where i am

I live in North London and work in a standard office-bound 9to5. I don't like my job that much most of the time, so I spend a lot of time pretending to work but actually making plans about what cakes I could make to use up sesame seeds, or drawing up excel tables of knitting projects I want to start, or trying to work out what chemicals are under my sink and how I could replace them with better alternatives. Writing out little goals for myself, ideas of things to make, resolutions to stick to, ways to make my personal impact on the environment a little lighter.

When I have access to the internet I'll peruse lovely sources of inspiration; people like these who tackle everything from drinking straws to solar panels to dishwashing with a cheerful optimism and thoughtfulness, and this who ponders beautifully on the links between crafting, society and the world at large, and this with completely aspirational crafting projects, or these charting their progress to an admirable zero waste goal.

And I am continually making notes of what I want to write about, and taking photos of this and that when I can, thinking one day I will share this with the world. And maybe something will come of it.

Because I am excited by my adventures into chemical alternatives, and homemade bread, and natural hairdyes. And I am proud of my unpackaged grocery hauls and my ways of using up bits of old vegetables or our salvaged homeware. But without sharing this and having some kind of community around it, it all feels a bit, somehow, wasted...

The problem is, I tend to favour plans over action. I spend a LOT of time thinking about things, and not a lot of time really doing them. I've planned bits of this blog time and time again, and got not a jot down and out into the ether because it never seems quite right. Or started and deleted and spent half a day debating the name...

So, I thought to myself, hell, just stop trying to shape this so much before you get there. Start from where you are. There's nothing wrong with starting right here. Whatever you have right now.

So this is where I am and this is where I start.