Too bad the fireplace is sketchy ...

I keep chipping away at my reduce project, making some slow but steady progress. 

Today I decided that the file drawer needed to be dealt with.  This drawer has been a repository for everything, forever.  And today was the day for making a significant dent.

Before, during and after ...

  Look at that newly found space!

Out with the old and in with someone else's old!

In a case of synchronicity,  Spun Fibre Arts in Oakville, sent a note a couple of weeks ago about a yarn swap.  Fantastic!  I dove into the stash and came up with a number of items.  I dove a little deeper this morning, the day of the stash, and found a few more items to add to the pile.

The swap was fun.  A bunch of nice ladies who I think all left with yarns they will enjoy knitting.

I achieved my goal of coming home with less than I left with.  Most of the items above were taken by others in the swap which feels good.  And I left the small amount of remaining items for the Project Linus representative for blankets.  I would have used the yarns to knit for charity anyway and this should, hopefully, speed up the journey into the hands of others in the form of finished projects.  And I can concentrate on my charity hat knitting.  Win-win!

The new-to-me yarns to the right.  Two balls of my kryptonite, Noro or two different types, a ball of sock yarn and a couple of other pretty skeins.

Reduce

I have been listening to the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin for quite a while. While not a new concept on the podcast, this year I was attracted to the concept of having a word for the year. The word represents an intention for how you want to spend your year.

Stepping back for a moment, I have always thought about new year's resolutions, made a few, but, like everyone else, lost sight of them shortly after jumping back into post holiday real life. When this Jan 1 rolled around, I did not have any fully formed thoughts to write down as resolutions. But, in listening to Happier, the concept of having a word of the year really jumped out at me. 

One thing frequently mentioned on Happier is the premise that "outer order leads to inner calm". I have lately been feeling overwhelmed by my stash of crafty things. I love them all but am surrounded.  I have been chipping away at the yarn for a while but not making much progress on the fabric. And there are all of those other fun things I have picked up at various places that I wanted to try but have never unwrapped.  So, I thought my word of the year (or maybe the next decade but we'll see how this year goes) is Reduce. 

Reduce the stash, reduce the number of items in my closet, reduce my weight a bit, reduce stress by working from home more often, just reduce. And it is working. Slowly, but working. I've started to make time for quilting once a week. I've been more targeted about finishing knitting projects, I have reduced my Ravelry queue and am not buying patterns randomly. I have found myself saying "reduce" to myself in other decisions I have made to date. And it is easier than having a list of 5 resolutions. It is one word, to be interpreted how I want to interpret it in the moment. And a pleasant side effect, reduce leads to reduced spending and a few more dollars in my jeans. Perfect. 

Just some of my stash to be reduced ...