Cleaning out the Closets

Thanksgiving was great, complete with a visit from Sara and family, as well as both sets of grandparents.  I managed to burn the rice dish as I blogged about it on Wednesday, plus, note to self, people don't eat beet-apple salad when their plates are full to overflowing with things slathered in fat.  So Wednesday was pretty much a waste of time.  At least I got a blog post in, right?  I'll post the recipe for the chestnut thingy soon, I just can't cope with even thinking about complicated holiday food preparation right now.  But it's coming, promise.

But that's not what I want to talk about today, doc.  I want to talk about my closets.  I spent yesterday, late into the night, doing a deep stash cleaning and purging.  There are a variety of things motivating this, not the least of which being the fact that the closet is getting a little, um, full.

So down I dived, and I'm not just talking about the top layers.  I pulled out the ancient stuff in the rubbermaid containers at the bottom.  The stuff in the old gray bags from Webs (I can now date my stash by what color the bag is; they changed a few years ago).  The UFOs, and oh but there are UFOs.

The following main themes emerged from this in-depth research:

• I have a lot of yarn.
• Also spinning fiber.
• Brown Sheep?  Yes, plenty.
• Brown Sheep labels used to be printed in red and had a silhouette of the state of Nebraska on them.
• My knitting habits have not improved; I have a lot of unfinished projects.
• No, I didn't count them.
• I don't want to know.
• But despite frogging a few particularly unfortunate examples (I had another, non-matching sock for that Yeti until last night), there are, let's say, a GOODLY number in a rubbermaid bin.
• By GOODLY I mean that they have their own rubbermaid bin.
• Hoarding disorder?  Shut up.  It's not full.
• Those two balls of DB Cashmerino bulky that I got to make a charity hat were kind of redundant.
• Even I have trumped my "boyfriend sweater" of 1988-89 to find half a glove in lovely alpaca complete with receipt dated 1987.  I need to do some thinking on that one, since it's clear that I will run out of the main color if I try to make, you know, a pair.

But all self-mockery aside, I went to bed last night strangely unsettled by the whole thing.  Partly it was the realization that, while I may not have reached SABLE (NB: many female relatives lived well into their nineties and my great-aunt is the oldest living Maryknoll nun at almost 105, so I have to plan for the long haul), I have a LOT of wool and all this gallivanting around fiber festivals and fondling of fleeces is pretty much patently ridiculous. 

Partly it was the stark reminder that some of my wool-hoarding behavior is about a wish for the time to do this work, and that until I change the time equation, I will wind up with nothing but piles of unfinished and unstarted projects.  This is not news, but seeing my scattered life laid out before me in wooly metaphor was a bit much.

Partly it was a journey into my creative history of the last couple of decades.  I even came across the baby booties I made for Henry & Eleanor and apparently forgot about, because there they were, one pair unseamed, deep in the stash (there's a whole other post about knitting while pregnant after infertility and miscarriages, but let's spread out the heavy weather, shall we?).

I came away from this exercise with the desire to GET REAL.  I don't know if anything is going to change, if I have any chance of resisting temptation when, as Risa puts it, the next fancy yarn shakes its ball band at me.  But it reminded me of the ways I've given up on balance these last few years; that I haven't meditated since the kids were born, that I've gone back to drinking coffee (and how), don't get enough exercise, knit and blog instead of sleeping, eat too much chocolate, and generally spread myself too thin.  Knitting and spinning have meditative, nurturing qualities for me, to be sure, but there is a real monkey-mind aspect to this stashing and ADD knitting and casting on indiscriminately when I'm feeling out of sorts. 

If you hadn't guessed, I've been reading about buddhism and sheep farming, and through Mary Rose O'Reilly I'm remembering a bit of what I'm missing.

So it's the whole spiritual and physical health thing that's motivating this stash sorting, cleaning, and organizing.  That, and the fact that I bought a loom.  (Like how I just snuck that in there?  Yup.)  I didn't mean to, but someone who lives mere blocks from my house was selling her entire weaving workshop, everything I need, at a very reasonable price, and I couldn't pass it up.

So, you know, I had to figure out what yarns were suitable for weaving.  I'll be winding my first warp tonight, with STASH yarn.  Two steps forward, one step back, right?

Comments

[Kat with a K]

I think you have a really good point with the wish for time thing. And the indiscriminate casting on as a way to "fix" things. Hmm. Stuff to think about. Thanks.

[Carole]

A loom, huh? Yeah, Lee Ann spilled the beans on that and told me the other day. Yikes, girl, that's scary! So, whatcha gonna do with all that yarn? Maybe you need to have a online yard sale. I'd take some off your hands because I love Brown Sheep.

