Make do and mend

This was today's 'Daily Good' in my inbox today. I love mending things. I truly love it. I darn socks all the time - it's so satisfying watching the hole disappear. I have a pair of slippers that I bought in Vancouver's Chinatown three or four years ago that I keep sewing up (really the only things in my house I'm glad were made in China. No offence, China, it's just, you're a long way away and your workers often look sad). Just today I put a piece of duct tape over a hole in the rubber sole, thereby preventing wear and keeping them good for just a little bit longer. I've also been darning the edges of an old hand towel this very evening that I refuse to throw away because it was given to my parents as a wedding present decades ago. I'm cross about the piece of crap heat tool I bought because the damn thing broke and I can't fix it. I tried. It was my own fault for having it too close to the paper so it overheated. I'll have to make a sculpture out of the pieces, or something. I've gone back to the hairdryer (see below).
I try not to shop, really, because I don't need anything. Nothing. Not a single thing. (Not even shampoo.) I walk around the shops and see pretty things and pick them up then put them down and back away from the pretty things saying 'I don't need it', often out loud. Not that I don't splurge on pretty things now and again, but it's a lot rarer. I'd rather try to make a pretty thing (see below) than buy a pretty thing made in a giant factory in a far-off place. I'd love to learn to make my own clothes. Being a crocheter, I'm never short of a scarf or six, or a blanket. and I'm glad to have that skill. 
I'm trying to eat more from what I have in my cupboards too and it's surprising what I find hidden away. I'm a little scared of all my tinned food after reading about bpa in the lining, but I'm going to eat what I have then try to get jars in future. I made some bread last weekend, and intend to make yogurt (for which I did buy a thermos flask, made in China.) The bread turned out somewhat mediocre but just peachy for toast for a few days, and I enjoyed kneading and punching down the dough so much I may have squealed. I'm not sure it's cheaper to make your own bread but it's so lovely with some homemade jam, to know just exactly what's in it and that you made it yourself.