A Year to Clear

Last week, I stumbled across a clutter clearing course called "A Year to Clear What is Holding You Back". It wasn't expensive so, on a whim, and following my intuition, I signed up. Rather than tackling your clutter in an intense and all consuming way and risking burn out and rebound issues it focuses on the "slow drip" method. The idea is to clear a little bit each day forming a habit, while spending time uncovering any deep rooted and personal reasons for clutter, both inside and out, emotional as well as environmental clutter.

It's amazing how the commitment to clearing just one item, or for just a minute or two each day gains momentum all on its own and without any forcing of it. In only one week I can see improvement, but more importantly I feel it. The energy in the home improves when you take steps towards getting rid of unneeded items and taking care of the items worthy of saving.

Yesterday I started tidying up the sewing room one baby step at a time. I gave the room a high priority since the mess and cramped quarters robs me of the joy I normally find in being creative. First to get under control was a mess of lace and trims saved for crazy quilting. I consider these to be "keepers" but the loose jumble had taken over a small shelf and the mess was an eyesore, a source of aggravation, and not easy or pleasant to use.

This looks and feels so much better! The pretty little basket was one I had on hand but I'll have to replace it with something a bit larger. I know that through my lack of organization in there, and my multiple hobbies, I have more than one "stash pile" of lace, ribbons, and trims and I'd like to combine them all in an organized, compact, and more user friendly way. The 2" x 3" cards (cut from greeting cards) works well but I'll need a bigger container.

Customize Your Knitting

I was sent a free copy of a newly published book, "Customize Your Knitting", by Margaret Hubert.

I get these occasionally from publishers that are hoping I will write a review. There is no obligation on my part to write a favorable review, but it is my nature to go by the old adage, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Sometimes I don't say anything at all and that's that. The book in question goes off to The Bookman rather than collect dust on my shelf. This isn't one of those books.

I can see value for the beginning to intermediate knitter in "Customize Your Knitting", especially a knitter that does not have a lot of experience in knitting garments to fit or incorporating shaping into lace and texture patterns. The author goes into good detail on those points.

If you are wanting to take an existing pattern and change out details like sleeve and body length, the style of trim, the type of closure, or the neckline shape, this publication does give guidance in that area. There are also four "classic rectangle" patterns fully developed in sizes small to X-large (generally with a finished chest measurement of 34 - 46") with instruction on how to change the shape to suit your individual body. When you add in the included advice for variation in style details you get the 16 styles shown below.

One negative that I feel must be mentioned; there is not nearly enough said about the impact of various stitch patterns on gauge. When a knitter starts to choose different trims, like replacing a ribbed band with one done in seed stitch, the gauge changes and the stitch count should be adjusted accordingly. There is no mention of this aspect of customizing at all and I saw at least one case where, even in the example sweater, a change in stitch pattern caused unsightly rippling in the edging. 

Conclusion? A worthwhile book if you want to advance your knitting past following a pattern to the letter but are perhaps not ready to branch out to design your own from scratch.