I know it’s been a while. November is a traditionally-hectic month for my family. It’s the one time of the year where I’m making preparations for the holidays so that I can enjoy my December without that pressure to get everything done ALL AT ONCE.

So I do my holiday shopping during November, preferably BEFORE Black Friday (when the rest of the known world goes all crazy with the Visa), so at least my non-handmade gifts are all done and wrapped, and just waiting for the Season to arrive.

Whew.

What this also means is that I’m doing a whole lot of Project-ing that I can’t document publically. Unfortunately. Lots of presents on my knitting needles and flying through my sewing machine, and not a single one has a digital picture taken of it. I mean, in this day and age of Google, it’s may be unlikely that a giftie recipient would find it, but you never know.

Now, all excuses for radio silence aside, there’s a Thing that’s been going on here in my crafting room. (And soon to be followed by the rest of the house.) Some will think I’m insane, given the time of year it is. Some would probably be right — it IS insane.

Lately, I’ve been feeling like we have too much stuff. I think I talked about this before. If not here, than on a few of the message boards I’m on. I’m to the point where even my hobbies are starting to make me feel guilty, because there are Far Too Many Projects(tm), and not enough time in the average lifespan to ever get to them all. My biggest offenders? Fiber and books and fabric. And art supplies from my former life as an artist that I can’t let go of. (My life has taken me in an altogether different direction, and now I’m trying to focus more on my home and family rather than a career in general anyway.)

I have this Scarcity Thing(tm) going on. Like, when I find something, I tend to buy as much of it as I can, thinking that someday, I might not have the money or the availability to it. Which is ludicrous, especially when we’re talking about things like sock yarn or spinning fiber. There is a TON of it on etsy alone, not to mention sites like The Loopy Ewe that consistently get in all the yarns I like. (And they’re about to carry spinning fiber, too, if Sheri’s blog is any indication! That noise you just heard? That’s me, falling over with glee.)

So why is it that I feel the need to cocoon myself in a giant puffball of fiber and yarn and fabric and books!? My studio is a huge room — I mean that. We’re talking right around 30 feet x 20 feet. Giant. Humungous. Very, very large. I’m blessed. I know this.

BUT…and this is a big BUT….it’s full. Full of stuff. Granted, some of it is from my other business, which is fiber related, but oh. mah. maude. It’s obscene.

Last night, while lamenting the fact that my house is still, after several months of trying to make healthier, cleaner routines, and cleaning things out several times before, a giant Ball of Chaos and Crazy…I had this sudden, undeniable urge to get rid of ANYTHING that I’m not currently using, do not love, or that I love and won’t use because “it’s too good”. I mean, there are yarns in my stash that I love so much that I don’t want to knit with them, because it might mean that they’re then gone, which, really, is kind of the epitome of Crazy.

With an iron fist, I made a pass-through the stash, culling out anything that’s just slightly not my style anymore. I filled two baskets. I announced to my local stitch & bitch girls that I was having a clear-out sale on December 1st, and that they were invited to paw through the stashness. Energized by the response and the thought of being free (how sad is it that a stashless — or greatly stash-reduced — state would be considered “free”??), I made a second pass, this time with a giant red pen, slashing out the things I love TOO MUCH, and the least favorite of my favorite dyers. (I let myself keep a bunch, but told myself that things? They had to change. And there are some that I, honestly, like better than others, even from my favorites.)

When all was said and done, with my books, my fabrics, my art supplies, my yarns, my fibers for spinning….the pile looked like this:

Forgive the nasty flash picture.  It was midnight by the time I was done.

Two baskets, a rubbermade bin (one of the big ones), a full tabletop (and it’s a 12′ table!), and a spinning wheel.  I kid you not.

Anything that doesn’t sell to the girls will end up going on etsy or ebay.  I’m determined to hold the din of clutter down to a dull roar.  I still have a fair bit left, but the amount that’s left over seems like a walk in the park — carefree, and without guilt.  It’s an amount that makes me a little anxious (what if I run out!? keeps going through my head — a scenario so unlikely that it’s probably MORE likely that I get hit by a bus in my living room.), but it also makes me feel like I COULD go through it all.  That I COULD get everything done.  That I COULD, in theory, knit and spin and make everything I want to make, and still have time left over to play with other stuff.  It makes me undeniably happy.

Of course, now I want to play with everything I have left, but THAT kind of pressure I can deal with.  It’s now a reward for housekeeping — do 15 minutes of work, and I get to play for a few minutes, instead of dragging my tail to the studio and wondering where to even start.

I love that.

Two little hints of note:

1.  I found this little tidbit from the Happy Slob about cleaning out your dryer lint-trap, since dryer sheets can actually damage your dryer over time.  Interesting!

and,

2.  If you’re on Ravelry, there’s a group there called “Reclaiming the Home” that’s run by the girl from this site.  She’s doing recaps of the discussion on her blog, and it’s turning into a great resource to read through.  The crock pot recipes have me dancing in the aisles.   It’s actually a discussion on this board that got me going with the stash clearout.

Random aside:  While doing the stash clearout, I also got rid of some old momentos from a previous relationship.  (I’m a widow, now remarried.  Yes, I’m only 36.)  I didn’t even look at them.  Just tossed them in the trash.  It was a giant milestone, since I’ve been lugging them around for ten years.  It was awesome, and added to the feeling of Finally Free.