Organizing

I couldn't stand it anymore. So last night, after work while H napped, I attacked my knitting and craft area and organized it!

I gathered up all my knitting magazines from around the house and put them in magazine holders. I couldn't find two. Hope they turn up soon. I was thinking of finally starting the Spring 2007 Knitscene cover sweater, Kenobi Jacket by Norah Gaughan. Oh well, it will turn up eventually.

I organized my yarn. I now have enough sock yarn for it to get its own container. I have three large plastic tubs, plus the two big, heavy plastic bags that my Boppys came in (while I was nursing, I found it essential to have two: one for upstairs and one for downstairs). The bags are perfect for holding yarn! So my sock yarn is one and the other holds odd balls and partial skeins. I have one tub for shawls and scarves, one for sweaters and one for more sweaters and roving. Yes, I own some roving even though I don't spin. Some of it is from a needle felting kit I bought but there are two new braids that I had to buy because I love the colors. I just needed them for inspiration!

I also have one small, heavy plastic bag that a pregnancy stomach wedge pillow came in that I used for my cotton and baby yarn.

I also organized, in file folders, my loose patterns and the patterns that I've printed from the Internet.

The final piece of the organization was putting projects in project bags.

With a 14-month old, a full-time job, a house to clean, dinners to cook, a yard to cultivate, plus a moderate amount of personal and business travel, I find it essential to have a variety of projects in different stages that I can grab and go for different purposes, whether it's knit night or the dentist or a long phone meeting or a trip. I need plenty of plain projects that I can knit without consulting a pattern. I want some more complicated ones for when I have an hour or two to sit. When I have just two or three projects going, somehow I always end up at complicated spot in each of them at the same time. Maybe it's just turning the heel, but I can't do that while on a phone meeting because I can't count and give my full attention to the meeting. Starting something new always takes more time and concentration than working on something in progress, too. So, while my ideal number of WIPs is 3-4, I find it's better to start a few more than that all at once when I have a big block of time so I can grab and go later.

This whole organization project helped me find the perfect sock yarn in my stash to make socks for my grandpa. And I dug out the purple malabrigo that I bought a couple of years ago to make a shawl for my grandma.

I pulled out some sweater yarn to start two new projects and found an old garter stitch baby blanket I started before my nephews (now almost three) were born. It's pink and I figured that with two babies on the way one of them was bound to be a girl, right? Wrong! I do have a new niece now, so I'm thinking of making it a small doey. (A "doey" is what my family calls those small blankets that others refer to as "loveys.")

But right now I am going to go start a basic hat. I need a good stockinette in the round project for my weekend trip. We are driving to Connecticut tomorrow and going to see U2 in the Boston area on Sunday night!