A My Size Cardigan

Because I enjoy public speaking, am gregarious, outgoing, upbeat, mostly positive - who is completely positive? - and enjoy people, it's a surprise to many that I'm actually quite introverted. I recently read about a scale for introversion versus extroversion that measures whether you are introverted, introverted and social, extroverted, or extroverted and anti-social although I find that last one hard to comprehend. I'm introverted and social. I've always loved getting out, talking to people, finding out about their lives, exploring new ideas and concepts, and then going back to the re-energizing space of my studio, a space I've had in one form or another for over thirty years.

Claire R wrote - Your wish to be in your space w/out observers is widespread. In France, real estate ads even include that info. They describe an apartment as "sans vis a vis" or, roughly, "no one can see inside.". You are a woman who needs a "sans vis a vis" studio space!

Exactly and I like the idea of a French overtone. Perhaps it'll make me more chic - LOL! I took this picture from the sidewalk in front of our unit. With the sun shining in like this, anyone walking by can clearly read the writing on the box which was five feet back from the window. That's too much on display for me. I'd rather see and not be seen. I researched the window film that Gwen suggested and will get a quote on the top down blinds that Xtine Hutch suggested. Both are worth exploring.

Lorna wrote - I'm just wondering if your unhappiness in your sewing space is due to the hard year you have had. And perhaps you are looking for a spot that makes you feel happy and good and that just needs to come from inside.

I so agree that happiness is an inside out thing - a choice - and even so there are times when what's happening in our lives is harder to deal with than we'd like. This has been a year of back to back stuff -  mostly nothing major - just steady - and it's quite possible that an accumulation of little things is more wearying than major events. If I were to guess, I would say it's more the other way around, that the year has been more difficult because the studio hasn't been its usual energizing space. I'm working on that.

Corinne thanks for keeping me tweaking company ! ! ! It's nice to know I'm not alone.

At the Design Outside The Lines workshop, Diane passed around a box of cards telling us to choose one without looking and trust that we had the right card. This weekend I have focused on what I can do with what I have and have trusted that neat ideas will appear.

What is, is. The studio space that I am currently in is the best choice in this house at this time. There's no way that I could work in the middle of the family room as Lorna does nor would my family want me to. It's not just me. We are a family of introverts and each of us values our personal space however, that said, one of the fabulous benefits of the curl-up chair was that my family and friends would often sit, chat, read, or be quietly together. That's why I'd prefer the chair was in the studio Angela.

If you didn't read my Friday edit this might not make sense BUT... working the other way around, I superimposed the layouts from Friday over the current studio space and looked for ways to add the chair. If I move the desktop downstairs and take the doors off the closet, I could put the chair in that space. It would mean going downstairs when I wanted two monitors - like reading blogs - and using a laptop in the studio - for writing blog entries - and that is - I think - a doable adjustment. The chair would be mostly recessed and I'm not sure about that but it might work so we're going to set up a practice chair to see before we get a new one, a good idea.

This weekend, I cleaned every box, basket, drawer, and cupboard in the studio plus both closets, something I do twice a year. It reconnects me with the stash. I have literally touched every piece of fabric, every skein of yarn, every book, and every pattern I own and that has a wonderful way of getting my mind focused on the possibilities. LOVE IT! The spare sewing machine is now out of its box and stored in the work counter. Out of town friends will enjoy not having to pack their sewing machines anymore and I don't need to worry about mine spending a week in the shop again. YES YES!

I bought some decorative storage boxes for over the upper cupboards to put the yarn stash in. There's still a bit more yarn inside the cupboard since I could only find four boxes that I liked the design and size of. I'll watch for one or two more that go with.

My studio is organized around designated spaces. I allow so much room for books, for yarn, for fabric, for thread and so on and when that designated amount is full, I cannot have more of that item until space is freed up. That means no more yarn - not until I knit some of what I have - HOWEVER... more fabric will fit. By using boxes to divide up the closet space, everything is neater, condensed, less likely to become disorganized when I pull a piece out, and there's room for more - a whole box, the top portion of several boxes, and that green patch which is almost another whole box worth of more. YEAH!

As part of the process, I sorted through the bits and pieces of potential box and the zero waste scraps. It's always nice to get some distance from these things and perhaps a more realistic impression of which scraps are worth saving and which pieces actually have potential. And sometimes you've outgrown the potential that was there. The box on the floor bottom right is the zero waste scraps and the two at left are of possible refashions. That's lots to work with. The two boxes under the fabric are old photos and art supplies that aren't needed frequently.

This is a picture of my camera which required another camera to take. It went missing two weeks ago and since I had until today to return the new one - in the saga of things going weirdly - I expected the old one to show up this afternoon. Thankfully, it was found last Tuesday but talk about weird. My camera is only ever on my desk, by my sewing machine, on the work counter, or in its red case in my purse. I found it in the bottom of a basket of yarn. I'd been praying about where could it be and was prompted to check that basket after remembering looking through it and wondering if I'd scooped the camera up with the yarn when I put it back. Apparently that's exactly what I did. It's nice to have it back.

The turquoise t-shirt is in the zero waste scraps box for now. It's not really a scrap or a zero waste project but it's something with a mostly negative overtone that I'll leave for later. What's needed now is an engaging project. When I thought about all the possibilities my hands had touched, this was the project that stood. It's a navy blue, grey, and green cotton pullover sweater in a man's extra-large that may be as old as the last color block trend and is about to become a my size cardigan.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - finding the camera