This one's for mother earth

Reduce, reuse and recycle is the mantra of the new millenium and I have been taking steps to do so. I reuse alot, given my love of thrift stores and garage sales. Most of my wardrobe has been either thrifted or made by me and most of my furniture has been thrifted or picked up at garage sales, Craig's List, etc. I also recycle. I can't say that I am 100% good about it but I would say I'm at 75%. But I haven't done much about reducing. So I decided to work on that area and I am starting with our food.
When you think about it, most of your waste is associated with food. Not only is there the packaging but the bags and then scraps from leftovers, etc. So my first step was to cut out the bags. So I dug in my stash and found a couple of yards of lightweight denim (cost=free) and sewn up 5 basic totes. I already had one tote so now I have a total of 6, with the one dedicated just for meat (don't want to contaminate the fruits and veggies). As soon as they were done I put them in my car so I have no excuse not to use them.
Then I thought about packaging. I try to buy fresh fruits and veggies so instead of using the plastic bag the grocery store provides, I am crocheting net bags. I hope to do at least two, one for fruits and one for veggies. I also decided that I am going to plant some container gardens. I was going to dedicate one of my beds to a veggie garden but I decided to start small. It's all about baby steps. Another thing I am going to do to reduce waste is to cook fresh - not buy so many prepackaged foods. This, of course, will have the side effect of actually making my family healthier because we will be eating better.
Finally, I am going to compost. I actually have a compost bin that I made out of a plastic storage tub but the holes that I drilled in it for venhilation are too big and have attracted some uninvited guests. So I am going to have to start over and drill smaller holes. It's amazing the amount of things you can compost outside of the obvious table scraps (no meat or fats, please) like dryer lint and toilet paper tubes.
To sum up:

1. Bring your own bags when you go shopping.
2. Buy or grow fresh/bulk to avoid prepackaged foods
3. Compost

Crochet Detective

At a recent thrift store hunt, I bought this beautiful crochet top. Not only is it very soft and drapes nicely, it fits perfectly.


But that is not the only reason why it appeals to me. This top appears to have been crochet in one piece in the round using a clever decreasing of double crochets (I am guessing) in the chevron pattern to achieve the shaping.



So now I am looking at this pattern and trying to decipher just how it was done. I am finding the process rather fascinating as I try to chart out the pattern. The bottom pictures shows the underarm patterning.



I've always been a fan of puzzles and I can't wait to break the code on this one!

Treasure Hunting

Some people turn their noses up at thrift stores. My husband is one of those people. For the most part, after getting hand-me downs as a kid, he wants his clothes new.
Second-hand clothing doesn't bother me. As a matter of fact, the hunt is part of the fun. I also like that I am being environmentally conscious (trust me, to my shame, I am not always so good), and that I am getting a lot for my money.
Now there are some things I won't buy at the thrift store (underwear, shoes and jeans are the main items. Underwear and shoes I think are self-explanatory, jeans because I am hard to fit and need a long inseam) and there are some thrift stores that I won't go to (I do have a threshold for cleanliness/grossness and some stores have pushed it). For the most part, though, I can easily kill a couple of hours and there are some great stores near my house.
This week I paid a visit to 2 stores. While I told you about some of the stuff I got, here is the run down of everything I got for $100:
1.Bohemian cardigan (pictured below)
2. Black Apostrophe shirt
3. Long sleeve (print) t-shirt
4. 2 sweaters which I will unravel for the yarn
5. Poncho which I will unravel for the yarn
6. Denim jacket
7. 3 casual blazers
8. Black dress skirt
9. Candie's capri's
10. Old Navy long sleeve tunic
11. Black/white/grey knit pullover
12. Banana Republic T-shirt
13. Knit hooded pullover
14. J.Jill cardigan
15. Black and white cropped cardigan
16. Black Ralph Lauren hooded zippered cardigan
17. Large round decorative tray
18. Brand new decorating book

I got 21 items so that is approximately $5 a piece I spent for these items. Now I shop carefully, I try things on and I am pretty aware of what looks and doesn't look good on my body type so I rarely get home and have a loser (which I either try to refashion or donate back to charity).

My shopping strategy is to try to find basics like the black skirt or denim jacket (yes, even though I already have 4) and then look for pieces that I can layer. Although the weather in Texas is mild, I find that I usually like to have a jacket or cardigan no matter what time of year it is because in the winter it can be cold and in the summer, many stores and offices run the air conditioning at arctic temps.

I would encourage everyone to hit their local thrift store, consignment store, flea market, garage sale or vintage shop because you never know what treasure you will find.