Peace of Mind Organizing

Lace knitting: Not unlike organizing

31 July 2008

Last night, as I worked on the Estonian Garden Wrap, a seemingly complicated and sort of overwhelming (for this novice lace knitter) knitting pattern, I realized that broken down to its simplest elements, it’s really pretty easy. And that’s not unlike any overwhelming project, like getting organized. Let me explain.

First, take a look at this picture of the Estonian Garden Wrap. It’s pretty, isn’t it? But to me, it’s sort of daunting to consider knitting.

See the middle part—the main body of the shawl that’s comprised of the small lace pattern? That’s the part I’m working on now (the pattern has you knit the center part first, then add the ends). That lace pattern takes eight rows to create. That eight-row section is called a pattern. There are 41 patterns in the center section of the shawl.

Each individual row of the project is 103 stitches. Seven of those stitches are the border stitches on either end. That leaves 96 stitches for the rest of the row. And those 96 stitches are divided into twelve eight-stitch sections. (Each one makes that little lace pattern). Each eight-stitch section is called a pattern repeat.

I’ve used stitch markers (actually little hair rubber bands) to separate each eight-stitch pattern repeat. Each of the pattern repeats in a row is identical. So basically this big lace shawl boils down to knitting one eight-stitch pattern repeat at a time.

I do one pattern repeat after the other and soon the row is finished. I purl the whole next row (except the border stitches) and then start the next row, another dozen eight-row sections, which have a slightly different stitch pattern. I do that twice more and the pattern is finished. I do that 40 more times and the vast majority of the shawl is finished. Then I start a whole new pattern for the ends.

The cool thing is that, for this main section of the shawl, the eight-stitch pattern repeat is very easy. It includes a couple of types of decreases and a couple of yarn overs and that’s it. I have to pay attention to make sure I’m doing everything in the right order, but it’s not tough at all.

How is this like organizing?

When I’m faced with a really large organizing/decluttering project (my own or a client’s), it can feel really overwhelming to think about even where to start. But if the project is divided into individual tasks and we focus on one of those tasks at a time, the job eventually gets done. It can be important to do the tasks in the right order (though not always). But if I do each task one at a time and just keep going—taking breaks, as in knitting, for physical and mental health—the job unfolds and eventually is completed.

Here’s another similarity. When you’re working on a project this large with so many individual components, it’s probably not necessary for each component to be executed absolutely perfectly. Any imperfections are lost in in the scope of the overall project.

It’s like that old saying, How do you eat an elephant? “One bite at a time.” Only now I think of it as, “How do you knit a lace wrap?” “One pattern repeat at a time” Even if I only do one row in a sitting (and I’ll doubtless do at least two rows in a sitting, since the second row is simple purling), the lace will eventually be knitted.

Today I really want to tackle a little home organizing project I’ve been neglecting: going through my bathroom closet to weed out the bins of potions and lotions and first aid supplies that have proliferated there (and been very messy about it). I have five largish bins of stuff that at one time were nicely organized and labeled. It’s been bugging me, but I haven’t taken the time to deal with it. Now I’m going to take the lace-shawl approach: I’ll take one bin and empty, sort, and purge it today. Repeat four more times and the job will be done!

Flylady: Blog of the Week

30 July 2008

This week’s Blog of the Week is an oldie but goodie. I first became aware of Flylady back in the late nineties, before I ever dreamt of becoming a professional organizer. Technically, it’s not a blog. (It predates blogs.) But it’s frequently updated and full of treasures.

Flylady, whose actual name is Marla Cilley, started her website as a way to help people get out from under clutter, establish routines, and create a (relatively) effortlessly clutter-free an clean home.

While her style is a little home-spun for my taste, it’s incredibly popular. One of the features of the flylady phenomenon is the opportunity sign up for emails from her reminding you to do things throughout the day. These many emails sometimes drive people away because of their frequency. But they’re not a required component of using Flylady’s systems.

Reading her website alone will give you lots of common-sense information. Over the years, I’ve internalized (and incorporated into my life) many of her basic tenets. And I find myself quoting her to my clients all the time.

To give you an idea of what her basic principles are, you can read my blog post from March 28, entitled: Things Flylady has taught me.

Olympic training

29 July 2008

In anticipation of finishing the lace squares from the Learn to Knit Afghan for the Ravelympics, I picked up a lace project that I’d abandoned a couple of years ago. It’s the Branching Out scarf, a lovely bit of lace that I knit out of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I decided that Branching Out would help me train for the Knitting Olympics (which start August 8), so that my fingers and mind would get accustomed to knitting lace.

With the support of the entire first season of Mad Men, I finished the scarf in just eight days. Here’s a picture. Isn’t it pretty? It was really fun to knit.

My first successful attempt at lace!

Incidentally, I used Knit Picks Options Harmony wood circular needle tips with this project, for the first time. I’d resisted them because I think they’re ugly, but they were really fantastic for this project, because they had a little bit of grippiness (is that a word?). Also, I’m now a huge believer in lifelines put in one every ten rows and it saved me from having to unravel more than ten rows at a time. The Knit Picks Options interchangeable needles make it very easy to insert lifelines.

