Yarn, Yarn, Everywhere Yarn

One of the things I was fairly confident would be coming with me to Ecuador was my yarn.  No, not all of it, but a goodly portion of it. 

Last night a friend of mine came over, ostensibly just to be there with me, as company, while I organized my yarn.  I had been trying to get it into some kind of order for a couple of months and every time I thought I had a plan, it turned out not to be the best plan for me.  I finally decided that the best option was simply to separate it by color, with one bag for multi-colored ones. 

Of course that meant taking it from where it was and putting it into different ones.  Then there was the yarn that wasn't corralled anywhere that had to be put in its bag.  I know, it doesn't sound like much of a task but I have a lot of yarn and it had become an overwhelming job.

Enter my friend.  She came over last night and not only sat and talked with me while I organized yarn--she helped with parts of it.  She's an extremely organized person and did things I only think about doing "when I have time."  She put all the empty little plastic bags, neatly organized, into one large bag where I can easily see where everything is.

By the time she left, all my yarn was neatly tucked into bags.  If I weren't using Space Bags, it would have taken two of the plastic bins I'm using to accommodate all of it.  Oh my.  I knew I had a lot of yarn but I guess the amount snuck up on me.

Now I get to go through the bags yet again and decide what I'm taking with me and what gets shipped to my yarn person in Michigan.  Then the yarn that I won't be using in the next month gets popped into Space Bags and has all the air sucked out of it to see just how much will be able to go with me.  What is actually important to me and what is there just because it's yarn? 

These are such important questions that I feel that even if I weren't going to Ecuador, these would be important questions to ask and act upon in my lovely, big apartment.  As I begin to look at my belongings with new eyes, I see so many things I would eliminate from my apartment either because it's just taking up space or because I may like it but I don't love it. 

And the process continues.  Today, after I do my requisite hour of knitting on already-commissioned work and the dishes, I'm going to go into my middle room (almost a bedroom but not quite) and clean off a few shelves so I can put the kitchen things I'm not going to be taking with me.  I want to stop using them so I can learn what I really "need" down there before I sell it.  Fun day!  (OK, that was only a little sarcastic)