The Taming of the Stash

Clearly, I've been craving a little order and control in my life. It's showing up in just about every aspect - my desk at work is the most organized it's ever been in my life! I'm sticking to my gym schedule! I'm cooking and eating healthy foods! And at home, where I have packrat instincts and my organizational strategy can best be described as "mounding"... well, I've turned over a new leaf.

It all started when Container Store sent me a coupon for 25% off Elfa shelves. Right at the start of my break between jobs. I figured it was a sign. I took some measurements, headed out, and $300 later, had the fixins of organizational nirvana. At least for two closets. I did our bedroom closet while JT was traveling, which gave me the freedom to make it a total mess. It went from one shelf and one bar to many shelves for his shirts, plus some long hanging space for my dresses. It went from being "space" to "closet", which is all we really needed.

But in the office, a more dramatic approach was needed. We were asking a lot of that closet - particularly, to hold (most, anyway!) all of my yarn as well as some important old files, keepsakes, and other things. Again, it's a standard old closet -- 44" wide, with one shelf and one hanging bar. I had so much crammed in there that to get to anything, it required spelunking and excavating. (Click to see what it used to look like.) So I took a crowbar to the wall and started taking down the old shelf and bar.

When I pried the shelf off the wall, some papers fluttered to the ground. Hidden treasure!

Apparently the Alexandria City Council election in 1964 was worth remembering. Also, the school picture is of someone named Honora, as written on the back. I don't think an Honora ever lived in our house... maybe a secret hidden crush?

Anyway, I got the shelf down with minimal holes to the plaster (I'm old friends with the plaster patching, having learned my lesson the hard way on the first closet). And in about 48 hours (time for demo, patching, painting and install), I got this:

(Click picture to see annotations and notes on the flickr page)

It's the yarn closet of my dreams, quite frankly. It holds everything I need it to, and best of all, I can SEE things without having to spelunk! Love that. Wish I'd done it when we first moved in. Of course, it also makes clear that there is NO ROOM for any other hobbies. It's all knitting baby!

While I've been redoing the stash, I needed some mindless knitting. Enter the Heelless Sleeping Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks.

I'm knitting up some stash yarn, natch -- Socks That Rock in a "Rare Gems" colorway. This is the epitome of mindless sock knitting: There's no heel! Just knit the pattern round and round. I modified this to do it as a toe-up, and tried the figure-8 cast-on for the first time. I *love* this cast-on. So easy! No short rows! Just cast on and go! In this case, it adds a level of shape to the pattern that wasn't there originally -- the original round toe emphasizes that there's no wrong way to put on the sock.

(This is a better representation of the color.) This way, you've got to fit your toes into the shaped toe - but I figure it's a small price to pay. (Besides, they're not for me.) Plus, they're going to be so soft and smushy! I'm tempted to keep them for myself.