Sunday, January 16, 2011

Studio Overhaul - or, Buried Alive!

It's that time of year - when the markets are on hiatus, and I explore a few creative ideas that have been pushed to the back burner, and read a few more trashy novels, and. . . clean out my studio.  Yipes.  It's a jungle in there.  For one, because there's way more stuff in there than will really fit, and for two, because I'm not the neatest person in the world, and for three, because I'm a total pack rat.

But this year I decided I was really going to clean things out - make some room, do some reorganization, feel organized.  Efficient.  Dare I say, neat.  And the first obstacle to this goal was. . . the yarn stash.  I pretty much knit and crochet mainly for fun these days, but I sometimes knit and crochet a lot.  Like - a lot. Here are a few examples:










So, as you can tell, I like to knit, and I like to knit a lot of different stuff.  And as any knitter will tell you, a lot of the fun in knitting lies in acquiring the yarn.  Also known, to the serious knittter, as the stash.   And my stash had gotten rather overwhelming.  So yesterday I was determined to take drastic measures - and find a new home for some of this yarn, which was occupying way too much room in a closet in my studio - a closet which really would be useful to store some actual work materials.  So - here's the photographic proof of what I was up against:


Yes, that's me, practically buried alive under yarn and supplies that I've drug out of the closet.  And if you look at that and think "Sumner, are you holding a pair of crocheted suede boy shorts for a bikini???",  the answer would be - Yes.  I actually did make a crocheted suede bikini with those bottoms.  And while a fun exercise, I would have to say it was not exactly the most functional bikini I've ever worn, and I'm not exactly the type to lounge in non-functional swimwear, so I guess functionally speaking it was kind of a bust.  But still fun.

So, after way longer than I would have thought possible, I dug my way out of the rubble. The yarn stash is now thinned to manageable levels (and a fellow member of Asheville Etsy is now the very happy owner of five (five!) free trash bags of yarn.)  And the rest of the studio awaits.  I'll post some after pictures once it's finally beaten into submission.  But first - a two hour ride on the trainer followed by a 3 mile run.  Woohoo!

5 comments:

  1. Look at your cute short hair in those fabulous photos!

    And reasons number 2 and three are kind of the same thing....just sayin'.

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  2. Does this mean that you are no longer accepting items that I am trying to clean out of my own messy space?

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  3. Love the photos! Hate to see you stop the knitting - you're so talented - but I'm sure you must focus. Dare I say that I'm interested in viewing the yarn?

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  4. I am so glad I don't knit - otherwise I would be knocking at your door to get some of that free yarn. enjoyed the fun photos!

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  5. @Leslie - yes, full photo credit for the good pics to you! (and all credit for the not-so-good to me).

    @Paula - well. . . it's probably a good thing you're moving, because I have a hard time turning down potentially interesting stuff. Which explains how I ended up buried to start with.

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