Organizing the Chaos

I've spent most of my weekend (and a few evenings last week, too) organizing my craft room.  Over the past several months it had become a total mess, since I spent more time just throwing things in there to keep them away from the cat than putting things away so they could be found later, and it was at the point where I could barely walk through.  I totally forgot to take the "before" picture, but imagine this with more stuff all over the floor:

 My (kind of) clean craft room.

And yes, I do realize that this looks like it could be the "before" picture.  It's still a work in progress, I promise :).

In the process of cleaning things up:

• I frogged several projects that I decided I would never finish (including my recently-abandoned Radian Yoke), and returned the yarn to my stash.  I think I have a few more that still need to be frogged, but I'm making progress.  I always feel like UFOs weigh me down, so it feels good to get rid of the ones that aren't ever going to get finished.

• I worked on de-stashing some of my yarn, and packed up a big box to send to my mom.  It also makes me feel better to get rid of yarn that I'm pretty sure I'll never use.

• I finally broke down and bought more plastic drawers from the Container Store.  I love these drawers for storing my yarn and fiber, since they keep the dust off my yarn but let in enough light to keep the bugs away (so far, at least!), and the drawers keep things stackable but still accessible.  It turns out that unspun fiber takes up a ton more space per ounce than yarn, so when I started acquiring a fiber stash a few years ago I quickly outgrew the drawers I already had, and I just now decided I should get more drawers rather than keeping fiber in cardboard boxes on the floor.

 My yarn/fiber storage solution.

• My cat stole several balls of yarn from my recently-frogged Radian Yoke and proceeded to chew through the yarn and, in general, make a mess of the yarn.  Again, no before pictures (I'll learn eventually!)… but I did spend an hour or two trying to untangle the yarn, tie it back together, and rewinding it into balls, all while trying not to cry too much over my cat kind of ruining my very nice (merino/silk/bamboo)  hand-dyed yarn.

• I located some projects I'd forgotten about, and wanted to immediately start working on them again, but restrained myself somehow.  I have discovered over the years that it's necessary for me to keep my WIPs in clear bags (with closures, so the cat doesn't steal them!) so I can see what project is in the bag, otherwise I completely forget about some things.  I relocated some WIPs to clear bags, in hopes of finishing them sooner rather than later.

I also found a few completed, or almost-completed, items that I know I will absolutely never wear/use, and I wouldn't dare give someone as a gift (think knitted bikini--don't ask!).  Any suggestions on what to do with these?

I still have a lot of organizing to go, including updating my Ravelry stash (that hasn't been updated in at least 2 years), but at least now I can move in my craft room!  Though all the organizing has been seriously cutting into my knitting time...