Tuesday 9 September 2008

Vintage Glass Buttons and Packing

I am supposed to be sifting through my belongings. Just in an attempt to downsize them for placing into storage or shipping to Canada. The truth is that I am not supposed to be acquiring anything new, right now. However, Nichols Buttons were at I Knit and I had a moment of weakness.


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These buttons are so particular that I suspect that I may need to build a project around them, rather than the other way around - I can see myself stalking Ravelry at some point in the future, looking for patterns and yarn that might go with my buttons?!

They will be added to my 'To Canada - Ship Separately' pile. You see, I am trying to avoid being overwhelmed by the task in hand, by trying to build a number of different house piles:

  • Stay Behind - Warehouse Storage

  • Stay Behind - Accessible Storage

  • To Canada - Ship Separately
  • To Canada - Travel with Me
As you may be able to tell from the above - I am not the kind of person who is able to chuck a change of clothes into a small backpack and head off around the world for 6 months. No, when you put me and world travel together, it is better to envisage something far more Victorian or early Twentieth Century in its aspect - there will be a lot of luggage.

As a result, I plan to ship some things over to Canada, so that I have them with me while I am there. Y'know, just a few key things...

...like my yarn and quilt fabric stashes, notions, tools, craft books, shoes and skiing stuff.

Don't laugh! The Fella knows that this is non-negotiable. Actually, it's a bit embarassing - I might have to rename my blog to 'Large Carbon Footprint Stash' or 'Yarn Repatriation'.

Yet I cannot bear the idea of leaving any of my yarn behind in storage - I'd be terrified that it would be attacked by fibre munching beasts. Also, I know that I'll be studying but I am taking 6 months off work - surely this a a golden opportunity to have a go at some of the projects that are stacked in my cupboard?!

As I am sitting here tonight, the only problem is that my Ship to Canada box is almost too heavy to drag across the floor already. Yet it only has my knitting and a couple of sewing books in it so far. Well, I can hardly take my stash and leave all my books, can I..?! It's a problem!

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So, here you go. I have two Desert Island Knitting Books style questions for you all*:

1) If this was your box of books, which of these titles would you take or leave behind, based on merit of their content? Either as a practical reference or for their inspiration.

If you are on Ravelry, you can click here to see what books, magazines and booklets I have in my Library. I have some books that I have already set aside to go into storage and a few others that I have not yet been able to upload into Ravelry (as they are not in their library yet).

2) If you were to be stranded on a desert island with only a binliner of yarn and a box of knitting needles for company:

- what 5 knitting books would you absolutely need to take with you?
- what yarns would you hope to find inside the binliner?!


* * * * *

* Note: not that Vancouver is a desert island. Clearly, I could simply order the books that I really missed from Amazon - or borrow them from a library? Yet who wants to order books that they already have?!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know what? I would only take the Elizabeth Zimmerman and the Knitting Nature books, for inspiration and a few good patterns. The others are all just patterns and those are in abundance on the internet.

Don't take too much, or else you'll feel hindered about buying new things. Do you know how many new knitting books are coming out this year?!

Dotty said...

I do not envy your task at hand. I can't imagine being limited to one box. Yikes!

I agree with Cassandra - Knitting Nature and EZ books (neither of which I own so I couldn't loan them to you).

I don't actually buy many knitting books. I like magazines instead. I don't even have any good reference books since I look everything up on Ravelry or the internet.

If I were stranded on a deserted island, I would bring all my sock yarns, some dpns, and leave everything else behind. But that's just me.

Anonymous said...

Um, do they have libraries and copiers in Canada? Because, you could easily lighten your load and your "carbon footprint" by purchasing a library card for where you are instead of hauling the books with you.

Hey, fella! What's the library like near you?

Roobeedoo said...

Well you and I differ in several key respects - because obviously I would be taking sock books and nothing else! Yarn? Nope! I would be taking the opportunity to try out Canada's finest and leave the stash in the UK vacuum-sealed lavender-stuffed bags. And since most of what I knit comes from the web anyway, I wouldn't even really need the books. So all I would take would be my Denise circular set and my dpns. Full stop.
P.S. I love the buttons though - I'd wear them as a necklace til I knitted something suitable!

Anonymous said...

when i relocated down south 5 years ago. all of my books went apart from my poetry and i literally sat and wept as years of precious collecting and hours spent in waterstones went before my eyes.

store the books, give away to those who will appreciate but never ever get let strangers have your books. i am still trying to replace those i lost

Anonymous said...

that was tina btw :-)