I still have ten days to train in lace before getting started on my Olympic event, so I’m going to pick up another abandoned lace project, the Estonian Garden Wrap. I purchased the pattern and the yarn about six months ago at my local yarn shop Knitorious and managed to get about 20 rows done before giving up, once again, in frustration. Last night, I picked it up again and I’m happy to report it’s not as daunting as it was last year. I’m using Alpaca with a Twist Fino yarn, a lace-weight baby alpaca/silk blend, in Dutchess Blue. It’s heavenly.

Here’s the picture of the the Estonian Garden Wrap that came with the pattern.

I’m hopeful that when I finish, it will at least resemble that beautiful photograph!

I’m so thrilled to be revisiting lace. It’s such an interesting challenge and I think my knitting will become much more interesting once I’m completely comfortable with it.

A compilation of organizing principles

28 July 2008

Claire Josefine, an organizer in California and the author of The Spiritual Art of Being Organized, was interviewed on The Organizing Playground radio show recently. (The interview was aired on July 8—you can listen to it now by clicking here.) I really enjoyed listening to the interview, and it made me want to read her book.

In the book, Claire outlines 12 Basic Principles of Being Organized. I’d ordered the book (it hasn’t arrived yet), but I wanted to read what those principles are (they were mentioned on the radio program). So I made my way to Claire’s blog where I found this fabulous post in which she has compiled a list of 15 different organizers’ published principles (or steps) to getting organized.

As a professional organizer (and former professional writer), I found it interesting to see how pretty much the same information is being presented in different ways. It’s a great jumping-off point for more learning. Be sure to check out Claire’s 12 principles…they’re the second in the list.

Instant calm

25 July 2008

When I viewed this YouTube video of a man singing to a litter of Boxer puppies, who fall asleep one by one, I instantly felt calm and peace within. In case you’re not one of the 2 million people who have already viewed it, let me share it with you here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Best wishes for a wonderful summer weekend!

Janine

The uncluttered car

24 July 2008

I have to admit that my car usually looks pretty messy. That’s not surprising, since I’m a messy person, in general. But I did clean it out prior to my big trip to IKEA and it was very nice to have the clutter removed. Unfortunately, it’s encroaching again.

I was inspired today when I read the Unclutterer entry, Cleaning out your cluttered car and its comments.

You’d think I’d have been spurred into action by a comment a client once made—that her husband discouraged her from hiring a different organizer (one who worked for her neighbor) because that organizer’s car was cluttered. Gulp. I was thanking my lucky stars that the husband hadn’t seen my car.

What struck me about the comments made in the Unclutterer article is the notion that the my car is a place where I have total control. And it’s not large—it’s very manageable, in fact. (I drive a Honda Civic.) A tiny bit of effort to remove food wrappers, Google Map printouts, stray bits of paper, stubs from paid parking lots and my commuter mug on a regular basis will pay off in big dividends. And I’ll be able to apply that lesson to other aspects of my life.

When I first bought this car, I went to The Container Store and bought car-organizing gear. But I haven’t found that stuff to be terribly helpful. As Flylady says, “You can’t organize clutter.” I think the key to success will be getting a larger trash receptacle and putting it in a more accessible spot. I tend to toss stuff toward the little one I have and rarely hit it.

If I have the nerve, I’ll take some before-and-after pictures and post them. I’d also like to get my car detailed, but for the sake of economy I think I’ll settle for a good home vacuuming and cleaning of the dashboard. And I’ll try to build a routine of regular vacuuming and cleaning. I have a strong suspicion that keeping this up with help me feel more in control as I make my way around the world and give me peace of mind. And you know how into peace of mind I am!

Crazy Aunt Purl: Blog of the Week

23 July 2008

One of my favorite knitting blogs, Crazy Aunt Purl, justified its permanent status on the Links section of this organizing blog (where it’s been since Day One), with Monday’s post on clutter. And then she upped the ante with yesterday’s post on living with less.

Laurie Perry, the blog’s writer, started out knitting, and blogging about knitting, as a way to deal with her divorce. The blog has blossomed into a funny, insightful read—sometimes about knitting, sometimes about personal growth, weight loss and, yes, sometimes about clutter. Sometimes she just shows great pictures of her cats, with funny captions. The woman’s hilarious. What’s not to love?

The blog is so great that it spawned a book, Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced and Covered by Cat Hair: The True-Life Misadventures of a 30-Something Who Learned to Knit After He Split. I love this book and sent my copy to a friend after her husband walked out.

But there’s a reason that Crazy Aunt Purl is my Blog of the Week this week. Her post on Monday, entitled Cats Are Not Clutter, details her efforts to eliminate clutter, deal with overwhelm when it comes to getting organized, and pare down her possessions.

Just like losing weight requires burning more calories while consuming fewer, Purl shares that, for her, getting rid of her clutter (she downsized after her divorce from 2500 square feet to 800) meant not only parting with things but also purchasing less. In fact, she’s in the middle of a purchasing fast right now, which she blogged about yesterday.

She discusses how difficult it is to get rid of stuff just because you paid for it, and how she would throw good money after bad trying to make a bad purchase work.

This is inspirational stuff. And if you don’t believe me, read the entries’ comments.

I encourage you to go check out this blog. But don’t say I didn’t warn you: you’ll probably find Crazy Aunt Purl irresistible. Prepare yourself for some reading enjoyment.