Piles or Nesting. What I take with me to feel comfortable.

Pens, pencils, paper, note pads, yarn, needles, stitch markers, lip balm, fans. Yes, it all goes in the bag!

Before I get into my topic for today I want to remind you that Open Knit Design Camp is starting June 10. Registration is here. If you are outside North America you can purchase on PayHip, but there is only one option, $60, so if you need to do something different, please email me and I’ll give you a coupon.

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I snapped this photo because I thought it was funny the way things had lined themselves up. The first third and last balls were for making i-cord. The second ball is connected to the half-size pullover I’m knitting. The handwritten notes are calculations. The other paper is articles I was reading. The two boxes are my stitch markers: non-ring and ring.

Will I Need It?

I always vow that I’ll take less, and I actually do take less than I used to, but I am always a little bit frantic just before I leave trying to decide if I will need / should take things with me. My default is to throw it in

Clothes

I don’t really have this problem with clothes anymore, although I did stuff a sleeveless dress in in case I wanted it in Napa. Clearly I will not wear it now that we are in San Francisco. For clothes I choose things I can mix and match so I don’t have to always wear the same thing, but it isn’t where the problem arises. Okay, I could have totally done without the pumps, although I may still wear them.

Paper & Knitting

Where I get into trouble is with paper and knitting. Paper in the form of work I will do, things I will consider, and how I will record my ideas. Seriously, I need a few sheets of paper, some pens and pencils, and nothing more. But I always get nervous about what I will feel like doing. I don’t like always having to read from my screen, so I like hard copies. But they weigh a lot.

Less weighty is yarn. But seriously, how much do I knit while I’m gone? I mostly don’t have my two hours in the evening and I’m not much of a daytime knitter. Still, I brought two extra skeins to wind, and some yarn for projects I “might work on”. Also, a dozen pairs of needles.

I also brought two craft projects I should work on, but so far I have not done anything more than think about them.

Recreating My Nests

At home I like having things around me. Different colors of pens, two types of pencils, erasers, scratch paper, notebooks. Piles of projects and their associated documents. Of course there is yarn, tools, etc.

When I’m knitting I have at least my current project, two boxes of stitch markers, my fan, and lip balm at hand. Also nearby I have pens and pencils, nail file, tape measures, projects waiting for attention, scissors.

Clearly this is what I need to work. The feeling of having my stuff around me. If I can array my stuff I am more likely to use it, so maybe now that we are in San Francisco I will get to some of it.

Nest-Clearing Experiments

I find my clutter visually disruptive, so I have been working on putting my knitting stuff away every morning so it isn’t staring at me every time I walk by the couch.

Likewise, I’ve been picking up the stuff I put on the floor while I’m working, and sorting out the pile of paper accumulated during the work day on my desk. That means gathering the scratch paper and putting it in its holding area, getting rid of pages I no longer need, making sure I am working from a current version, and that I can find my notebook to write my lists in. That seems like enough for now. I don’t think I will ever have an uncluttered desk. Not sure I could work if I did.