Fewer Weeks, More Boxes

We are down to just over three weeks until the big move. And the piles of boxes are growing in virtually every room. The studio is no exception. Until you pack it, you forget how much stuff you actually have. You forget how much wool and yarn and sewing material fits into those wire cubes that fill the long wall.

I have already filled 17 boxes and 6 bins. And that is in addition to the many Rubbermaid bins in the basement crawl space that are the "other" stuff - the felted wool sweaters, the blanket wool, etc.   I guess I can no longer kid my poor husband about the many, many, many boxes of hardcover books that he is moving to the new place. I am probably keeping stride with him - box for box.

Since the movers told us we didn't have to empty the big pieces, as long as there weren't bottles or breakables in there, I have shoeboxes of worms and small pieces of wool in two pieces and all my miscellaneous tools and necessities in others.

The walls are bare. I have taken down all my rugs and rolled them into my "hockey bag" (which has never actually been to a hockey arena). It was actually my daughter's camp bag many years ago and has carried my rugs to virtually every school and workshop I have taught in the past 8 years.

For the first time in over 5 years, I have packed away all my circular knitting needles, my dye samples and the other things that used to hang on hooks from a support pole in the middle of the room. 

Upping the degree of difficulty to this endeavour, I head off to teach at Loyalist College the day after our stuff arrives, so I have had to be mindful of what has to travel with me, so it will not get lost in the many boxes and bins. My supplies for class will be in rolling suitcases, other than the light box and frames, etc. They will be loaded into the truck and left there so that they don't inadvertently get unpacked. Fingers crossed.

As I purged each of the pieces of furniture in the studio, I came across a few things that I hadn't seen in quite a while. This is one such item - a rock I painted in the 80's that serves as a door stop (or a very very large paper weight) and it pretty much describes how I feel about the whole process of moving. Between the lists, the packing, the prepping for a garage sale and getting ready for my class, this pretty much says it all.

Some New Moves for the Move

A while ago, I read an article on Pinterest about different packing ideas, and I have been incorporating some of them.  One was to use towels and t-shirts to wrap things, so vases etc. are wearing t-shirts that were almost ready for the trash - but will keep things safe as they travel. Same with hand towels and place mats and cloth napkins.

But the best one so far was this. Use socks on wine glasses - actually any kind of glasses or mugs - and it is awesome.

how cute is this? 

And a great way to pack your socks!

Martini glasses needed a man's work sock.

So now they are all nestled together - with lots more socks left for glasses and mugs. And when I unwrap them clean and safe at the other end, I just roll up the socks and put them away. ta da!

If you are not already on Pinterest, consider it. This is where all my new knowledge is coming from. lol. Definitely a smarter approach to packing. I am sure I would be much better at moving if I did it more often. And I wouldn't have nearly as much purging to do. 

But once every 25 years or so is good enough for me.