After an absolute age of gentle - and not so gentle - persuasion, I finally convinced Miss Missy that her room needed a serious tidy-up. Usually my suggestions were met with everything from tears to wails of "you're ruining my life!" But suddenly, the other day, she agreed. No, I didn't discover some marvelous parenting technique that brought her round to my point of view. Believe me, I'd share it with you if I had! No. It's thanks to a minor incursion of ants. Thankfully, there were only about five ants and they were quickly dealt with, but they did persuade my melodramatic preteen that tidying up would be a good idea. (Perhaps if I'd found this book, opens a new window earlier, I could have saved myself a whole lot of bother!!)
While we were in the midst of liberating the floor from the deluge of detritus, and ousting the un-loved Barbies from the prime real estate they were inhabiting, I found a too-small, unworn, Nana-knit jersey. Now, Nana (bless her heart) is an excellent knitter, but she does have a bit of a tendency to knit what she wants to knit, not what Miss Missy would actually want to wear. She also likes to make up her own patterns, with some - ahem - unusual results. The jersey presented me with one of those tidying dilemmas which have the potential to derail the entire process. Nana (bless her heart) had spent time and money on this jersey, and it seemed wrong to just donate it (unwanted though it was). We had no sentimental attachment to the jersey, so it really didn't belong in the attic pile. And since Miss Missy wasn't going to wear it, it certainly didn't belong in her dresser. If I had a little niece who wouldn't mind wearing a jersey with a rather snug-fitting neck, I could pass it along, but unfortunately I'm a bit short on nieces (snug-neck-friendly or otherwise). What to do, what to do??
Now, although I have not had much success in clearing the clutter in my corners of the house (you can read about my attempts here and here) I am making a concerted not to add to the clutter. I refused to let this jersey get the better of me! And then I hit on the perfect solution. I would unravel it, and remake it into a shrug for myself. This would not only solve the tidying dilemma, but would be eco-friendly and hip too (upcycling is so in these days, right? ...If taking a jersey and remaking it into another jersey counts as upcycling that is) And the colour would go beautifully with that favourite skirt of mine. Perfect!
So then I had to find a pattern. I really like some of the patterns in these books,, opens a new window but they weren't exactly what I was looking for. So then I turned to Designer Knitting, opens a new window, Creative Knitting, opens a new window, and the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary, opens a new window for inspiration. And now, just a few short weeks later I, have a new shrug. And, despite doing almost as much un-knitting as knitting (being rather new to creating my own knitting patterns) I have to say I've very happy with the results!
I think upcycling could be my new favourite thing and I'm already gearing up for my next project - this time I want to make a top out of a scarf, and I'll be checking out this book, opens a new window for ideas.
- Would you like to give upcycling a try? Check out my list, opens a new window for inspiration
- Looking for ideas for your kids rooms? Try these books, opens a new window
Oh, and yes, I did get Miss Missy's room sorted, and she's actually happy with the results (well, mostly happy!)
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