I love it when you have one of those days where all you feel like doing all day is smiling (and in my case, giggle). It also helped that the sun was out for a change and it was warm, a great day for productivity so decided to spend some of the day sorting and cleaning up my stash.
As every crafter would know, sometimes things in the studio get a bit too cluttered and you just have to bit the bullet, and some times be a bit ruthless, and just have a big clean out and organising day.
Often, like many people, I have this bright idea for a project and I start pulling things out. The trouble is, I often get distracted by another project (or two or three), and forget to put things away, leading to this great big pile of wool, yarn, beads, paper and other micellanious craft supplies all piled up on the table. Great for inspiration in small doses but very overwhelming sometimes. I think sometimes too that when it does get over whelming like that it tends to prevent effective creativity, and it also indicates a serious craft addiction!
So like everyone I have tried a few different approaches to my overwhelming stash. Here are just a couple of the things that I have tried to help "sort it out":
- I made a promise with a friend that neither of us were allowed to buy any more stash until we had used most of it up - that lasted all of about two days (the first time!), one of the first signs of a serious craft addiction! Subsequent promises have however lasted up to two weeks, so some progress has been made.
- I only purchased things with a project in mind and not just because I liked them - this works most of the time, but if I really liked something I found I was searching for a project as an excuse to buy it! Not exactly the idea.
- collect up the bits and pieces for a project and put each project in it's own bag, with details of the proposed project - this was hugely effective, except I have a couple of bags that I didn't get the chance to add the project details to and I am now left wondering what it was I was going to make!
- I talked to people and went in search for project ideas to try and use up the stash I already have - this worked effectively too, except I now have piles of bags with projects in them and not enough hours in the day to do them all! The other thing was, I also kept running out of bags!
I know there are a few other ideas out there to deal with a growing or overwhelming stash and I would love to hear from you about how you deal with too much stash.
One of the positives of cleaning up and organising stash is that I often find things in my sorting out that I forgot that I had. The good thing is I often get re-inspired to do something with it, the bad thing is in the process of being re-inspired I get distracted and get very little done.
So after spending some time sorting and cleaning, I decided it was time for some craft, especially since I was re-inspired to do something. So I have been doing a bit of crochet work on another "yarn eater" rug (my scrap rug pattern, also called Catherine Wheel) from when I did a workshop on it at Woollies Group. I think next I will do a few rows on my shawl from last month. Happy Crafting! :)
I know it has been a week since I last wrote, and the reason why was because I was feeling guilty. I had been tripping around the country side and the only project I had manage to finish up til Wednesday was a simple knitted headband (which I might add I started on the 1st of August). I finally had a chance to breathe on Wednesday and do something for me. It was then that for the first time I started to not feel so guilty about life getting in the way of craft. Instead of procrastinating about having done nothing (which I tend to do sometimes), I sat down and just did something about it and started to knit.
I will admit that as it was a lovely day Wednesday, so I did spend most of the afternoon in the garden, especially since it has been too cold and miserable for gardening these last two months. But while I was lying in the sun in the hammock having my morning cup of tea, I did do a couple of rows on my socks, a couple of rows closer to finishing them.
Yesterday (Thursday) was a complete opposite to Wednesday and like today, it has been cold, windy and raining on and off both days. The perfect opportunity to sit down and start to finish off my projects. So yesterday morning I finished the two squares for our group project.
In the afternoon I finally got around to the group's knitting challenge (for the last few months I might add) and knitted just about all the pieces to two knitted toys. The only part I didn't get to yesterday was the cute little hat pieces so I finished them both off this morning. It was only then when I went to sew them up and stuff them that I realised I didn't have anything to stuff them with, so I shall have to finish them off tomorrow at craft group.
This afternoon I am going to do a few more rows on my socks as I'm almost up to the ribbed top. I also have a few things to organise for the wedding so all in all, I am finally starting to feel like I'm finishing off more projects than I am starting. Until then, happy crafting :)
Projects started this month: 1
Projects finished this month: 2
Well I didn't quite manage to finish the tassels on my scarf last night because it was so late. But I did manage to finish them this morning which finishes another project for this month. And here is the photo as promised.
The other project that I have been adding the finishing touches to today is my first attempt at Hardanger Embroidery. This book mark has been a bit of a challenge under magnification but surprisingly I can feel the threads through the needle when counting which has helped.
I still seem to have quite a few projects still to finish, too many to finish off this month, I have only started one new project. So while I feel like I haven't done a great deal this month, I have so far finished more projects than I have started and that is something! Until next time, happy crafting! :)
Projects Started: 1
Projects Finished: 5
Well I almost finished another project today at Woollies (the craft group I go to) but not quite. I have been finishing off a crochet flower scarf, that is from my own original pattern, and just have the tassels to go. I am hoping that I will have it finished tonight and I will try and get a photo uploaded onto the blog tomorrow.
On to more exciting news, the Woollies craft group I go to, has just launched their new blog today. So please go over and have a look at egwoolcraftgroup.blogspot.com.au and show them some support. They also have some information on there about their Annual Open Day in September which is in a few weeks.
It was an exciting day at Woolies and as always I have come home with lots of enthusiasm and a mind exploding with ideas of things to do. But as I have been designing all afternoon and have just realised it's after 9pm, I will have to share them with you tomorrow and go and have something to eat!
It is moments like these that I wish I could craft all day and all night. But while I think sleep is a bit over-rated in this moment of enthusiasm, I should get some rest. So until then, Happy Crafting!
I don't have a lot of exciting things to
share today with you as it has been a horrible week. I must say that when
Friday night came around I was comforted by the fact that the chaos would at
least stop for two days until Monday morning arrived. I did manage to finish
one project last weekend, which I'm sorry I haven't been able to get around to
showing you before now. I managed to finish my first knitted toy.
Unfortunately during the week I have been too
exhausted to do anything more than a couple of rows on my socks. But today is
Saturday and the sun is out so I am going to sit and do something crafty.
Projects Completed: 3
Projects Started: 1
So after spending most of yesterday trying to figure out if I was going to extend my July monthly project into August, I came up with a much better idea. My traveling shawl from last month's project isn't the only project I still have to finish, I still have my socks! ... and many, many more ...
Ok, so just about every crafter I know has this
"cupboard" full of UFO's or Un-Finished Objects. I have a feeling,
particularly with the massive amounts of designing that has been going
on this last month, my "cupboard" of UFO's has grown to the point of
ridiculous, overflowing onto the floor and is fast filling up every
available space in the studio!
I
mean, seriously, how many different projects does one person need to
have on the go? Well, personally I would say that you can never have too
many projects on the go, but I think my friends and family very much
think otherwise. So I have decided that instead of having a monthly project for August, I would make my August project my "Finishing Off" month.
So to start of the month I am going to finish my socks! I have a couple of inches of stockinet stitch and then a couple of inches of double ribbing and then they are done! So that is my task for today, one project to focus on to finish and not touch anything else until I have finished it.
This isn't going to be easy for me. I think this month will be very much a challenge as I have a tendency, as demonstrated on this blog, of jumping from one project and craft to another. So it will be very much a month of discipline in learning to do one project at a time until it is finished. I guess only looking back at the end of the month will show how successful I have been, so wish me luck and we will see how I go. So until then, Happy Crafting! :)
