Decluttering at the Speed of Life (Part 2)...

First a note:  If you're here for just my YOP update, you might want to scroll on down the page to, I don't know...  I suppose the picture of my cross stitch project.   If you're game for reading about some yarn organization and encouragement to check out the book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life, just keep reading.

Yesterday was something of a book review and an introduction to Dana White's "container concept".  Today is Part 2: making the concept work for me in my craft room.

I won't repeat the basic container concept, so if you didn't read yesterday's post (and want to), here it is, or better yet... get your hands on White's book.  So that this post makes sense though, I'll repeat something I wrote yesterday:  For the container concept to work, the limits of the container must be respected.  In other words, you only keep what fits inside the container.  In making a decision of what to keep when you have too much, you choose what you want to keep most.

Before this weekend, my yarn storage issue had been pretty much under control, but in reorganizing some things that had gotten moved around during the holidays I found a cardboard box of crochet thread I needed to move back into the craft room.  Ugh! 

I'm well and truly done with random cardboard boxes as serious storage containers for my yarn so I looked at my closet storage situation and decided I needed to make a couple of decisions.  

Decision 1:  I am resolved to bringing no more yarn into my home than can fit into the craft room closet in a designated container.

Decision (or realization) 2:  I have no more space (or didn't want to make more space) inside my closet for another container for the crochet thread I still wanted to keep.

So...  studying the situation I realized I had a container of purple yarns I've been feeling pretty ambivalent about.  I've used lots of purple yarn over the years, but a dozen or so skeins have been hanging on - either not inspiring me, or just defying fitting a project I want to make with them.  

With Dana White's "container concept" in mind, it occurred to me that the box that contained the purple yarn skeins would hold the crochet cotton I wanted to keep (for the time being, anyway).

So...  I dumped out the purple yarn and quickly packaged some up for donating; some got put into a bag I'm collecting random yarn for a scrap granny blanket someday, and I made a decision to use a few skeins of the purple yarn in specific projects (more on that later).

And now I have the perfect size box for these threads I want to keep:

Yesterday I also mentioned that my storage of WIPs is inadequate and not inspiring me to work on them.   So I set to work on that situation, too:

This:


got put into proper containers, and now looks like this:

And I placed it under a narrow table in plain sight so I'm reminded and inspired to work on my Sacred Space Blanket:

I was inspired to work on Part 2 this weekend, in fact! 😀

Buying one more storage container, this somewhat awkward storage of what I'm calling my Flower Garden Blanket:

Became all neatly contained in one box:   

   

And this WIP (a blanket I've never been completely sure of) got the plug pulled on it:  

For now, I bagged up the finished squares and set free the unused skeins of yarn for other projects (i.e.  they went back into storage in their appropriate boxes in the closet).  Truth be told, I think I may end up frogging the squares and setting even more yarn free.   I just need to come to terms with the time I spent crocheting the squares pictured.


The basket below got cleaned up from everything that had landed in it over the last few months and now I hope to be inspired to finish the pillow project it contains:

Here are two of the projects mentioned above stored where I can easily see them, 
and hopefully will continue to be inspired to work on them.

And wanting to use up some of my over abundance of purple yarn and use up some other colors too, I gathered coordinating yarns into this (freed-up) basket to await a blanket project that will be perfect for it:

The yarn that looks black above (on my screen) is actually dark purple. I'm giving myself until the first day of spring (it will be here before we know it) to settle on the project for the above yarn.  If I've made no progress in that direction by spring, the yarn will either be returned to the closet where there is a designated container with room for it, or it will be donated - or maybe put in the granny scrap blanket bag.  

I've also collected some pretty purple (and white) yarns in a large bag for starting another Leaping Stripes and Blocks Blanket:

I can't wait to start it!

And that's it today for reorganizing and regrouping my WIPs!  I feel like fresh air has blown into my craft room and I'm once again inspired to start working with yarn.

~~~~~

And finally, this Year of Project post would not be complete without an update of the stitching I've completed on my Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher:

Can you see the bird taking shape?

The frame holding the fabric is a 14-inch EZ Stitch scroll frame that I recently ordered from Embroidery.com.   I'm really enjoying using it.

And I think that's finally all there is from my place!  

Oh, okay...  here's something else worth pondering while deciding what to keep and what to let go:

“If I feel like my head is going to explode over a decision that isn’t life changing, but feels totally life changing, I choose to declutter the item. Because no item is worth my head exploding.”

       ― Dana K. White, Decluttering at the Speed of Life