What do you call unnecessary things? Apparently in our family we either have a lot of unnecessary things, or think lots of things are unnecessary, as we seem to have a lot of names. Among my favourites are:
- Tat - unnecessary things that are also not terribly interesting
- Frip (or frippery) - things that I imagine my mother thinks are unnecessary
- Pootlum - craft related unnecessary things. Particularly applicable to scrapbooking supplies (my sister's weakness), but can be used for any crafty supply in a pinch
- Crap - Adam's sometimes word for most of what occupies my workroom, the kitchen, the dining room, most of our house. Sometimes I suspect that he is more of a minimalist than me
- Junk - unnecessary things that are going to be thrown out just as soon as I find the time/inclination
- Curios - unnecessary things that I am trying to make necessary by giving them a fancy name and displaying them because they look cool
- Treasure - things that I think are necessary that I have brought home from boot fairs (or been given), but that Adam thinks are less essential to our family's wellbeing (vintage buttons seem to come under this heading quite often). Depending on who is talking, this term can be substituted for 'crap'
These needles (and the bottle), by the way, fall somewhere between treasure and curios. I suspect that they will sit and accumulate dust for a while in my workroom before slowly making their way to the 'junk' category, as unfortunately they are mostly too warped or fragile to actually use. Love the bright colours though. They came in a bundle of unwanted fabrics, yarn and embroidery threads from a friend whose grandmother had passed away, leaving a house full of hand making supplies.
Incidentally, I can't remember the last time I picked up my knitting needles. I have a reasonably complicated sweater on the go for Teddy, and I think I need something a bit more mindless to get me back into the groove. I think maybe another wool wrap for Jasper. I love the one we have, but to go to all the (occasional) effort of lanolising for just one wrap seems pointless. Much better to have two, no? I'm quite looking forward to autumn - I have some longies planned which I think will be rather cute.
