Winter is certainly coming now. It snowed for several hours today - none of it stuck. I watched it all as I cleaned the upper floor of our house - the bedroom, closet, bathroom and my Yarn Lab. Some of these things I did WAY before I got involved in Project 333, some of these tasks were just reinforced by living in that disciplined way. Here are a few things I regularly do with the changing of the seasons.
Bedroom/Bathroom/Closet
1. Move the past season's clothes into the seasonal closet, pulling out anything that I wish to discard, donate, or repair.
2. Empty off shelves and wipe them down. Consolidate garments by like kind, refold and stack.
3. Dust all lights - with the winter gloom upon us I need every tiny watt of light I can get.
4. Go through my bedside table, remove items that shouldn't be there. Vacuum the drawer clean and make sure the following is in there: small pill bottle of advil, my asthma inhaler, the charger for my Kindle, my Kindle and its handknit cover, a lovely scented moisturizer, a nail file, chap stick, my sleeping mask, and my nutrition book.
5. Go through my exercise drawer and get rid of socks with holes, stained t-shirts, and put away all swim suits except for my lap suit.
6. Clean off the top of the bureau - put away jewelry that I won't wear in the winter.
7. Clean out medicine cabinet. Check for expired items, and put toiletries in their correct spot. Travel items go in their travel bags under the sink. Nail polish get rotated out for winter appropriate colors, and old polish that is gummy gets tossed. Ditto with makeup. Replace my summer moisturizer with winter moisturizer.
8. Make sure both sides of the bed have a box of tissues.
9. Refill Q-tips and cotton pads.
10. Clean nail and cuticle tools with rubbing alcohol.
11. Vacuum the cat's chair, and the mattress on our bed. Put flannel sheets on the bed.
12. Go through summer shoes; throw out worn-out shoes, pull shoes I wish to donate, and all summer sandals get packed in the seasonal closet.
Yarn Lab
1. Get everything off the floor and vacuum everywhere.
2. Put skeins away in their appropriate tub. I have a general system: Tub 1: sweater quantities of yarn. Tub 2: Cottons. Tub 3: DK, Worsted, and Aran skeins of wool. Tub 4: Lace, Fingering, and Sport skeins of wool. Tub 5: exotics: camelid, angora, possum blends, silks. Sock yarns go in a zip bag that comforters are sold in.
3. Magazines get organized in magazine holders.
4. Gather random stitch markers from every surface and put together in a jar.
5. Identify and pull skeins/scraps that I wish to donate, put with other Goodwill items.
6. Get all music CDs back in their jewel cases and into their box.
7. Books go back on bookshelf in my own organizational system. Basic catagories: Reference, Socks, Lace, Colorwork, Cables, Thematic books, Yarn collections.
8. Put birdfeeder on the window.
9. Clean the cat's bed and return it to the center of my desk in front of the window (in front of birdfeeder). (If I move it she complains bitterly, then sulks in her old spot.)
10. Put away my teaching notes from past classes - each class has a file, swatches, etc. Make sure notes for improving each class are tucked into each file.
11. Put away handouts I get from classes that I take along with their swatches.
12. Identify and consolidate scraps I want to keep for swatching design projects or class swatches.
13. Put yarn for upcoming projects on open shelving unit. Should always include one sweater, one fingering weight project, and two hat projects.
14. Put all buttons away that may have gotten pulled out and strewn around while trying to finish a project.
15. Put all needles together, then size them and put them in the pendaflex folder. Ditto with crochet hooks.
When I am done with all these things I feel like I am ready for winter. Everything is snug and clean and in its place. I am not flustered with clutter or an over abundance of things that are not relevant to the season I am living in. I have a few things left to tick off on this list - that will happen this weekend. But I am happy with my surroundings in my snug little house!
Showing posts with label Project 333. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project 333. Show all posts
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A little foot Obsession
I can't wait for the snow and ice to clear a bit so I can wear my new oxblood colored heeled loafers. ($2.99 at World Mission Thrift) They look well matched with my other heeled loafers, don't they?
And while I am no longer on track to be a librarian, I think the 'Librarian Chic' label will always stick with me. I wish I fit into my vintage wool skirts (some even have kick-pleats!) but they will have to wait out another year.
