martelvonc

If that was true I'd have finished these 8 months ago.

Fingerless mittens...Done! Next OP - a scarf I began in 2005.

( Look Ma, I finally gots glubs! )

I finished yet another OP! The knitted shopping bag is Done! Booyah! The orphan project basket is a little less whiney tonight...

( what the heck is it? )

( It's a shopping bag! )

As you may know, your heroine has been clearing out her orphan project basket. This particular bit of knitting was a net shopping bag I started last December, the same week as my rotator cuff injury got to it's worse. Needless to say I could not count stitches straight and it showed. The bag was full of fail. It was delegated to the OP basket.

I got tired of my OP basket whining at me from the sewing area so I have begun to finish these projects. The latest one I have pulled to finish up is this bag. I liked it when I bought it and I still like this project today but I got discouraged.

I've been knitting up a storm on my shopping bag but....I ran out of yarn and guess where the rest of the yarn is. Yes, you guessed correctly, at home. Why is this a problem? I am currently 350 miles away from HOME at the beach. Fortunately I am in the same town as the yarn shop where I purchased this project originally. So I must suffer and go and visit this yarn shop again. Too bad! Oh the horror! hehehe!

Here is my project so far ( here be peektures )

Unless you got your shrubbery for making clothes, apparently not as much as I have. Having specific projects in mind for certain fabric is good but the bin is so full I'd never get all those projects completed. For the next two nights I'll be gleaning out, marking it for projects and will take the excess to our baronial swap meet night at the end of the month. I may look hard at some old garb and just replace it with new. So I'll have that too.

Maybe having the fabric bundled up into projects will inspire me to get crackin'. I have a long list of things I'd like to have in my personal SCA kit. Clearing out the supplies that will not get me there is my priority.

We were very good here at Chez Charlottenburg this weekend. After the Great Sump Pump Disaster a while back the basement got jumbled up in the panic of the water. Finding things became a challenge and moving about even more so. By then end of the straightening and culling we cleared out a pickup truck full of junk that The Knight took to the Swap Shop at the Carroll County Land Fill today.

We made some hard decisions about things that had not been used in over a year. ever.
How many carry on cases can one family of four use? Six? no? We gleaned back to three.
How many folding tables can one family use? Apparently not seven (7). We gleaned back to four.

I have a pretty impressive pile of tubs and plastic boxes to match with a pile O' lids. I haven't decided for sure but I may get rid of those too.

My SCA needlework has suffered from the lack of organization. I have many projects in the fire on that front too. I'm feeling a deep need to put needle to fabric again so organize I will.

spring cleaning.

As my readers may have noticed I do this every...single...year. I'm kinda like the swallows returning to Capistrano or the daffodils comin' up outta the ground. I do it because I have to. Clearing out the clutter makes it all right in my crazy little world.( livin' in a cluttered world, cause I am a cluttered girl... )

I cannot stand to hold a yard sale. When I'm ready to get rid of stuff it needs to be gone NOW. ( cut for brevity )

This is because I am going to rid our basement of a black office chair in near perfect condition that no one sits in but was purchased from a U.S. guv-ern-mint surplus sale 15 years ago...because it was cheap.

My house is full of "but it was such a great deal I couldn't leave it behind!"

*head*desk*head*desk*

Yes in three days I've cleaned and pitched more stuff. I'm now in the basement getting ready to start straightening and sorting there. I do actually have to do this so I can work unencumbered on my 12th night outfit.

bdeb and isenglass you have been good influences what with the 7 day challenge you put to each other. I'm not doing quite the same thing as you did but I am looking at my older clutter differently now. I've decided I don't REALLY need to keep that stuff as much as I thought I did. I've now moved out 4 copy paper boxes and two (2)* large paper shopping bags worth of stuff in the past week. Sad thing is most of it is extra dishes, kitchen stuff, and small but useful junk. I don't count the bags of trash as I should have been ditching this all along anyway. No brownie points for trash.

Today saw me gathering up artwork that I want to keep but was lying about leaning on things and wrapping it neatly in brown paper to store in the basement. This made me feel much better about storing it properly. Being in the wrapping will keep it clean and safe. I also noted on the wrapping just what picture was inside.

Last year I went on-line to a company that sells mailing and packaging supplies and purchased a 30lb roll of brown paper. Mainly I did this for making patterns because I found buying the small rolls at Wally World was becoming expensive. When it arrived it was one HONKING big roll of paper but I've since used it for a lot of stuff. It was well worth the price, which by the square foot was considerably less expensive than the small rolls.

I'm also sorting out the Barony trappings that I must inventory by the end of the year. So many little things to keep track of.

Well, I'd better get moving. I just turned around and took another look at the mayhem that is my sewing area. I haven't cleaned it up yet from my Bright Hills "TNT" event sewing. It ain't doing it itself.

See ya!

*Updated 11/9 7:56 P.M.

Lately my posts have been about spring cleaning. For me it's that time of year. It may be because I'm coming out of my winter funk. Not depression really as I function just fine at work and other areas of my life but I get, shall we say, restless the longer that winter lasts. I've had folks suggest that I get one of those full spectrum lights to bask in and I might try it this coming fall. Heck, nothing ventured nothing gained.

But when March rolls around and my primordial brain cheers and says "HOORAY! We survived another winter!". You get to listen to my ramblings about cleaning, purging and rearranging of my possessions. I feel better for getting rid of the deadwood and mayhem that I am blind to all winter.

Part of this is due to my father who saved everything and did not often get rid of stuff even if it became damaged. (maybe I'll fix it, maybe it's not so bad). Think 15 years of Playboys, American Riflemen, National Geo's all saved in boxes in our shed that leaked. Or the woodworking shop that was up to knee deep in scraps, stock tools and sawdust. I was determined that when I moved out my home would not get that bad and for the most part I've succeeded. I've had some clutter issues in my past but I slapped myself and forced my inner child to quit hoarding and clear out.

So there you have it. I'm no saint but I'm not such a bad sinner and every March I see the error of my ways and repent!

The shelf unit is put together. It's another of the restaurant rack type. I put the wheels on as it is in the cubby where the main water shut-off valve for the house is. I can remove one storage box and get to to it but I'd rather not take any chances.

I got all the baronial storage boxes on it and now I can get to each one without the song and dance I had before when they were just piled on top of each other. Go me! I still have to find a place for the card tables and the throne parts but that job is for today.

These racks are available at Sam's Club and, according to the box, each shelf will hold 600 lbs. I don't need that much weight baring capacity but they are sturdy and come with wheels. They also all look similar. They are reasonable too, only $78.00

Sam's club had another heavy duty shelving unit that snaps together but I have to take some measurements to see if it will fit in the back room. It might be too tall for the ceiling back there.

I'm annoyed that I cannot get to bins when I want to. This is all important because we have no attic storage and don't want to pay for a storage rental. So the back room and the outside shed are it. The storage system we have now (if you can call it that) is not convenient at all. We don't have a lot of junk as we have pared down greatly which helps but, add to that, Aelfwynn's art work is starting to pile up back there and it's getting to where I can't GET to much easily.

Things are changing slowly but surely for the better.