Cleaning Out the Closet for Winter

 I took a break from reorganizing the knitting room to try on winter clothes. Twice a year I tend to see what fits or is too worn out to last another season.  Today 9 shirts were too big. The body length of the shirts were not the problem. The shirts had gotten so big that the sleeves were 2 to 4 inches too long. Apparently folding my sleeves up to mid forearm or elbow is not a fashion thing. So the rule of thumb was if my hands can’t be seen the shirt must go. The were all nice shirts so they will be going to Goodwill on our next charity run.  The funny thing about this was most of the shirts were black.  Usually it’s the lighter colors that have gone in the past.  

Before we headed out to lunch we stopped by J.Jills for their sale.  I replaced a few of the shirts and some of my pants.  The funny thing about it was that except for some pants, nothing was black.  Did I mention that everything I got was on sale. Also everything was smaller. I noticed that an extra large petite is equivalent to a large in the regular size clothing, just shorter. This is just in case you were curious.  

I might not have lost as much weight this year as last year, but the inches seem to be catching up with the weight loss. It seems that in the moment of the weight loss inches do not come off. In the moment of inches lost does not mean that the scale is moving.  I will take the inches lost as part of the process. 

At lunch I found that I really hated the jalapeño pepper hummus.  It was a definite not ever going to eat that awful stuff again.  I am usually a big hummus fan and will try different add ins.  But this being Tucson and snowbird season weird stuff like the jalapeño pepper hummus land on the menu for the snowbirds. You will not find odd combinations on the menu in the middle of summer.  

In the knitting room I matched patterns with bags of yarn to set up more projects that need to be completed.  I also realized that I need to take everything out of the rolling cart and reorganize the entire cart.  That will wait until next week.  

It’s getting late do TTFN.  

Binge Organizing

 Today I meant to spend 30 minutes working on organizing the knitting room.  Somehow, 3 hours later I only stopped working when I ran out of the Ziplock XL Flexible Totes*. I checked out Target, Walmart and Ace Hardware to buy a couple more tote bags.  Even places where Google shopping said they were in stock there were none.  I am not sure if it is a supply chain issue or that they just don’t carry as many sku’s in the stores.  So I ordered them on line and they will be here Wednesday.  

I did manage to empty one basket and 2 canvas tote bags today.  Tomorrow I will work on winding yarn and putting odd skeins away.  The knitting room now looks worse than this morning, but I swear parts of the room are more organized.  Like skeins are gathered together.  I had more of some yarn than I thought I had.  John was not surprised like I was.  

I will have to prune a few more knitting books to get the books I found tucked in odd places put away. That will wait until I can get back to my knitting / spinning table.  

All the organizing and waking to find the Ziplock XL Flexible Totes gave me over 10,000 steps today. So all in all it was a good day.

*I like storing some of my yarn in the flexible totes.  I purchased them myself.  I am not receiving any compensation from the makers of the Ziplock XL Totes.  

4 Hours

 Between last night, this morning and afternoon I spent 4 hours beginning to organize my knitting room.  I went through every basket, plastic box and drawer on 2 sides of the room.  The net result so far is 5, yes five kitchen size trash bags full of yarn.  These will go with a friend up to Northern Arizona when she visits her family next time.  

The knitting room is down one rolling cart which will be for sale at the next Old Pueblo Knitting Guild meeting which is themed Christmas in July.  If you are in Tucson this coming Wednesday July 17th join us at St. Phillips Church at the corner of River Road and Campbell Avenue at 9:30am.  I will also have some of my hand spun yarn packed into kits that will include the yarn, a pattern and stitch markers.  I will price the yarn at hand dyed prices, instead of hand spun prices.  Now I have to spend the weekend pricing everything. 

I have also come to the realization that I have about 20 years worth of shawls for me to knit.  While I was busy clothing the community with winter hats and scarfs, I totally forgot about my needs.  I also have a few sweaters that will be knit after I make a dent in the shawls.  I have also come up with a brilliant idea for a lot of little skeins of sock yarn.  I will set up that bag after I finish all the pricing.  

So I have been talking about what is leaving the knitting room today.  Here is a visual for you.  

Can You Solve a Mystery?

 What does me cleaning out my knitting room? Taking out 3 bags of trash. Putting things away. Cleaning up the clutter that is not art related.  Have to do with the picture in this blog? 

 Come back tomorrow for more clues.  

Redecorating

 I have spent years decluttering the entire house. Getting rid of stuff we no longer use or need. Creating more space. Finding lost treasures. Taking car load after car load to Goodwill.  Taking selected things to Bookman’s for store credit so I can get new socks for the children’s clothing bank I knit for.  By the way the kids are rumored to like the socks as much as the hats and scarves that I make for them.  