I still haven't found a replacement for my grey cardigan. I am living in, at the most, 20 pieces of clothing right now and I feel like I am clinging onto the desperate edge. I need to find some warm clothes soon!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
1.1.11
The year has started out fairly productively. Since P is on call this weekend I have to provide my own entertainment today. So far I have cleaned the kitchen thoroughly, made lentil soup, done a few loads of laundry, converted my hanging files from 2010 to 2011 and weeded through my cookbooks.
Odd years seem to be kinder to me than even ones, and I am hoping that '11 will be MY year. You hear that World? IT IS MY TURN. MINE. And I don't care if I sound like a three year old. The world likes balance, and I am due. And while you are at it World? Don't forget my friend, F. She is more than due.
This year is going to be about Less.
* less me
* less mess
* less stash
* less stuff
* less waste
* less procrastination
* less advice**
I am taking on several Less challenges this year:
* Sock Stash Knitdown - I will be using 12 skeins of sock yarn this year, either knit as socks, or other projects. I also bought an Xmas gift for myself - a 25" Schacht Rigid Heddle Loom. Great way to use up sock stash!
* Cold Sheeping - Gah, the last few months have been difficult, but I am back on the wagon. I am not buying yarn until April 2011, and then I will re-evaluate my stash and probably re-up.
* Project 333 - Living in a reduced wardrobe of 33 items. I participated this past fall, and while I had to make some adjustments as the seasons changed (hello! cropped leather jacket does not cut it when the windchill is 5 F outside.), I enjoyed the simplicity of it. I have a major piece to replace in the next week - a simple grey cardigan. My last one got a hole in it within 2 weeks of the beginning of Project 333 round 1. I continued to wear it. Then my nephew spit up all over the shoulder. And the baby spit won't come out. I am calling this lightweight grey cardigan officially DEAD, and so I am on the hunt.
** I am always happy to read about "self-improvement" but after a while all this advice just WEARS on me. So I am going to follow my own common sense and stop relying on the ideas of others.
Odd years seem to be kinder to me than even ones, and I am hoping that '11 will be MY year. You hear that World? IT IS MY TURN. MINE. And I don't care if I sound like a three year old. The world likes balance, and I am due. And while you are at it World? Don't forget my friend, F. She is more than due.
 |
| That is 400 yards of warp. |
This year is going to be about Less.
* less me
* less mess
* less stash
* less stuff
* less waste
* less procrastination
* less advice**
I am taking on several Less challenges this year:
* Sock Stash Knitdown - I will be using 12 skeins of sock yarn this year, either knit as socks, or other projects. I also bought an Xmas gift for myself - a 25" Schacht Rigid Heddle Loom. Great way to use up sock stash!
* Cold Sheeping - Gah, the last few months have been difficult, but I am back on the wagon. I am not buying yarn until April 2011, and then I will re-evaluate my stash and probably re-up.
* Project 333 - Living in a reduced wardrobe of 33 items. I participated this past fall, and while I had to make some adjustments as the seasons changed (hello! cropped leather jacket does not cut it when the windchill is 5 F outside.), I enjoyed the simplicity of it. I have a major piece to replace in the next week - a simple grey cardigan. My last one got a hole in it within 2 weeks of the beginning of Project 333 round 1. I continued to wear it. Then my nephew spit up all over the shoulder. And the baby spit won't come out. I am calling this lightweight grey cardigan officially DEAD, and so I am on the hunt.
** I am always happy to read about "self-improvement" but after a while all this advice just WEARS on me. So I am going to follow my own common sense and stop relying on the ideas of others.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Project 333: Good Nick
When faced with a limited wardrobe it is essential to keep what you have in good nick. That is, make repairs and alterations when needed, but also, perform maintenance on your most heavily used items. Most fixes are cheap and take little time. (Remind me to tell you the story some other time wherein I say to a complete stranger "I need a screw, quick!)
But, yes, my Phoebe Dansko clogs. While peering down at my feet yesterday I realized that I was looking like an urchin. There is a reason the saying "down-at-the-heels" means to look sad, worn, and even impoverished. In the case of my clogs, it was the toes, not the heels that needed immediate attention. Since these shoes are a major pillar in my Project 333 experiment it is important to me that they continue to look good (especially since they are nearly indestructible).
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| Before - Urchin toes |
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| After - Moneysworth Best Shoe Polish. Yes, indeed. |
A quick application of shoe polish can make just about any shoe look almost new. Leather dries out as it ages, and polish adds oil and colorant back into the leather to cover the scuffs and scrapes. This not only helps your shoes look better, but can actually prolong the life of your shoes as well. The oil in shoe polish can help repel water and salt stains, and since I have been known to wear my clogs out in several inches of snow (by-the-way clogs offer no traction) this is important to the longevity of my shoes.
