Sarah and I have been cleaning out my studio and her art room. It has been a process and is still not quite done. We tackled my studio (sewing and knitting and other needlework, including beading) first and it took about two weeks to get it cleaned out and re-organized. Her art room (sewing, knitting, costume design and various art media) has been gutted, painted, outfitted with new shelves and cabinets (thanks, George!) – and now we are in the putting-everything-back-in-a-logical-order stage.

The process has required us to dig into our yarn stashes and the hidey-holes where projects go to hibernate. The yarn stash issue has been straightforward and actually kind of fun – as we bought containers and sorted it all by hue. Some yarn we tossed — mostly from my antediluvian stash – but most of it has been petted, reminisced over, and tucked in amongst its color cousins.

The hibernating projects have presented a different challenge.

A lot of: oh, ye-e-e-s, I remember this-s-s-s….
A little bit of: okay, I’m pulling something out of this bag and you are going to laugh!
A bit more of: oh, yeah, I’m supposed to finish this.
A bit more honesty: oh, yeah, I’m never ever going to finish this.

We have learned a few things about ourselves as knitters – like that neither of us can knit further than half-way on a scarf. That we both like to start lace projects (and would finish them, we swear, if more prosaic knitting did not get in the way). That we are immovable when it comes to unfinished gift projects – that we can neither knit them nor give them up! Though we both agreed that she could give up on the leg-warmers (well there was only one and it was about an inch high and probably too big around) she was making for me for Christmas 2006 or so.

In all, I would say we ripped out a third of the languishing. It was kind of freeing, of course. And we have more needles, now! We agree that chefs and gardeners are lucky – bland casseroles and unplanted petunias meet a natural and timely end. Half a scarf knit in garter stripes of fuchsia mohair and variegated “melon garden” ladder novelty yarn lives forever.