Tracking Back

In cooking, it is easy to track something back to its point of origin.  The cooking time and the prep time is all laid out for you.  You just have to follow the time backward from your serving time and voila, you have your starting time.

Anything can be treated with this trackback mentality.

If you know the time/end date of a chore or activity then you can trackback from that date and create steps for all the days that you have in between your starting date and your ending date.

It can be something simple as having prepared hot tea for a guest to redoing a room.

In my case preparing tea goes something like this:

• Heat the water
• Put out tea or tea bags
• Put out spoons
• Put out honey
• After the water is hot, steep tea for five minutes to allow flavors to deepen.
• After five minutes, strain or remove the tea bag
• Add honey
• Stir
• Serve

All in all, this process takes 15 minutes. I have it down to a science, or ritual if you will.  I try and imbue my tea with love, light, and happiness as well.

These kind of simple tasks are easy to trackback.

But what about the long-term projects?  They are harder to judge because unforeseen things can sometimes happen during long-term projects that make them go faster or slower.

So, I have a long-term project which I could never get the mental energy to tackle.  Mental energy is very different than having the physical energy to work on a project.  Mental energy involves emotions like; happiness, confidence, focus, willpower, motivation, and productivity. And those were things I was severely lacking or couldn't maintain for a long time.

Back in August 2013, I had a knitting room.  It was amazing and organized and I loved it so much.  The room just seemed to radiate with color.  

In October of 2015, it was flooded when the dishwasher repeatedly cycled water for four hours.  They had to rip out my new flooring and the kitchen got moved to the knitting room and in truth, I have never had the mental energy to clean it.

Then last year, a mouse made his/her residence for the winter in my knitting which was ruined so it added another mental layer of avoidance for me with this project.

After I quit my job, I gained some positive attributes to my mental arsenal.  Just having this time to rediscover myself and heal has changed me in ways I cannot even express.

So as of today, this is what my Knitting Room looks like.  Yeah, that is what I thought too.  :(

In the spirit of tracking back, I thought I would offer my Knitting Room up for an example.  This is going to be an emotional roller coaster for me.  Every project, every yarn has a story and a place in my heart.  I don't know what I will find.

And here we go.

My goal date is October 31st to have everything out of the room and sorted so a new floor can be put down. Every skein of yarn has to be checked and then bagged before going into a mouse-proof container.  There are shelving units, drawer units and closed box units full of yarn.  There are baskets and boxes full of yarn.  There is a lot of yarn in my knitting room.  I hope most of it is safe.

• My projects which the mouse shared a house with will need to be disinfected, washed and reblocked.  

• Everything in the mouse area has to be washed, disinfected and possibly destroyed.

• Tools also have to be sorted and or cleaned.

• My spinning wheel needs to be moved.

• Any trash needs to be cleaned up.  Any debris needs to be disposed of.

• Move kitchen items back to the kitchen.

• Wash blankets and pillows on my knitting chair.

Okay, it will be a lot of work but let's block it out and track it back.

There are eight full weeks and five extra days.

Week 1:

Wash / disinfect personal knitting.  Reblock any items that need blocking.

Clean off the little table in the doorway.  Wash / disinfect table cover.  

Move little table back up to Kitchen area or find a new home for it elsewhere in the house or move to the Garage.

Move yarn that is in the doorway to safebox.  Make sure everything is bagged.

So that will get me in the door.

Week 2:

Clean up the hanging storage areas where the mouse lived.  Disinfect them and store them in the Guest Room.  

Go through and clean / disinfect everything that the mouse touched.

Go through all the yarn and clean / disinfect everything that the mouse touched.  Move all the hanging storage areas on the left side of the room to the Guest Room.

Week 3:

Clean up stuff on the floor and relocate or get rid of.

Move all yarn and project-related material from the storage shelving on the left side of the room to the safe box.  Make sure everything is bagged.

Move storage shelving to the Guest Room.

Move any written notes of pattern creations and such to pattern hanging file after reviewing.

Week 4:

Focus on hanging shelving on the right side of the room.  Move / clean /disinfect all yarn.  Make sure everything is bagged.

Move all hanging shelving on the right side of the room to the Guest Room.

If the safe chest is full, get a second chest.

Week 5:

All the hanging shelving should be put away with the brackets and everything by now.  If not, finish removing the brackets and hardware.

Clean off the knitting chair.  Check for mice activity in the yarn.  Move / clean / disinfect all yarn.  Make sure everything is bagged.  Move to the safe chest.

Clean the chair itself and all the blankets on it should be washed.  Move the chair to the Guest Room.  It is getting quite cramped in there by now I suppose.

Start moving/cleaning / disinfecting surface of the tabletop.  Throw away any junk.  Relocate any items that don't belong in the Knitting Room.

Week 6:

Move all yarn and project-related material from the storage shelving on the right side of the room to the safe box.  Make sure everything is bagged.

Move storage shelving to the Guest Room.

At this point, everything should be off of the floor level.

Week 7:

Have them come in and do an estimate on the work to be done.  Ask if I have to take down the rest of the higher shelving.

In the meantime, go through all the higher boxes, which are sealed and should have been safe, for any holes.  Clean off the boxes.  Dust everything.  Clean everything.

Move any items that they request to be moved.

Week 8:

Knitting Room Floor is repaired.

Goal Achieved.  There is much rejoicing...

Going forward...

Since it took 8 weeks to get to this point.  Don't be disgusted with myself if it takes a few weeks to get everything back on shelving.

After the new floor is put in, slowly put everything back.  Reorganize.  Make sure everything is in bags and safe from possible future mice.

Move knitting that has been stored upstairs back down to the knitting room.

Whew.

So that is the plan which will go into effect this week.

I will take pictures and keep a record of where I am to be accountable to you all and myself.

Thanks for reading,

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen

:)

As of Wednesday morning, which is when I post my blog, I have already:

• Staged the Guest Room for storing everything
• Moved the yarn safe box down to the Guest Room
• Washed and disinfected my personal knitting
• Started moving some of the yarn that was not touched by the mouse and is already bagged to the safe box

Here is my personal knitting after disinfecting and drying.  Two of the lace projects felted even though I tried so hard not to felt them.  Otherwise, no colors bled and everything is still wearable.  So, yay!

You can still see the lace when you hold it up to the light so it wasn't totally destroyed.