The Weekend of Defragging, De-cluttering, Revamping and Recycling

The Easter weekend was a welcome oasis of family togetherness... mostly because the smallest member of the family had a tummy bug and we were confined to the house, but I'm embracing positives here. 

Instead of visiting extended family on Sunday, I used the time to work a lot on the dress instructions, and in between, I indulged in a bit of zen....

The knitting machine was brought into the loungeroom and the knitting of long rectangles served as a defragging utility for my overstuffed and unsorted brain. 

Two strands of super-fine cotton (or possibly rayon..?) yarn (origin unknown... possibly ex Fibre Red..?) knitted up into the scrunchiest, rolliest rectangle... which wasn't the (flatter, wider) plan, but I'm looking forward to making it into something wonderful.

 A single ball of Bendigo Highlands yarn, knitted on every second needle, made a lovely little shrug (basically a scarf with a few inches sewn together at the back).

By Monday, the girleen was more herself and was able to get knitting.  She was like my own little knitting machine motor... I just did the cast-on,cast-off and supervising.  We both moved the weights and she had the hang of when the weights needed to be moved by the time we were halfway through.

 We made this from a mystery-ball from Auntie Wilma's yarn stash.  It's very soft (possibly has a bit of angora or cashmere....?) and was an absolute dream to wear on a very chilly Tuesday.

Again, It's just a long scarf shape, wrapped and joined at the back.

 And then I thought seriously about how many clothes I need....

A little idea to crochet a rag rug with a few old cotton-lycra tops has since become a bit of an obsession.

 Anything that isn't absolutely loved or absolutely new is being gobbled up into this wonky, unevenly-cut and randomly hooked beastie. 

I. AM. DECUTTERING. MY. WARDROBE.

Who'd a thunk it...?

And yes.. I'm a little embarrassed that I had so many cotton-lycra tops to spare....

We're all loving it.  Even the man of the house has seen the potential for a LARGE rug, and is bemoaning the fact that he threw out all his old t-shirts last week.

And we can't keep the wee girl off it. It's so dig-your-toes-in textural and squidgey. 

(I must have a word to her about yellow nail polish on toes looking like a fungal infection...)

So I'm feeling a bit good about all things wardrobey at the moment, and my thoughts have had time to fall into place in the process.

I'm also feeling a bit excited about the motherload of knit fabrics I bought a little while ago, the new book I have, and the fact that my weekend at Sewjourn is only a month away....