works on navy better than a blue color. Make sure you have the correct needle size, too.

2- Freeze it. Place your sweater in a bag and then put it in the freezer for 48 hours. There’s no point in repairing a hole if there are still larvae in the sweater.

3- Watch and learn. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LaNmVc9Xfs to see how Cheryl Brunette repairs moth holes. She even recommends making a cup of tea before you start, taking a deep breath and think of the mother moth who was just trying to feed her babies!

4- Shrooms. Buy a darning mushroom. It will make life much easier, especially if you are darning socks. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093GT24GC/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_5?smid=A3SX3BI9BGU9L0&psc=1

Good luck! Your grandmother would be proud.

Small, Steady Steps

2021 Winter Market Dec 2,3 and 4

Stitch it, don’t ditch it