Thursday, July 05, 2007

Re-Purposing
I know there has not been very many pictures of what I have knit lately. I swear, I really have been knitting. I knit every day even if it's only a few rows. Some days just go like that. I am juggling three jobs and now have added one more to the mix. July 30th I will begin to start teaching on a trial basis at a local culinary school. I applied for this job months ago not expecting to teach until mid year next year. Well, guess what?? It will not be that long. So I now have 20 lesson plans to start on and will teach three days a week for a while. We shall see how this goes. If the school likes what I do, then I get to teach more. If they don't think I can cut the mustard or I am not comfortable, then I am back down to three jobs. Whew! Any way...I have been knitting.

I have also been building (well hubby did most of it, but I did help) a new place to store my knitting items downstairs. I love a two story house but I hate going up and down the stairs when I am in a hurry for something. So we took something that wasn't being used and changed it's purpose.

Here is a bare bones wine storage rack from Ikea we have had sitting in the sun room for months on end doing nothing. So I decided since hubby has re-purposed two other items for me, he could do this one too. So with an second investment of $50 I got a great place to store my downstairs knitting supplies. I love simple rustic looking items and this one fit the bill perfectly.



Here is the same wine rack with bead board on the back and the two sides. The shelves that would have stored wine were turned upside down to have a now flat surface to store things on.

Here is the completed project all painted and filled up. To give you some idea about how much more space I have; those two baskets on the bottom were purchased at the Maryland Sheep & Wool show in '06 and '07. They are large baskets. One is filled with spinning hardware and the other with roving.

Here is a more close up picture of the top shelf. I took some old plastic shoe holders that I bought from Target ages ago and re-purposed them too. They have drawers and are stackable. So one drawer has straight needles, one has dpns and Circulars. The other drawers are filled with sockyarns, and other do dads.


This picture is the second shelf and it holds one basket with some small roving and the other has spun yarn in balls. I have some larger bags of roving on that shelf too. My swift is folded up and laying across the top of everything.
The last two shelves are for books and of course more roving. The next one down are those great baskets you can buy at MS & Wool for $40.
There is one more shelf down below the basket shelf, but it's not as tall as I am going to have to find some smaller containers with lids. I would love to lay my swift on the bottom but I have small dogs who like to lift their legs on new things. So I would rather wipe of a plastic storage container than to have my swift smell like...well you know.

So I have been knitting and today I went to knit with the Thursday knitting group. I will post more pictures of what I have been doing soon.

8 comments:

Linda said...

What a great idea! You are very clever.

vlb5757 said...

Well, I am not so sure how clever I am, but I was sick of all the clutter in my livingroom. I still have a huge basket in a corner but it won't fit on the shelf so it has to stay there for a while until I can find some place else for it. I just wanted to find things when I needed them. I am beginning to get a lot of stuff and more came in the mail yesterday!

Tracy Batchelder said...

Looks great! The bead board adds the perfect touch. I could use some of those plastic shoe organizers. I wonder if they still sell them or something similar?

vlb5757 said...

I know that I got them at Target but am not sure how long ago I got them. I think it's been over three or four years ago. I got an over the door shoe holder for the walk-in closet and decided not to use those holders. I love the fact that they are drawers. They stack nicely. I love the fact they are see through too. With all my stuff crammed into a large dark basket, I had no idea where anything was. This is much better. Wonder how long it will take me to out grow this idea?? lol!

kemtee said...

Well done with the organization. It feels good to have it all together, doesn't it?

Best wishes on your new job opportunity!

vlb5757 said...

Thanks and yes it does! I just hate having stuff spread all over the house. I am a nut about things being at least semi-organized.

The job is coming together and hopefully it will enable me to quit another one! Job juggling is not fun!!

Tina T-P said...

Good for you - using up something and making it purposful -

So, is the idea of teaching so you can get rid of one of the other three jobs that you have? What will your classes be about? Inquiring minds want to know :-)

I'm so glad you liked that color wheel and the knitted sampler! I really did post it with you and Leigh in mind.

Did you see my strawberry ruhbarb pie a few posts back - that crumb crust that I got off of Land'o Lakes web site is so good and so easy -

Have a good week. T.

vlb5757 said...

Tina-I was just blown away with the Shetland color wheel and the other piece. I can't believe how long it must have taken to do each one.

I will be teaching a Nutrition class to start with. If I don't screw that up too badly, then they will let me teach what I applied for; ServSafe.

Yes, I did see that pie and I was dying for a piece of it. I love my husband's grandmother's recipe for Srawberry Rubarb pie. The very first time I went to meet her she made one. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.