A busy June so far and a very HOT one.

I left work earlier this week and it was HOT! My glasses steamed up the minute I walked out the office door at 4:30. My car was a sauna and this is what my external thermometer on the car read! unbelievable. This is why I hate summer.


I’ve been busy organizing my hobby room and my hobby closet. I share the room and the closet with DH and I tend to let my “stuff” get out of hand. His always remains neat and orderly. So, every now and then I have to do a big cleanup and organizing project. I like to do this project because it allows me to eliminate stuff I don’t use anymore. I have been donating bags, purses I don’t use, and I’ve donated some charity yarn. To eliminate some purses that I haven’t used in years, I will use them for a week and then ask myself if I’ve enjoyed using it. If the answer is not a definite yes, then I am getting rid of it. I have too many purses (bags) anyway and I’ll never use them all. So, eliminate, eliminate, eliminate.

Before I took up knitting again in 2005, I was an avid sewer, crocheter and photographer. I pretty much just knit now. Although with the clean up mentioned above, I can get to my sewing machine again and I do have some sewn items I want to make. I need some slacks for work and I really don’t like what’s on the market at the moment. In cleaning up the hobby closet, I eliminated a lot of material I will never use. Some was mine that I was excited about 10 years ago and never used it and then some was my mothers that my father gave to me when she passed away in 2001. It was time to let it go. I donated 3 large lawn bags of material to Goodwill and that made room on my shelves for me to organize my yarn better. I’ve created a spreadsheet of my stash as well as taken pictures of the stash. My goal is to be better at planning projects. For the yarn that I actually purchased for a project, I’ve put that in its own bag with the pattern so I can pick up and go when I’m ready to tackle that project.

Here's one picture of my organized stash. :-)


Last weekend, we had an external closet installed in our Master bedroom. The bedroom itself is too big, way too much wasted space in the room. I assume it’s meant to be a retreat for those adults who have kids, but for DH and I, the whole house is our retreat since we are sans kids. We also don’t have enough shelf space for clothing that’s not meant for hangers and too large to go into chests. Winter time you have sweat clothes, long johns, thick wool socks, jeans, sweaters, etc. So, we had this installed and I’ll be sponging it down and cleaning it this weekend to get it ready for clothing and bedding.


On the knitting front, I have been working on finishing UFO’s. It’s a long list so I’m not worried about running out plus I’ve always got new projects on the brain that somehow make it to the needles (they must cast-on for themselves), which then become new UFO’s? What I really mean is, I’m finishing projects that probably only have 30 minutes to 2 hours left on them to complete them. It gives me a sense of accomplishment plus it clears up my outstanding task list. Yes, I place my knit projects in my Task List on Outlook. Did I mention I’m somewhat of a geek?

OK, here's the finished Baby Surprise Jacket and matching booties. The booties don't really match but they are from the same skein. The Bombay yarn was prestriped and that's what made the BSJ turn out so cool, but it didn't work so well for the booties, but I kinda like the mismatched pair.


I also finished the Onesie, knit in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. Love the buttons!

and then I finished the Comfy Cape that I posted about here.

Comments

Wow! You've been busy. I love the peek into your craft storage closet. It looks like there are some fun time to be had in there. Doesn't it feel great to be organized? The yarn for the BSJ really, really works with the pattern. With so many finishes, what are you starting next?! :)
Kathy... said…
OH...how I love those closets! That would be wonderful. Our room is way too small for that sort of thing, but in my dreams..... sigh!

Your yarn stash is gorgeous too. You've really been busy. I also need to eliminate and toss out. Why is it so hard - and not getting easier with age, I fear.

Love the BSJ - love the "tied on" buttons. Toooo clever!

We have had nothing but rain and bad storms here. Guess I don't want your heat, but do wish the rains would ease up. Not sure if I can build a sufficient ark or not, but may have to try soon......
LeAnn said…
Thanks for sharing those visions of organized storage space. I can only dream...

I've tagged you with a Sunshine Award (see my blog), for adding sunshine to my life and blogosphere.