I had a day at home today, except for dance rehearsal for 2 hours this evening. I had thought I’d dye yarn. However, the house is so overstuffed that I spent almost the whole day cleaning and putting away, reorganizing, and throwing things when possible.

Yesterday almost the whole day was spent with a new set of shelves Brian bought me and assembled while I was in Indianapolis. I had so many boxes of yarn on the floor that getting around the living room was getting impossible. Now I’ve emptied the equivalent of 5 boxes of yarn into the shelves. Impossible, it seems.

Actually, some of that is teaching stuff… a box with extra-thick yarn for Basketweave Rug classes, a bunch of stranded knitting samples for mitten/turkish sock classes, lots of samples knit from patterns I’ve written.

And some of the stuff is partly-knit projects… the super-fat Aspen yarn sweater with most of a back knit, My almost-finished Olympic asymmetrical vest from Purl Stitch/Melville, a handful of socks here and there, a purse I started to knit and discarded for a better idea in different yarn. Even two “grass skirts” abandoned more than halfway knit. And more yarn for samples yet to be knit. This yarn is really a supply of color for my work, like paint for an artist who makes images on canvas.

But those shelves are bursting, my friends. It’s scary.

So now Brian and I can tell I did something in the house, but nobody else would have a clue. I feel like I threw away a day today… except indeed I can function better when there is less stuff in the house and the stuff that is left is in some sort of order.

I resist housework, I think many creative people do. I understand that all humans have maintenance tasks that must be done… because I’m human I must clean myself and my environment regularly. That does not mean I have quite reached the zen thing where doing it is in the moment as a meditation. I can’t think anything about washing dishes other than wishing I was doing something else… but today I washed a lot of things and I survived.

The good stuff? I finally opened up the last box of Ethiopian tea I brought back from my trip and am thoroughly enjoying that. I ran out of plain “straight up” black tea which is my staple comfort food. I had to open that box of tea or go without, and my addiction to strong black tea overcame my resistance to losing this precious cargo. I have such strong hoarding instincts! This time I finally did the right thing, and I’m doing my best to really savor this lovely brew while I have it.

I also sat in the hammock today for the first time. This is sort of sad, since we’ve had a good number of beautiful days this year. I just get going with work and two rooms away I could be in the hammock, at least to answer phone calls or read or knit sample items. In any case, today was the magic day. I had to fill out some lengthy forms by hand, so I hung up the hammock, reclined a bit with the papers, a pen, a cup of tea and a pillow, and finished the forms. Could have been much worse!

Another good thing? Yesterday I rode my bicycle for the first time this year. In fact, I did not ride it at all last year. I did not feel well and it took me until December to figure out that it was a wheat allergy making me ache.

This year I feel so much better! I’m dancing harder than I have in a long time, and I really enjoyed the bike. Brian fixed it up for me, pumped up the tires and oiled the chain, even raised the seat when I said it was too low. It’s a bit dusty still, but it rides great and I love it very much.

I’d hoped to ride the bike to Foster Center for dance rehearsal tonight, but my appointment for 4:30 (at the house) finally showed up at 6pm (rehearsal is 6:30 and it takes 35 minutes to ride the Riverwalk to Foster Center). Another day, I guess.

Photos (all recycled from past years’ posts): 1) My old Schwinn 5-speed bike. 2) My Hammock I got in Yucatan Mexico in 1997, now on my purple-floored porch. 3) The River Trail (known as Riverwalk) in Lansing. This is the branch going from Potter Park Zoo to Downtown. I took this photo on a “Be a Tourist in Your Own Town” day if I remember right.