Spring Cleaning or Neatening the Nest

The sun has begun to shine. In Michigan, this is a cause for celebration! It gives me that added incentive to straighten up and organize, finish UFO's and plan for future endeavors. While that sun was shining in my fiber room window, I was drawn to the color and excitement of the yarn on the shelves. This yarn has been hanging out for a while. New yarn has been added to replace what had been used or was just added. Of course, I love to see my fiber, regardless of season or greyness of days. But on a sunny day, the colors seem to be talking more than usual. I notice things that might have become part of the scenery.

Time to straighten the stash. This is no small endeavor, and would be much easier if I had another huge room to move it into! Last year, I had the great organizational idea of using clear plastic bins to house different weights and color families of yarn. It is good for stacking and moving things around. It is also good to be able to see inside and realize just what I have accumulated. Yes, I use my Ravelry stash list to record new purchases and have gotten into some of the older stock. But, whew! What an undertaking. And the biggest issue for me is this:

I am a visual person. I make decisions about projects and choices about combinations by seeing the big picture. I need to look out over the horizon of yarn and select from the palette!







I cannot imagine trying to shop at a yarn store that had all of the tactile and visual excitement in boxes and referenced by lists. These things have their place, but the artist in me needs to see and feel it all!

Even my pin-wall is a bit messy, but very visual. When I first started getting my thoughts together for art school, I got in the habit of snipping bits of this and that and adding articles and words or color swatches to remind me of what inspires my work. I still do this with notebooks and my bulletin board "pin-wall."

I haven't stopped knitting or spinning to put things in place, oh no. But, I do find the act of reorganizing and repositioning my stash a revitalizing process. I am encouraged to use things that I forgot that I even had. Patterns that have been rolling around in my head are finding fibers to match, too! And it never hurts to do a little reorganizing prior to a fiber festival or shop hop. It sure helps to direct my eyes.

Since my first post, I am finally in the home stretch of the Earl Grey socks for my husband. The Vintage Shawl that I made from alpaca for my trip to Prague is ready to go. And I am anxiously planning the traveling sock to accompany me on the long flight.



After hours of organizing and rearranging the stash, I don't believe that the mess is much better, but I am so exhilerated to work with my newfound fibers that are being freed from their plastic boxes. The shelves are becoming a kind of rotating exhibition of fibers on display. They get a little air and light and I get a little more excited to see and use them.