14 days into Buy Nothing April… let’s see how I’m doing: Other than the predicted shopping spree at the belly dance workshop and birthday gifts and birthday party food, I’ve purchased nothing else for myself this month. Oh, wait, I had a candy bar or two – pre-dance class snacks when I didn’t have time to get home. But other than that, nothing. J Can I make to the end of the month? Probably not. I’m already debating a pattern sale at Hancock this weekend. No doubt that I’ll somehow justify the purchase of at least two Simplicity patterns I’ve had my eye on – I’ll tell myself that I won’t use them until May, so it doesn’t count, right? :P Yeah, right. I don’t need them this month, that is for sure – I certainly won’t use them in April with everything else going on – I haven’t made a dent in the last batch of patterns I bought. Maybe I’ll just stay away from the 84th Street exit this weekend… Maybe…
I don’t necessarily think that not-shopping-at-all is that much harder than just not-buying-clothing. At least in theory it shouldn’t be… It’s not like I’ve even been inside a clothing store in the last 5 or so months… But it is a challenge – I feel that immediate surge of deprivation just saying to myself “you’re not buying ANYTHING”. But am I really being deprived of anything other than instant (and instantly fleeting) gratification? How often do I really need the stuff I buy…as necessary as the object seems at the moment of purchase, how often does it just end up in a pile of other stuff that I acquired in a similar fashion?
In the absence of shopping, I’ve been trying to do some stash-busting. I woke up Saturday morning just itching to make something that wasn’t a velvet choli (I’m getting a little burnt out on that project – thank god it’s almost done!). So I pulled out this awesome “Julia knit” fabric I bought a couple of months ago. It’s a beautiful dark gray and so soft… With a super easy palazzo pants pattern, I had new lounge pants in no time. I love these pants – they’re as comfy as sweats, but dressy enough for a casual day at work, plus they make my butt look really good. J Always a plus. I made a second pair on Sunday, only cropped to the knee and in a dark brown jersey. I love my serger – it makes sewing with knits SO much easier. I’m 3 seams and 2 sleeves away from a dark brown jersey tunic to match. Then I’ll move on to the longer dress version of the tunic pattern in some bluish lavender ribbed knit. That’ll knock 3 large pieces of fabric from the pile… Somewhere in there I suppose I’ll finish the velvet cholis as well…sigh…not looking forward to that anymore!
