Not knitting busy times at the moment, but finally getting around to stuff I couldn't think of doing with the kids in the house. Like cleaning out my closet and swapping summer for winter clothes. Oh, man, does that require patience and fortitude (and now I should go visit the lions at the New York Public Library, except it's UN General Assembly week, and there is no way I'm going anywhere near Midtown).
The seasonal swap isn't the big deal, it was finally going through and trying on *everything* in my closet and being honest about what fit and what I'd ever wear again. Over the years since moving to New York, I have been paring down my wardrobe. As you can see below, I now have a few pairs of jeans, a newly edited collection of white, grey, and blue t-shirts (a few pink ones thrown in there, too), a variety and blue-and-white striped shirts, and a lot of sweaters (including some unpublished designs I need to get cracking on).
My half of the closet is on the left. Nick's shirts may creep over into my territory, but the shelf above is being taken over by wool!
There was a time when I really liked shopping and having a wide variety of things to wear, but as I've gotten older, I've gone back in some ways to my childhood, wearing a uniform to school every day (viz. striped sailor shirts). For the most part it works for me, though every once in a while I have the urge to dress like a "grown-up", but then I remember that I would want to wear cute shoes, and they would shred my poor, big feet on the 3/4-mile walk to pick up the kids.
Don't even get me started on shoes! Post babies my feet grew, so what you don't see in the photo above are some super-cute shoes that went in the giveaway bag (silver-crackle leather sky high Mary Janes, leopard calf-hair kitten heels, little clicky-clacky heels I will never wear). Sigh. There are sneakers and ballet flats and a pair of crazy glitter heels that may come out at the holidays, as long as I don't have to walk anywhere in them. Not terribly exciting, but better than being hobbled.
All this closet work has been freeing. It's nice to have things a bit less cluttered in there. And, of course, now there is room for more sweaters! I think I can get away with adding four more (one for each stack) before we have to start worrying about structural stability.
What about you? Do you prefer Fall cleaning, wardrobe-wise, to Spring? This Spring seemed to be chilly for a long time, so it took a while to get out the linen. But so far this Fall is awesome, and the 10-day forecast calls for more of the same. Cool enough to wear sweaters, if you want, but not so cold that you have to wear socks (guess that's where my sock knitting antipathy comes from - I try not to wear socks from May through October). I'm off to seek some inspiration for my next design project. Until then...
Happy knitting!
xoxo, Kathleen