Now enough clutter has been up cycled  and recycled to create newly made space to create a new environment for us.  I did start on the selfish side though. I took 2 previously acquired works of art and placed them with a lovely piece by Navied Mahdavian who is a cartoonist for the New Yorker and author of Searching for Home in Rural America. The piece is so attuned to me, reminding me to unwind. 

So without further ado, here is the new wall of art.  The picture is a little off center due to lighting issues  I know the frame on the sheep did not match the other frames, but a brown frame would not have done the sheep justice. I am just not going to mess with sheep under any circumstances.  

Now I am off to reclaim my knitting room.  It became a way station during my closet tear down and reorganization. Since I am really close to needing to type up several new patterns, I need the room back. Also please don’t remind me that I should only work on one design at a time, my mind just does not work that way. 

Visible Progress

 The floor of the knitting room is now cleared of all but one basket.  The baskets all have shelve space.  The one basket that does not has my Navajo spindle in it.  I currently do not have any shelve space in the entire house that could possibly accommodate it.  There are also No project bags on the floor. All the project bags are either empty and placed in storage, hanging on a hanger, or last but not least on a shelf.  

Rumor has it that a certain robot is willing to vacuum the entire knitting room floor for me tomorrow.  

Don’t get me wrong there is still work to do in the knitting room.  While cleaning I opened various project bags.  For each bag I went through the matrix below. 

1. Keep the yarn and pattern together. Then try to find time to finish it.  

2. Keep the yarn for another project.  Give the pattern away.  

3. Prepping the yarn for woven or knit charity scarves (non Superwash wool). Prepare the yarn for knitting charity hats ( Superwash wool or cotton). Some of my hand spun yarn is going into both sets of projects. 

4. Put the yarn into the Goodwill box.  

I have not gone through all my project bags yet so there is still more work to do.  I have enough yarn for almost a dozen hand knit scarves prepared.  Also enough for at least a dozen shades of blue and green woven scarfs.  Yes while I was organizing things I put the yarn in color palettes for weaving.  

Did I mention that I have a huge pile of circular knitting needles to put away too.  That should take a couple of hours at a later date. Most likely when I need a certain circular knitting needle and can not find the right size. 

I even found time to work on a new knitting design and a few rows of weaving. I was not cleaning all day because I am recovering from the latest sinus infection and the beginning of the….wait for it….post getting sick arthritis flare up.  

TTFN. It’s time to call it a day.  

A Work in Progress

 I have 1/4 of my knitting room just how I want it.  Elmo is even supervising my progress.  

I finished another scarf for Operation Gratitude today. It is now in the basket to go to Knitting Guild next month. All I have left to do is add a small note.  It is pictured above. 

Redesign Progress

 A lot of progress has been made in my knitting room.  If you were here on Monday, by today you would not recognize it.  I will take some pictures tomorrow.  John did all the heavy lifting. All the space created by the donation to our community food bank is now filled with yarn. This s makes my yarn more accessible.  I have moved every single roller to a new spot in the room.  

When I went to get my afternoon snack, it turned out that it was dinner time. How did that happen? So while dinner was cooking I did some organizing and straightening in the dining room.  It was a good day to get rid of clutter too, John was kind enough to take that all out for me and Roomba the knitting room while we cooked dinner   

I spent the evening knitting.  Only 1 project got finished today. My 19th charity hat for the year.  Another operation gratitude scarf is a few rows from being finished. You guessed it, I cast on another charity hat too.

Another New Pattern.

 I am currently working on a bespoke baby blanket.  I will publish the pattern after the mom to be gets it.  One thing I can tell you now is that it is simple and colorful.  There will be a nice gradient in colors.  It is a fast knit.  It will use 8 100 gram skeins of yarn on US size 3 knitting needles. Those without arthritis in their hands should be able to finish in a week or so. It will be large enough to use until the toddler stage.  

Somehow having a space of my own where I can shut out the world while looking at a nice desert landscape is helping my creativity.  I only wish I could knit more hours a day right now.  Right now I knit for a bit and let my hands rest.  This seems to have cut down the soreness and swelling.  Maybe this way I can avoid further surgery on my hands.  I can only hope. 

The Next Step

 This is my next step in my knitting room.  I now have a sturdy table and a new Ott light.  The Ott light even has 2 compartments for stitch markers, a total design for knitters.  I will be getting a different table so that I don’t have to pull the table out to get to my roll aways.  

It’s been a long time since I have had a hideaway for fiber crafts.  My spinning hideaway disappeared with   John using the front room for his 3D printing and a new neighbor putting up an 8 foot wall which destroyed my view of nature.  I can now turn on my audio book, music or have silence while working with the door closed. An added benefit is that when I am working on a project, I don’t have to put everything away before meals. 

I added the step stool as a foot rest.  It’s nice to sit in a comfy chair and put my feet up while knitting   I have a few pictures to put up too. That also takes time. 

I have a couple more upgrades planned. Everything takes time and consideration.  So I am taking baby steps in this redesign.