Organization

 

inventory ready for sale

In Grade 12 I took Office Practices which went beyond mere typing to teaching other things like double entry bookkeeping, filing, project planning and so on.  As part of my mark for one semester, the teacher wrote that my mark would have been higher if my desk wasn't always so disorganized.

It was a telling comment and a true observation.  I was always disorganized.  And yet I always turned my homework in on time.  It was, however, an appropriate comment for someone assuming that I would, like the rest of the students, likely go on to work in an office.

And I did.  I worked in offices for a number of years, in part because I got pretty good at typing (tested at 80 wpm on a Selectric typewriter), did dictaphone typing, filing, etc.  And my desk was always 'messy'.  

When I chose to become a weaver, it was a real challenge to deal with the chaos that ensued.  The thing that most people don't really understand is that in order to BE organized, you have to have the space to store the things that need storing, and the work space to process what needs processing.

Given the limited space I had to work with, I think I did a pretty credible job of accomplishing what I managed to do.  I am well aware that if I'd had more space/room to work *in* things would have gone a lot more smoothly.  But I had limited space because I had limited income and I had to make do.

For years I had 'goat trails' through the studio with boxes stacked high.  It was a mess, but it was my mess, and generally I could usually find what I needed, when I needed it.

As the years went by and I changed what I was doing, some things got shoved into corners and eventually forgotten.

There were things in my stash that I wanted to use 'some day' and I kept, even when I knew in my heart I would never get to them.  Then I kept 'inheriting' yarn stashes from others.  Some of the yarn I could, and did, use immediately (as in as soon as I could fit them into my schedule); others languished.  But I wove steadily, trying to reduce my stash to more manageable levels.

When I 'retired' from doing craft fairs and then teaching in person, I had stashes that were pertinent to those things that I could begin to get rid of.  Most of it I have managed to use.  Some of it I've given away.  Part of the retirement plan was to get rid of my off site location, which meant giving up the industrial steam press, but also all the storage that the site provided.  That meant all the things stored there needed to come here.

Doug and a young friend spent weeks building shelving against every available bit of wall space, and I got rid of the AVL, which took up a huge amount of space in the studio.  Once it was gone, more shelves could be installed at that end of the studio.  I still have business tax papers I need to hold onto for a minimum of 7 years, and as the years have gone by, Doug has been shredding the 'stale' financial papers, which has been freeing up some shelving from the bulk of those things.

As the stash slowly diminished, I was able to start emptying boxes of yarn and begin weaving it.  When we installed the new HVAC in November, I had to clear out the clean storage room and finally dug deep into the nooks and crannies of that room, discovering yet more things I'd 'forgotten'.  Some of those got given away, too.  Some, like the linen, I will likely use.

The end result of all of this weaving down the stash is that some empty spaces now exist on shelves that used to be crammed full with yarn.  There is still a great deal more to be dealt with, but I can finally say that I have used up some of my stashes.  The most recent is the 2/20 mercerized cotton.  The dribs and drabs have gone into the bobbin lace stash.  I have to decide - do I begin making lace again, or do I try to sell my stash?  I have accumulated enough pillows I could actually teach a class, but frankly I don't want to spend that much time on my feet anymore.  And pillows are bulky and shipping rates have increased.  Plus students would have to wear masks, and I'm tired of fighting for people to wear masks around me.  

The other thing that gives me trouble is the teaching examples.  I have bins and bins of textiles I've kept to use as illustrations in teaching.  But I'm no longer teaching in person.  Some of the samples are just that - samples.  But some are actual textiles - scarves, tea towels, etc.  I could just try to sell them and toss the rest.  

But as 2024 begins, I look at my studio shelves and...I see empty spaces.  Some of those spaces got filled with other things, meaning some of the clutter upstairs now has a place to live down in the studio.  But the goal of reducing my stash is happening.  It just takes time.

So I begin as I mean to go on:  weave.  Weave down my stash.  Continue sorting through the bins of samples.  Close my eyes and just toss them?  or examine each and every 'sample' and decide if I keep or toss.  The temptation to toss becomes overwhelming at times, and that is when I do nothing because I can be brutal and then regret at leisure.  The sorting, sifting, deciding will continue.  

In the meantime, I have a pretty warp on the loom.  I'm going to go weave.  Today, and every day I can.