[Brooke]

You lucky girl! It is always wise to snap up well priced looms when they present themselves because it doesn't happen often. Perhaps that is how I have ended up with 3 floor looms... Oh well, I love them all.

Have fun winding your warp!

[claudia]

That uncontrollable rolling on the floor laughter? Yup, me.

A loom.

BWHAHAHAHA!

[Emma.]

Your punchline surprised me ! Woven blankets EAT soft yarns. That's the ticket ! The twins can help. They'll love it ! Not what you had in mind? Oh well. :0)

[Maria]

Oh Lord, and here I was reading along and thinking oh, how very self-aware and introspective and what a lot of growth she's doing. A loom!

[amysue]

I was so worried that also needed to rexamine the stash and perhapd reflect on it's menaing, but then you mentioned the loom and I knew all was well. Though I sometimes think a fun swap would be for a bunch of knitters to finish each others UFOs.

[Risa]

I love how you snuck in the loom. Beautifully done! All this loom acquisition and I might just be tempted to pull out mine again. Heck its probably still warped with the placemats that I started before I conceived the twins. Watcha get???

[Lisa]

I've heard that a loom is a good thing for using up yarn. Buying one is definitely a strategic move!!

By the way, I'm scared to go into my closet.

[Heidi]

Oh my! I shall have to wish for your introspective perception (while I continue to buy yarn and rovings) and live vicariously through you--I can't wait to hear about your projects! One day.

[Sneaksleep]

I have that book! Haven't gotten around to actually *reading* it, though. I totally know what you mean about the lack of meditation (even sans kids). I do think there are ways you can bring more balance into your life, though, without being unecessarily hard on yourself or your fiber loves.

[Colleen]

Oh yeah, if I had lots of space (umm...something like a studio) I would have a loom too. Lots of excuses to buy a little bit of this yarn or that, and actually DO something with it. Good job!

[Norma]

Oh. Yes. That just freaking sneaked right up on me.....although someone foreshadowed this post a wee bit. and now I don't even remember who. But regardless. I loved this line the best: "Those two balls of DB Cashmerino bulky that I got to make a charity hat were kind of redundant."

Hee-hee.

[stephanie]

Weaving is faster than knitting. You're going to run out of yarn faster than you think.
(This is in no way an attempt to make you buy more.)

[Rachel H]

For a minute there I thought you were about to tell us you'd gone out and bought a sheep. (um, you haven't, have you?)

[The Feminist Mafia]

Ha - you gave in to the lure of the loom. When I saw you playing at the loom at Webs, I thought, "now there's woman in her native habitat." Needless to say, I'm not surprised. Enjoy!

[Lee Ann]

Hahaha, Stephanie thinks you're going to run out of yarn...bwuahahahahahaha...

Ahem. Sorry. Fabulously strategic and economical self-improvement gesture that loom purchase was, Cate. Truly. And I can't wait to see the first blanket.

(snicker, snicker..."run out of yarn"...pfff...)

[Cassie]

Neighbors with looms. Sigh. Can I move now?

[Laurie]

You had me sniffling until the loom. Let's PRAY that it uses up yarn fast, as per Steph.

[--Deb]

A LOOM? So jealous! And a great stash-eater, I hear, which sounds like a good thing.... Sigh. A loom really is on my wishlist . . . one of these years!

[Marcy, Blogless]

A loom. A Loom? A LOOM??? Where in the world are you gonna keep a loom? Bwahahahaha!

[JoVE]

Oh. My. God. A loom. Hmmmmm. Are there any really dud yarns in all that stash? Stuff you will really never knit with? that might be a place to start. but then the bigger question is the whole balance thing. Which is really important. I hope you are getting closer to a way to work that out. I had a good couple of days. I'll tell you about them soon. Hugs.

[Patience]

Congratulations! It sounds like you have acheived a mature stash.

Earlier this year I sent 7 boxes of yarn to the Knitting Connection (they supply less fortunate crafters with materials to make hats/mittens for needy area kids) and still kept plenty for myself. I have yet to miss it and it feels good to not have this backlog hulking in the closet.

That doesn't mean that fresh yarn hasn't followed me home since then.... but more with specific projects in mind than general inventory.

[shobhana]

beet apple salad sounds REALLY good to me!

[Martha]

I suggest we create a stashbusters support group. I *almost* caved this weekend, but managed to leave the yarn store with needles and nothing more. All in all, one month? in to my stash-busting experiment, I can say that it has been a good exercise in restraint and it does have a sort of Buddhist element to it in that we don't need so much, you know? Why are we buying yarn that we store in Rubbermaid containers for years? A key part of living simply is not being so acquisitive. But we live in such an acquisitive society, where people consider shopping a hobby, that it's easy to fall into that trap. So go, fellow stashbuster, go!