IKEA Reaction

So I'm going to post some of my most embarrassing photos today. To make myself feel better, I'll give a bit of background.

As many of you know, I stopped teaching full time this year, and because of that, had to bring home any of my school supplies that I didn't want to part with. I've bought several books, paper packs, markers, bottles of glue, notebooks, etc., etc., etc., over the past five years, and while I left what I thought might be helpful, I didn't want to overwhelm the new teacher with someone else's old stuff (Having been in that position myself several times). The "keep" pile(s) came home with me and into my craft room for storage.

In addition to that, this summer I had the brilliant idea to swap my bedroom with the craft/guest room. My new bedroom is larger, complete with a bookshelf and reading nook. My new craft room is not. There's a great closet, but since it is the largest closet in the house (one of the reasons it was originally the bedroom), some clothing needs to be stored there. The other closet won't fit it all and the Christmas decorations.

Now factor in that we've been blessed with lots and lots of company the past few months, so that every time I think I may have time to start the gigantic task of bringing order to the room, it's time to re-inflate the air bed and transform my workspace into a guest room. This is NOT a complaint about company in ANY way. We love having visitors. It's just a bit of explanation to make me feel better about showing the pictures that are about to follow.

Looking at the calendar, now is the time to try to get my room in tip-top shape. Thanks to a few great weeks of Toasty Toes sales, I have some extra cash to spend on shelving and such like, and no more shows for a few weeks, which means I may have a chance to do something besides frantically craft slippers and boot cuffs (Not that this is a bad thing AT ALL. It's just been a bit crazy around here. There's yarn all over my house. But I digress.) So I'm hoping that by sharing these "Before" pictures with you, I will be motivated to hurry up and provide some "Afters" as well.

Here goes. Please don't judge!

Here's hoping I can organize this room beyond recognition. I'll keep you posted!

Stay Crafty!
CR

Snags

One thing I love about craft projects is that they don't demand anything of you. Yes, you have to spend time and money and sometimes blood and tears, but it's all a choice. If you get totally frustrated with your project, you can walk off, tear out your stitches, or, my favorite solution, throw the whole thing across the room. It doesn't care. If you get really upset, (or your yarn ties itself up into the Super Knot), you can resort to violence and chop it up. When you're feeling more sane and patient, you don't have to explain yourself to the creation or apologize for chucking it against the wall multiple times. A craft project understands.

In other news, the sock project is not going so well. Yes, this is still sock one. I'm beginning to dread sock two. I've finished the toe, the foot, and the gusset (kudos to you if you know what that is!--I didn't until a few days ago. It's kind of like knowing what those things on the end of a shoelace are called. Cool to be able to casually bring up in conversation, but totally useless in everyday life). Now it's time to work the heel. Everything looks great...or it would if my heel stuck out of the side of my foot. No clue what went wrong, because I have followed the pattern exactly, but wrong it has gone. So I'm faced with the task of pulling my stitches out and starting over...but not just yet. At the moment, I'm not in the mood. I'd rather glare at it from a distance and give it the silent treatment awhile longer. No throwing has taken place yet, but like I said, I'm still on sock one.

I'm further along than this at the moment, but this gives you the general idea. That right up there was the easy part, before the esc and the heel. Maybe tonight I'll give it another go, but I really don't see that happening.

Sometime I wish people were like craft projects. Wouldn't it be great to be able to shove someone in the back corner of your closet, underneath the old notebooks and forget about them for awhile? (Oh wait, that's where I shoved my last sewing project...) When they're in the way, you could just pick them up and put them in neat little containers and put them on a shelf or in a drawer. Unfortunately, people are messier than craft projects...even if you are decoupaging or paper-maicheing. (I think I may have made those words up. And I'm also pretty sure they aren't spelled correctly. Sorry.) That may be why I love my yarn so much. If I walk off and leave the sock alone for awhile (an hour, a week, a year), it will be there waiting for me as if I never left it at all, our previous spat forgiven and forgotten.

For now, I think the sock will spend some time in crochet time-out while I work on my next project: Slippers. No heels involved, so this is already looking much more promising.

In the meantime, don't stand between me and the wall...you may get hit with a ball of yarn and a size J crochet hook.