I used to be on very friendly terms with my neighborhood cobblers in New York, Albuquerque, and Cambridge. Cobblers are wonderful people - they can resole shoes, change heels, replace stitching, and even fix leather jackets and luggage. Their shops will have a treasure trove of items you never knew existed and shoe polish for almost any color leather imaginable. Shoe whiteners, shoe laces, shoe horns and trees, shoe bags, caps for your toes and heels. It can be a wonderful experience. In a throw-away culture such as ours, perhaps it is no surprise that almost all cobblers I have used are foreign-born: Mexican, Armenian, Hungarian, and Indian. My cobbler (Armenian) in Cambridge had the following written on his business cards:
I will heel you, save your soles, and dye for you.
I should mention his shop was covered wall-to-wall with religious icons. He took his work seriously.
I haven't sought out a cobbler since I moved to the mid-West, mostly because I am no longer wearing high heels since leaving the art world behind. But I do have a pair of dansko sandals that need some TLC, and I have been told the general proximity for a good cobbler.
With some extra care my sandals may just be around for next summer.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Some thoughts on Project 333
I have now been part of Project 333 for almost a full month, and I am really enjoying the simplicity of it. And I am functioning using LESS than 33 items. But perhaps that isn't suprising...
I never had tons of clothes, although my parents may argue otherwise. In college, some of my friends had closets stuffed full. And I do mean FULL.
Until 10th grade I was a public school kid - rode the bus everyday (it happened to be the short bus in elementary school, which actually says more about the topography of where I grew up, rather than my mental abilities), and was relentlessly bullied by several kids in my grade. With glasses, braces, a terrible Princess Diana haircut, and the onset of puberty, it was probably inevitable. By the time I started to 'grow up' in ninth grade, I was also starting to reject the images these kids projected. Benetton, Guess, and Espirit were to be reviled. I started wearing black. My sister and I would shop at Thrift Stores. We wore polyester, lace, men's suit trousers and blazers. We often bought Rit Dye to change the color of our second hand clothes. My image was being formed in polar opposite of the people who picked on me, as if to say, 'Yes, I am different, and now you can see just how different I am.' Most importantly, I ceased caring what they thought and went my own way.
And then 10th grade came around and I ended up in private school. As private schools go, it wasn't bad. There were wealthy kids there, but also a lot of my classmates were getting financial aid, and many of my classmates were first generation Americans. But the kicker, the real kicker, was there was a uniform. Not just any uniform, but a plaid skirt (Campbell) and a white turtleneck. (To this day I can't wear turtlenecks.) And suddenly the clothes I did have in my tiny closet were irrelevant, because I could not wear them to school. I had two Campbell plaid skirts, a grey skirt (boy the grey skirt got a ton of wear!) navy pants, a navy crewneck sweater, two white turtlenecks, and a white button-down shirt. Shoes were usually Chinese slippers, since they were black, reasonably fashionable, and not penny loafers.
And so I could spend five days a week in clothes I had little to no control over, and really only had to make sure they were clean... ish. For three years my wardrobe consisted of the same trousers, skirts and boring sweater - and because I was done growing, they may have been the exact SAME trousers, skirts, and sweater.
So, honestly, 33 items? Kinda feels like luxury when thinking about those private school days. And I have not, nor while I ever own a pair of navy trousers ever again.
In the end my high school alma mater got the last laugh. When I went to college and joined the Lacrosse team the skirt uniform was Campbell plaid. No kidding.
I never had tons of clothes, although my parents may argue otherwise. In college, some of my friends had closets stuffed full. And I do mean FULL.
Until 10th grade I was a public school kid - rode the bus everyday (it happened to be the short bus in elementary school, which actually says more about the topography of where I grew up, rather than my mental abilities), and was relentlessly bullied by several kids in my grade. With glasses, braces, a terrible Princess Diana haircut, and the onset of puberty, it was probably inevitable. By the time I started to 'grow up' in ninth grade, I was also starting to reject the images these kids projected. Benetton, Guess, and Espirit were to be reviled. I started wearing black. My sister and I would shop at Thrift Stores. We wore polyester, lace, men's suit trousers and blazers. We often bought Rit Dye to change the color of our second hand clothes. My image was being formed in polar opposite of the people who picked on me, as if to say, 'Yes, I am different, and now you can see just how different I am.' Most importantly, I ceased caring what they thought and went my own way.
