Friday, December 29, 2017

Maine socks and stash organization

Welcome to finish it up Friday!
This week I managed to finish another pair of socks! I bought this yarn in August when my husband and I went to Maine to celebrate our 20th anniversary. As much as I LOVE colorful socks, this black and white self-striping yarn caught my eye because it's so practical. These socks will match 90% of my closet. :) I'm pretty pleased with how well those stripes lines up. Not exactly perfect, but pretty darn close. Hurray!
 
This is my 23rd pair of hand knit socks that I've made to date. You can find the free pattern here.
 
The other BIG project this week was to organize my stash. It was in quite a state of disarray, so I spent quite a bit of time folding, organizing and rearranging. It felt AMAZING to get this all in order.
I've used the same folding technique for my stash for years and I can't recommend it enough. (See this post.) If the fabric is not large enough to wrap around a 6" ruler, it goes into the scrap bin. Having a consistent folding technique helps maintain the organization long term.
Lest you think that everything is perfectly perfect over here, this is was hanging out just out of the frame of the previous photo. (See? I AM a normal quilter and a real person. Hahahaha!)
I shuffled the piles a little farther out so I could get a decent picture of the whole corner. I have a bunch of scraps that I need to get in order next, but one step at a time....right? It feels good to have the stash neat and tidy, at least.
 
Ok, that's it for me today! Now it's your turn to link up your finishes. Thanks, as always for joining me for finish it up Friday!
 
 

32 comments:

Mari said...

Cute socks! Thanks for hosting this linkup this year! Happy 2018!

karen said...

When it's that neat, can you really call it stash? There must be a better word for it.

Leanne Parsons said...

Love the socks! Thanks for hosting again this year :)

grammajudyb said...

I love the socks! And the organization inspiration! I love this event! Happy 2018!

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

Great socks! Your studio is beautiful. Every quilter's dream.

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

Beautiful stash, and thanks for the honesty and peak at the scraps!

Alison V. said...

I love and use your 6" ruler trick to fold fabric! It might be just about time to refold part of my own stash! I love the "honest" craft room pictures! Mine currently looks like a bomb went off in it. :)

beth s said...

Love that neat looking room! You're an inspiration.

Kelly Cline said...

Nice socks and beautiful corner stash!!!

Miss Alissa said...

Thanks for hosting Finish It Up Fridays...I really enjoy seeing what everyone is working on and having somewhere to share my own finishes!
I just ordered yarn to try my hand at knitting socks! We'll see how it goes, I think I'll try that free patter :)

em's scrapbag said...

Love your socks! Your organization is inspiring.

Dione Gardner-Stephen said...

Fabulous socks. Your studio space is wonderful - mine is currently absolute chaos. All the best fo a productive and very happy 2018!

Clair said...

23 pairs of socks! If I don't step it up, some day you will have made more socks than I have made quilts.

SarahZ said...

A freshly organized stash looks like a super way to begin a new year! My eye was drawn to your wee orange chair on the shelf...and I had to laugh as I found a "real" one just like it on craigslist several years ago...but alas,the menfolk wouldn't let me bring it home, lol! Happy New Year!!!

DeeDee said...

Oh my! All that organization makes my heart beat a little faster with joy. I love to organize. And nicely done on your socks! It's hard to make stripes match like that. I usually don't try. You did really well.

Christine S said...

Thank you for hosting! I love seeing all your fabrics on those shelves, they are so pretty!!

Tracie said...

I love your socks!

Kathleen said...

Lovely socks - where in Maine were you? Right now I am on Peaks Island, ME - a 15 minute ferry trip from Portland. Much colder here than I like, but I plan to nest - mostly sewing and eating. We are having frigid weather and get something called sea smoke, like fog but off the water rather than in the air. We splurged and went to Bermuda for our anniversary (25). So good to go and celebrate these moments. Glad you have socks to bring you back here!

Judy Biggerstaff said...

Wow, I am so impressed with your fabulous fabric folding. Your organization is great!!

Loni said...

Can I ask where you got your shelves? - IKEA? Your room looks yummy!

Cindy P. said...

I was curious like Loni, where did you get your shelves? Great looking room and socks!

tahoe34 said...

Do you know the color of yarn? and make? I just love it! I would appreciate it if you could let me know.

FlourishingPalms said...

It's such a treat to see other quilters' sewing rooms! It never grows old seeing how fabrics are arranged (or not), and sewing machines are set up. Even your "real" sewing room picture is just TOO neat! I'm curious though... about all those gray bins on the floor: do they stay on the floor? Or do you have shelves onto which you store them? I have an eight-shelf cabinet that holds eight canvas bins (mine are aqua), and they're mostly full of scraps organized by color. Might be nice to have more of them, but where to put them? Floor space is at a premium, so I'd love to have a shelf running along the ceiling, all around my sewing room. Oh, the things I could fill it with!

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Now that you've had some practice, you can come over and organize my space! Everything looks amazingly neat and tidy, and easy to access.

Katherine said...

Nothing a sweet as a new pair of handknit socks or a freshly organized stash! Both make me happy! Loving how you keep it real, too - it really is one step at a time, isn't it? Happy weekend, sweet friend!

Mary Marcotte said...

Hahaha, you are normal and real! You had us fooled this whole time, thinking you were, I don't know, a robot or Jedi or something cool like that.

I do like that you have a "rule" about whether something is part of your stash or goes in the scrap bin. Just today I found a half yard piece of blue in the brown stash bin--that explains why it was full. Truly elves or gnomes or maybe fairies come in at night and make a mess. Surely I'm not doing this all on my own. And yes, fabric has babies--those scrap babies! Somehow they grow into yardage. Really we should ask a reproduction expert to figure this out.
Happy New Year!

Pam said...

Love your socks, your stash, your organization!

tink's mom said...

Great socks. If you hadn't mentioned that they were not a 100% match up I would never have picked up it. That is such fun yarn to work with. Have a Happy and Healthy 2018. looking forward to your upcoming posts.

Jill said...

Your reorganized sewing room is inspiring. It must be a pleasure to walk into and sew. A great way to start the new year.

Imigati said...

Wow.. now this is looking very good! ;) I love handicraft and I too must clean up my wardrobe.

Linda said...



What a pretty room--just great...and love, love those socks...yes please---where did you get those great shelves???????????????

Live a Colorful Life said...

We need to facetime so I can figure out how to do the heel portion of my socks. And your sewing room looks awesome. :)