Organization In Full Effect

In the interest of starting the year off on the right foot, I took some time today to streamline my crafting life. Organized chaos was so 2007.

I wanted to find a way of keeping my many, many circular needles tidy, but don't really like the organizers I've seen nor did I want to use a huge cd case to hold them all. So, I took a trip over to my local Joann's store and found a really nifty canvas wall organizer for $8. There are 12 pockets, which are perfect for holding multiple circulars and dpns. I'll eventually label each pocket with the needle size and put a few nails in the closet so it can hang peacefully, out of the way.

Since cleaning up my needles was so quick, I decided to tackle the stash. I pulled my two bins out of the closet and into the middle of the living room. Gf seemed a bit surprised, but hid it well. "Um, where you gonna put all that?"
"Back in the closet."
She left me alone after that. I queued up Ravelry so I could make sure that I have a everything documented and got to work.

I then divided the stash into two groups.

The first group is Superstarra ME-ME-ME! This group consists of full projects worth of yarn, most of which already have an idea attached to them. Most of these projects...okay, all of these project are for me. There's some Rowan Summer Tweed, Noro Silk Garden Lite, GGH Bali and my fave Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Seeing it all again renewed my excitement...and reminded me that I've already spent a lot of good money on yarn and with at least 14 projects worth, I don't need to be purchasing any more.

The second group is Gifting Yarn. Now my two step plan for the year will have me crafting projects to give as gifts throughout the year. This is the bin for that. There's still some cool stuff in there, Rowan Cork, some RYC Cashsoft DK, some GGH Samoa [don't pay any attention to that bronze fun fur]. Leftovers from other projects will be added to this bin, so it will be a fairly renewable resource of inspired gift crafting. I'm excited to test the boundaries with this bin and get really creative.

And the one challenge of the day...
As you may or may not remember, my last harebrained scheme to use up left over yarn was to crochet the Babette Blanket. I love the pattern and would love to finish it. But a realization hit me about a day into it. With all the different yarns I was using [cotton, acrylic blends, 100% wool, etc]; washing would be an adventure and blocking a nightmare. Needless to say, I abandoned Babette. I think I will take the squares that I have made so far and use them for a cute granny square tote...something that doesn't have to be washed, for sure.

While I was marinating on the shrinkage factor, the yarn was sitting around getting tangled on itself. Above is one of the big knots I was having to deal with. I realized I was holding onto a lot of yarn that I didn't like and bits I hated the first time and threads of others. Needless to say, I salvaged what I could and tossed the rest. No use hanging on to the useless, right?

So, with my crafting life a little more organized and streamlined, I'm ready to take on the crafting challenges of 2008! I can feel it's going to be a good one!

Oh, and thanks for all the compliments on Notorious! Y'all are the best!!