And then 10th grade came around and I ended up in private school. As private schools go, it wasn't bad. There were wealthy kids there, but also a lot of my classmates were getting financial aid, and many of my classmates were first generation Americans. But the kicker, the real kicker, was there was a uniform. Not just any uniform, but a plaid skirt (Campbell) and a white turtleneck. (To this day I can't wear turtlenecks.) And suddenly the clothes I did have in my tiny closet were irrelevant, because I could not wear them to school. I had two Campbell plaid skirts, a grey skirt (boy the grey skirt got a ton of wear!) navy pants, a navy crewneck sweater, two white turtlenecks, and a white button-down shirt. Shoes were usually Chinese slippers, since they were black, reasonably fashionable, and not penny loafers.
And so I could spend five days a week in clothes I had little to no control over, and really only had to make sure they were clean... ish. For three years my wardrobe consisted of the same trousers, skirts and boring sweater - and because I was done growing, they may have been the exact SAME trousers, skirts, and sweater.
So, honestly, 33 items? Kinda feels like luxury when thinking about those private school days. And I have not, nor while I ever own a pair of navy trousers ever again.
In the end my high school alma mater got the last laugh. When I went to college and joined the Lacrosse team the skirt uniform was Campbell plaid. No kidding.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Project 333
After reading about the project on Bev's blog, I thought long and hard about whether to do Project 333. I love the idea of a minimalist but highly functional wardrobe. I really don't have that many clothes. Actually, strike that. I don't have that many clothes THAT FIT.
Months upon months upon years of having "the blues" has left me with an uninspired wardrobe that was meant to "make-do" until I got back into the clothing that I still own and love, but cannot wear. The only problem? I haven't worn my wool skirts since 2006. My nice winter jacket won't button across my bust. I have been "making-do" in my closet for far too long.
So I am taking the Project 333 challenge. I will be restricting my wardrobe to 33 items for 3 months, including shoes, outerwear, and jewelry. (Thank goodness gym-wear, unmentionables, and pjs don't count, that would be more than I could deal with on a day-to-day basis.) And I will be working at getting back into my favorite clothes. I am tired of being uninspired by my own closet!
My list for the next three months:
4 pairs of pants
3 sweaters
1 shawl
1 leather jacket
1 canvas jacket
1 pair flats
1 pair earth shoes
1 pair black boots
1 pair brown clogs
2 necklaces
2 pairs of earrings
1 bracelet
1 pair handknit mittens
2 long-sleeve t-shirts
6 t-shirts
1 knit top
2 button down blouses
1 silk shirt
1 briefcase bag
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| wardrobe - missing, brown canvas jacket |
So I am taking the Project 333 challenge. I will be restricting my wardrobe to 33 items for 3 months, including shoes, outerwear, and jewelry. (Thank goodness gym-wear, unmentionables, and pjs don't count, that would be more than I could deal with on a day-to-day basis.) And I will be working at getting back into my favorite clothes. I am tired of being uninspired by my own closet!
 |
| cashmere & textured shawl - missing grey swing cardigan & yoked cardigan |
My list for the next three months:
4 pairs of pants
3 sweaters
1 shawl
1 leather jacket
1 canvas jacket
1 pair flats
1 pair earth shoes
1 pair black boots
1 pair brown clogs
2 necklaces
2 pairs of earrings
1 bracelet
1 pair handknit mittens
2 long-sleeve t-shirts
6 t-shirts
1 knit top
2 button down blouses
1 silk shirt
1 briefcase bag
 |
| shoes - missing - earth shoes |
I reserve the right to replace items that fall apart. My favorite black scoop neck t-shirt is getting pinholes at the hemline. And it will survive a few more weeks, but after that I am not so sure. I also reserve the right to replace items that get stained or otherwise unwearable due to my own clumsiness.
My other caveat? If I finish knitting a sweater I can add it to my wardrobe without taking something out. I can't imagine I will be able to finish more than two sweaters in three months. But if I am knitting myself a garment, dammit, I am going to wear it!
I may have to make strategic changes to my choices. I always forget how cold I get in Michigan in winter. But as I downsize myself, I hope that I can bring back in my favorite clothing, rather than gather more uninspired pieces.
Project 333 starts on Friday. I guess I will enjoy my sandals until then!
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