19 June 2012

Choosy

I'm one of those people who periodically go through my possessions and actually sorts them into things I want to keep and things I don't want to keep.  I don't do it as frequently as I'd like, and I don't do it with everything, even though I want to, but sometimes it happens because it just makes sense.

For instance, my clothes get sorted twice a year - when I put the heavy stuff away and pull out the lighter-weight stuff, and vice versa.  This also happens at a minimum with my knitting supplies twice a year.  Our house is not air-conditioned, and we do have a [crappy] window unit for our third floor.  Guess where it lives during the off-season?  Yep, you guessed it - right next door to the knitting stuff!

Since a lot of that stuff has to be moved when pulling out/putting away the a/c window unit, it only makes sense to go through all of it before putting it away again.  The main thing I've noticed the last couple of times, is that I've become a lot more choosy about what I will keep.  Now, I'm not saying I get rid of a ton of stuff each time, but I have become a lot more realistic about what I may or may not use.

To give you an example:  I love sock yarn.  I also love to knit socks.  So I tend to hold on to most of the sock yarn, unless it's one that I've had a previous bad experience with, or if the color/pattern just no longer does it for me.  I also love laceweight yarn.  But I seldom knit lace, and when I do, it takes me a long time, and I'm not really too good with it.  There are so many people out there who not only knit lace, but do an amazing job, and create beautiful things.  So some of the laceweight usually goes.

Anyway, you get the idea.  Originally, when I had yarn I decided I didn't want to keep, I would just give it away, and sometimes I still do that.  But especially since the existence of Ravelry, I have realized that you can sell it, and there is a good chance that it is going to someone who really would like to have it.  I like the feeling that I'm recouping some of my dollars, even if by the time I've packaged and sent it, I'm lucky to break even.

This time around, I'll have some yarn and some knitting bags that I'll be selling.  So if you may be interested, stay tuned for something like this:

Namaste-bag

or this:

Indecita-Alpaca

Just so you know ...

5 comments:

kathy b said...

im tuned. Im staying!

KSD said...

So unfair, the longing. . .

Brigitte said...

I probably don't do it enough with my yarn (wait, that doesn't sound right...), but I'm a pro when it comes to sorting other things (except cats). With yarn, I'm like one of those people you see on Hoarders who are all "well, I could use it and ohemgee look at the way the colour catches the light when put on Gandalf's back! I gotta keep it.".

Bookfool said...

Well, I have nothing to do with yarn but I need to get better at regularly going through things and saying, "Keep, discard, donate, keep, donate," etc. We're moving, soon, so hopefully that will help lighten the load.

knitseashore said...

It's nice to know a fellow declutterer. Lately I've been on a sorting binge, and sent five bags of clothes to the Salvation Army, boxes of leftover tag sale stuff to Goodwill, and now there's some yarn up on ebay for sale. I didn't have much luck with Ravelry so I thought I'd give ebay a go.