Always in the Last Place you Look

Today I made progress on the crafts materials because I wanted to locate some specific yarn that I want to use to make something for a 2-year-old of my acquaintance. In the tradition of procrastinators everywhere, I first went to a Michael's store to see if they had the yarn. (I knew I had some in my closet, but looking for it felt shockingly similar to actual work.) Unfortunately, the store did not come through with the yarn I wanted and I was forced to look through my stash.

And I did find it. Here:

The yarn I wanted was in those two clear bins with blue lids in the farthest corner of the walk-in closet. Just to give you a little more perspective, here's the view from the door of the walk-in closet:

And to really round out the picture ... here's what came out of the closet so that I could locate those two bins way at the back of the walk-in:

And another view, because once is never enough:

People like me should not be allowed to have walk-in closets. I have heard some people say that they like them because they can, you know, walk into them. But as far as I can see, the only excuse for a walk-in closet is that you can throw stuff in and shut the door. Trust me on this. This is not my first walk-in closet.

Why do they never teach the really important things in school, like Quesenberry's Law, which states: STUFF expands to fit the space available. And then some.

While searching for the yarn I wanted, I opened up all those plastic bins that were still in the bedroom and took a look at the contents. Before I started this process, I thought I would have 2 or 3 broad categories to sort the crafts materials into -- fabric and quilting stuff, yarn and knitting/crocheting stuff, general crafts stuff. As I looked through the bins, it quickly became obvious that I didn't have enough categories. There was also needlepoint stuff, stuff made for the kids when they were babies and which we want to keep even though these things will never be used again, t-shirts that kids don't want to part with even though they won't ever wear them again, and stuff that was not crafts-related at all. I sorted the bins:

 

But I have the feeling that I will have to start all over again tomorrow because at this point I have no idea what is in which bin and why each bin is in the particular pile it is in.

The upshot of all this emptying of the walk-in closet and sorting of bins is that the area by the bookshelves, where we want to bring back our chairs so that we can actually sit down, now looks like this:

 

Okay, it's not perfect. Did you really think it would be? But those four boxes on the floor are all that is left of the enormous pile that I started with. Remember that? I do, but just in case, take a look:

 

If that's not progress, I don't know what is.

We will, of course, ignore for the time being the pillows and blankets and duffle bags and other odds and ends that are currently strewn around the other side of the bedroom.