In Which She Tidied the Basement...

I started this post with 'Cleaned', but even 'tidied' is too strong a word. However, blogging that you made a bit of progress on the basement may put your life in a pretty dreary category. But not in a basement as fine as my own.

I live in a house that is about 840 square feet - rather small by US standards of the 21st Century, but perfectly adequate if...
1. You live alone or with someone that you like a lot
2. You are not a major packrat
3. You have a basement that nearly doubles the square footage of the house.

I qualify for all of the above. Plus the fact that it has both an indoor stairway and I can walk out into the backyard and it has windows along one side make it a particularly nice basement. People live in worse places that this - even in my neighborhood! One side is utility: Clothes washing area, furnace, overflow pantry, root cellar -that sort of thing. When I remodel the kitchen, I'll move the stove down there to dye on, along with the old kitchen cabinets.

The other side is SmokyMountainFibers warehouse and processing area. That's where I keep fleece, roving and dyed fiber, dye in the crockpot, pick and card fiber and store tools and supplies of all kinds. It is furnished with shelving units, random tables and cast-off desks, a boombox and all matter of boxes that is my semi-organized workspace. But it gets a bit cluttered and I can't find the things that I need. Every now and then I bite the bullet and break down boxes, pack up the things that go to the charity shop, throw away useless things that I do not seem to need and have to reason to keep another day. I always find a few feet of space by doing these things and it makes me feel better as I de-clutter and destash.

The last few years I have de-stashed via Etsy and SpinSales and sent fiber to new homes, getting rid of tail ends of fleeces, roving I have not used, yarns I do not seem to want to knit. This year the tradition continues as I post a lovely Icelandic fleece that I just will not get to; some llama I do not love, cone yarns that have been around too darn long, superwash roving that I do not like to spin. Someone will appreciate these things much more than I.

I worked with Sally at the Locally Grown Gallery this weekend to 'winterize' the shop - creating more work surface and storage to keep her (and all of us) productive during the slow times. That little gallery has continued to surprise me - I hope the economic downturn isn't too tough on that business. Sally is an excellent sales person as well as a gifted artist and fine friend and deserves success in this endeavor.

Other weekend good stuff: Bristol dance was fun - great band, lots of enthusiasm.
I baked a ham! yum! Served it with sweet potatoes, collards and white beans.
BronzeBerry socks are about 1/2 done - yeah!