One of my cashmere sweaters was getting raggedy at the sleeve elbows, to the point where patching it up would be noticeable. Normally I wouldn’t care but I decided to cut up the sweater and use the fabric for various things including a pair of cashmere socks. I’ve been wanting a pair for a while!

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I think it is a ‘big ideology’ because most folks aren’t DIY unless they are forced to be because of finances. To be DIY when you don’t have to can be a stretch out of your comfort zone, and most folks just aren’t going to stretch if they don’t have to. I mean how many folks are going to can their own jam when they can just buy a jar of smuckers? How many people are going to build a bookshelf when they can just buy a cheapy one for 12.99 at walmart or wherever? I like DIY because it frees you from a lot of consumerist thinking. On the creativity tip, I like it because you aren’t wasting time, energy, and other resources trying to get signed to a record label or publishing contract or whatever. You just put out your stuff and reach your audience your way; cut out the middleman.

Right now my main personal DIY projects are growing herbs and veggies and making quilts. In the winter sleeping under a big warm quilt I made makes winter so much easier to bear. I also make and alter a lot of my clothing. I’m adding this to my balcony: a little greenhouse.
‘Course I’m making mine, not buying them pre-made so they won’t be as purty, but still functional.

My dream is to live in a straw bale house, but until then I can make the home I live in as environmentally friendly and useful as possible. We have a lot of unused space that’s going to waste, like the basement is an old school cellar that just needs to be thoroughly cleaned and the space utilized. That’s another project we working on bit by bit. I could be canning and storing food there at least, you know?

Lets’ see, what else…oh yeah I was paying a printing company big bucks (for me at least) to print up my books. Come to find out I could print and bind them right at home for less than half the cost:
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/bookbinding.htm
http://thiswomansrevolution.trentwomenscentre.ca/bookbinding.html
However that is not really time efficient, so I can also make use of quick printers such as Lulu.

These are just a few examples from my life. I am sure others have more about the ways in which they incorporate DIY into their lives. I also adore DIY because it has taught me to respect time, to make the most out of my time. I have talked with plenty of folks who say they have no time to make stuff, but yet and still they watch 30-40 hours of TV a week, some even more. Once you get into DIY you are no longer passive about your time or trapped by passive entertainment. Which is not to say I don’t watch TV, because I do, I just don’t have time to watch a lot of it because I’ve got interesting stuff to do. Living DIY I always have stuff to get into for either business or pleasure. I am never bored.

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DIY is the main thing that’s punk about me
and I apply it to punk because that was how I was exposed to it,
as far as making a business, putting out my own stuff
I was exposed to DIY at home, having a mother who made clothes,
grew food, allowed us to soup up our bikes
and it altered the course of my life
in so many ways

I know I would have been a completely different person had I not
been exposed to the DIY ethic

Every year I’m getting more and more in it
from stuff I do with my writing and business
to growing herbs and food
I’m putting up a little greenhouse yurt
and working on several quilts
I’ve completed many for my family over the years
and building bookshelves

DIY rocks because it opens your head to all you can do,
all that you’re capable of
If you want something done
just do it

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