Before, After

Otherwise known as attempting to subdue the stash.

Hold on to your hats, folks...this post actually has pictures!

As I may have alluded to, whined about or otherwise discussed in recent months, my office/craft room/studio/whateveryouwanttocallit has been in dire need of some organization and out-right rearranging. But it was one of those jobs that was just SO big that it seemed TOO big to even know where to begin. Finally, though, begin I did, and over a few weeks, I managed to regain control of (most of) my creative space.

First, the pictures of "Before"...

Exhibit A in the case for Lisa being a yarn ho:



Count 'em...1, 2, 3, 4, 5...11 (!!!) 50 - 65 quart Sterlite/Rubbermaid containers FULL of yarn, plus 10 smaller containers, also full of yarn. (What you cannot see is a bookcase to the left of that shelving unit, two shelves of which are also packed full of yarn.) Part of this was what I already had before the shop I worked at held its going-out-of-business sale. Then I started buying ridiculously discounted yarn and -- correspondingly -- more containers to house it in. Soon, however, the yarn got ahead of me and I realized the room has only so much square footage, and I already could not get into the closet unless I moved those towers of containers, so, soon I was left with this...

Exhibit B of Lisa being an unrepentant yarn ho:



Most of this also came from the shop because, even after it closed, there was remaining inventory to clear out, and an even more insane employee discount and, well, little to no will power on my part. However, as if rescuing lingering yarn wasn't bad enough, I continued to indulge in my sock yarn fetish (which I must point out is in NO WAY related to a foot fetish...just sayin'...)

Exhibit C illustrating Lisa's sock yarn fetish:



Aw, now look at all that pretty-pretty sock yarn! How could anyone possibly fault me for buying the pretty-pretty-pretttttty sock yarn??? (Um, ignore the fact that one of those big plastic containers was already filled with sock yarn...you can never have too many socks!) Especially those three skeins of Wollmeise there on the left??? I mean, come ON people!

OK...so now you know my dirty little secret...my dirty little fiber hoarding, yarn obsessing secret. I have no excuse to offer you except that the yarn? It makes me very, very happy. I will knit my happy, happy yarn for the rest of my life and probably have some left to will to my children and their children, but hey...everyone has a weakness. It could be worse, right? (Rationalizations R Us.)

But I digress. Getting back to the topic...we've seen the "Before," now let's look at the "After"!

Look! I can get back into the closet now! And while I did not take a picture of the inside of the closet, I will tell you it now houses all of my cotton, bamboo, hemp, etc. yarns as well as my small stash of baby yarns. Seemed to make sense to put them in there because these are the ones I knit with least often.



And here you can see the book case I spoke of earlier...



And that table that was previously filled with yarn can now be used for scrapbooking again! Yeay! (And I can even stash some of the boxes of yarn under there...I just noticed, though, what is printed on the side of the one cardboard box! LOL "In-Process Waste"!? I hardly think so! That's some nice yarn in there! ;))



And just so you know (because I know there are people out there snarky enough to comment about it)...yes, I realize this could be construed as gluttony. Maybe it is, but I don't think it is. It is my hobby and I choose to invest in it. I don't golf. I don't ski. I don't take exotic vacations. I'm not into elective plastic surgery. I don't get my nails done. My family is fed. My bills are paid. So, don't judge me, 'k? Each to her own, love. Each to her own. ;)