Two things have plagued me from a very young age. Insomnia and anxiety. Through much trial and error and counseling I have been able to control both to a manageable level. Learning and mastering the art of knitting has been an extreme help with my anxiety, almost completely eliminating many of my compulsions. I even learned a meditative breathing method to practice while knitting which has helped me to disappear into a great zen place when I'm working my needles (thank you Drew U. for having weird workshops). Unfortunately, like many people who battle with either or both of these issues know, they never completely disappear.
Insomnia is one of my biggest stressors causing my anxiety levels to spike. As you can imagine anxiety does not help insomnia (it only fuels it), so once I wake up, I'm up until I crash. Enter one of my "compulsions" if you call it. Cleaning and organizing. I'm a neat freak! Like to the point where everything in my kitchen cabinets is labeled, including where it all goes. I have folders and binders and notebooks for everything. It's an issue. The one area of my life where I'm glad this has not transferred over is my knitting life. I tend to look through my books/patterns and just leave them in piles where I was using them. I have a million projects scattered around, and it honestly doesn't bother me (a very big deal).
This, however can cause for a somewhat disruptive routine to begin when I'm trying to find that US#6 40" circular, or that second skein of yarn needed for that project I put down two months ago. So tonight, in my insomnia fueled organization kick, I've finished my knitting life organization project. I undertake this project about 2-3 times a year.
Last week I organized my stash over two separate nights. From top to bottom; fingering, DK, chunky, worsted. You may recognize the top bin as my 30qt rubbermaid full of sock yarn from a previous post.
Tonight I organized all of craft books and magazines. Magazines sorted in boxes by publisher then in chronological order. Knitting books top shelf in alpha order by author. Loose knitting patterns in binder tabbed off by category then alpha order by title. Sewing and crochet books in alpha order by author. All needles and notions in their proper bag. And of course my two bins of accessories within easy reach of the door to grab as I head out for the day.
That ends my knitting life organization project. Goodnight and sweet dreams.
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