Tossing The Stash

Warning…more cleaning and organizing!

If you are a follower of The Yarn Harlot, you know that Ms. Stephanie likes to “toss” her stash once a year. She’s not getting rid of anything, just mixing it all around so the old stuff is not constantly stuck on the bottom. I decided I needed a bit of the same thing. Even though my yarn closet had a little bit of organization to it, it had gotten a bit out of hand and I’m not sure what all I have anymore.

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These are shots of my closet. It was stuffed. I couldn’t see the floor anymore and to get the folding tables out, I would have to pull out several bags of yarn first. This was really starting to irritate me.

Step 1 is to get everything out of the closet! As usual, my guest bedroom is the staging area for the mess that was to ensue.

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I had already taken the sheets off the guest bed to wash. If I had not already done it, it would have been necessary after this. Piles of yarns makes a mess and something in my stash makes me itch a bit. I have no idea what as I touched everything so I’ll have to keep an eye out when I finally get to knitting some of this stuff. Note, both the bed and the fold-out table in the back are covered with yarn.

Some of my yarn is still in the bags they were purchased in but so many of them had the misfortune of just roaming free. If you really need a reason to keep your stash organized and neat, just take a look at the yarn nests that had been created.

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The situation was actually worse than it looks in the picture. It took hours to get all of the yarns untangled. And actually that black has not been completely untangled yet. I think I’m going to have to devote some serious movie-watching time to this one. To keep this from happening again, I have separated all of the yarns into separate plastic bags. I have collected a mass of those plastic covers from sheets, pillowcases, curtains, etc. And I am so glad that I have. These things really come in handy. When I was out of those, various sizes of zip bags fit the bill just fine.

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Getting it all organized and neatly put back into the closet has made me want to get back to my yarn crafts, but there is one more thing I am determined to do first. More on that later. For now, look at how great my closet looks now. I’m so happy I can actually see the floor and my folding tables can slide out with no yarn shifting at all.

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For all you yarn crafters out there, are you a regular stash tosser?

Hiya!

Just wanted to stop in and say a quick hello! I have so much to share with you, my blog friends.

I have...
  • crating with friends
  • sewing
  • quilting! really!
  • knitting
  • wedding
  • job search
  • unemployment
  • more Blissdom goodness
  • my 2012 reading challenge
  • the food stamp challenge
  • writing
  • hair trimming
There is so much floating around in my head that I want to talk about. There is so much inspiration and what-not floating around that I am so overwhelmed by it all that I can’t actually get out any words. But I will muddle through this weekend and share some of these things that are on my brain.

I hope you are having a wonderful April and a wonderful spring. I’m still spending as much time inside as possible as my allergies have been killing me, but I’m enjoying all I have to do.

Talk to you soon my friends

Could You Be A Blogger?

While 700+ Blissdom attendees are still coming down from such a high HIGH, there are quite a few of them that are sitting down at their computers and starting their very first blogs. Not everyone that attends these conferences are actual bloggers. Some are thinking about it. Some are writers that want to use social media to sell their books. Some are crafters that are looking to expand. Some are going through life changes and want to do something new.

Blogging brings all kinds of people together to a common medium and gives them all a space and a platform to display their voices. Could you be one of those people? Do you have a voice that needs to be heard? I am always encouraging the people around me to start blogging, especially women. Blogging is such a wonderful outlet for creativity and frustrations but also a wonderful way of finding people that share your interest. It could even lead you to the interest that is or is to become your passion. I am an avid book reader but there aren’t many in my closest groups of friends that read or strive to carve out the time to read. The same goes for my love of technology. I can’t exactly discuss rooting an android device with the people around me. That conversation would be lost on them. But with my blogging and other online mediums, I can find just the crowd that will understand the projects and gadgets and interests that are floating around in my life.

The first thing I typically hear from people when I encourage them to blog is “I don’t know what I would write about”. There are three people in particular that I’m trying to encourage. For the sake of this conversation, I will call them D, K and R. They may not think they have anything to share but I learn so much from them each time I’m around them.

D is a stay at home mom that home schools her children. She is a beautiful Christian woman that counsels and teaches and has so much to share about religion, family, homeschooling, container gardening, vegan cooking and so many other things. The dinners I share with her family are fascinating and I always walk away with so much inspiration if nothing else. I think that is worth writing about and sharing.

K is a stay at home mom who prior to staying home specialized in working with kids with disabilities. She is such a fun and interesting mom and she is often the person that is learning right along with me when I am looking to learn something new. I love people like her because they never stop learning. Not only could she share her love for children and working with kids with disabilities, she could also teach you how to have the best kids playroom ever, how to start a small garden at home, how to entertain and how never to be afraid of learning something new.

R is a beautiful young girl with a quiet spirit that just draws you in. She is a young professional that is about to set off on the greatest adventure. I won’t speak much about it but meeting her and hearing her know exactly what she wanted out of life and marriage influenced me greatly. She is young but she has so much to share and I think she minimizes the impact she could have on the world. I met her at a time when I was struggling with the idea of being a wife and being able to talk with her about it brought clarity and comfort to my situation. She is a budding photographer and I can’t wait to see the shots she takes as she treks around the world learning about her heritage.

These are just three of the women that inspire my life everyday. They don’t think they have much to share but I see a multitude of possibilities in each of them. They fuel me to keep going if for no other reason than to find others that need to have their voices heard. Are you one of them? Do you know people in your life that could be sharing so much? Make sure you tell them how much value you get from them and maybe they’ll be encouraged to share that value with the rest of us.