Ah! Hoarders!

Because obsession is a real thing with me, I've always been mindful of the results of my impulses. Like most crafters, it's often necessary for me to buy more than I need. Not because there's a deal I can't pass up, but because I can't often find just one or two of things like key rings or grommets, etc. Things come in packs of 50 or 100, if only because it's too cost heavy to manufacture or package in smaller quantities.

Luckily and unluckily, my adoration and fears for the show Hoarders is both reassuring and worrisome. However, I don't like unsanitary conditions. I CAN walk through my living space. I AM fond of giving things away to reduce clutter and let someone else enjoy it more. My stuff isn't floor to ceiling and it's not absolute trash like old paper and receipts and so on. 

However, I do live in clutter. I collect more than I have space for and I'm constantly in a state of trying to reduce what I can without giving away something I'll need to buy again. Crafting is simply a cluttering hobby and profession. Regardless, I am mindful of just how much, how easily it can be cloying rather than inspire creativity.

I don't mean that I have too many projects. I do get around to them fairly quickly and the projects that hang longer than a year tend to be digital clutter rather than physical. Books, stories, drawings--those are the things I tend to let hang rather than crafts. The reason being that I do leave the craft bits sitting out accessibly and they could get out of hand if I'm simply shoving a pile of it around or *gasp* digging through it.

I have this aversion to stacking anything too deep. I pile large things together in shallow spaces like storage boxes and smaller things go in clear trays. I like even what is not being immediately used to still be easily accessible. Organizing is what I consider an acceptable obsession to give blessing to the scatterbrained force of creative obsessions.

So while I may not have the best place for excess to go, I make efforts to turn those into immediate projects to give away and reduce space. If I bought a color of yarn just because it was pretty, then I enjoy making something out of it... To then give away. I have a large amount of 'keep' items already and even those I debate giving away. I go through my room often, seasonally at least, and decide whether something is really important to me to have. Or whether I just snap a picture of it and let it go.

Digital clutter, record of my creations, are far more satisfying than being lost amidst the physical. So while I accept that it would be possible to become a serious hoarder, I am at least satisfied that I am mindful and kept busy by a stronger tendency to let go and spread the joy. Everything I make has a home, even if it isn't MY home it remains in. That's part of the joy of being an artist, an author, a crafter. Hoarding my talents does me no good so I don't. I give things proper value, to sell or gift, and am content to let them go.

Which is how I intend to spend part of this weekend. I bought this beautiful blue yarn that needs a project and a home. Time to enjoy the planning of that!