If you’ve ever lost your knitting (important knitting, expensive-yarn-knitting, almost-a-finished-sweater-knitting), then today’s story is one of hope and redemption.
Now listen, I’m someone who has a lot of WIPs (works-in-progress). And when I say a lot, I mean actual DOZENS of knitting projects in some state of unfinished-ness. I have eight sweaters on my needles. Maybe nine. I have four pairs of socks on my needles. I have cowls, hats, shawls, and mittens. ON MY NEEDLES. Not finished.
I don’t mind this chronic state of unfinished creativity; it’s my normal, and I know they’ll all be finished eventually (except for the socks, but that’s a story for another day). I know what I have and (mostly) where it is, because I’ve learned to balance my obsession with having a large yarn stash (see this book for my juicy and inspiring tell-all), with my quasi-spiritual personal calling as a minimalist and an organizer.
With so much yarn – and so many projects ongoing – you might be wondering how I can keep track of it all?
The answer is: Sometimes I lose a project. Sometimes I even lose TWO projects.
During my last office/stash organizational weekend, I went DEEP into the recesses of every cubby and closet that might normally get overlooked. I emptied every single small container. I did the most deliberate and merciless reorganizing that I’d ever done (and considering that I reorganize my stash once per quarter with my Stash Sprint students, that really means something). It was a thing of beauty, my friends. So good, in fact, that I was on the cusp of asking HGTV if they wanted to hire me to host a show about organizing your craft rooms. So good, that I momentarily considered giving myself a trophy. Or at least a Girl Scout badge.
Except…
With all of that work, every single skein of yarn and project-to-be should have been accounted for, but there were two very important projects that had not made an appearance.
- Hadn’t I emptied every single tote and cubby? I had.
- Hadn’t I completely wiped down every shelf? Yep, sure did.
- I even emptied the giant basket full of old sweater samples! (Did I miss one?)
- So where were those two sweaters? Had I [gasp!] accidentally thrown them away with an armful of packing paper? Surely not…
How do you lose two adult size sweaters that are nearly finished?? I mean, if anyone can pull it off, it would be me. But TWO? Losing one sweater is one thing, but who loses two of them at the same time? That takes a special kind of skill.
Weeks went by. Then a month. My Knit Campers asked about one of those sweaters and I was forced to admit (to the public, but mostly to myself) that it might actually be lost forever. There were gasps of horror all around.
I know. I KNOW. The worst.
And then one ordinary day, for no apparent reason, I had a flash of memory. Eh, flash is too strong a word, it was more like a piece of glitter of a memory. But I had this vague idea that maybe – just maybe – I had put those sweaters somewhere other than my office/yarn room.
Enter: The decorative lidded basket trio.
Once – in a moment of obvious genius – I thought it best to move my current favorite knitting projects to the living room, where they were simultaneously within arms’ reach, but also safely hidden from view. Hidden from the cats, the dog, house guests… and eventually, from myself.
So anyway, I found the sweaters.
