The last month was more or less completely devoted to sorting through stuff.
Usually I'm doing this one piece at a time, in a slow pace but I need our attic rooms to be empty by end of the month (which would be on friday this week) because a friend of ours is in dire need of living space and wants to move in.
We live in one of the areas in Germany where the leases are on the higher end of the scale and he hit the economy on the low end a few years back and is now at the end of his financial possibilities. He can't afford the rent on his old place anymore (a wonderful flat he renovated into a small treasure himself), doesn't earn enough money to afford something near his family and his work and so after a futile search for an affordable place, he asked us if he could move in. We've got the space. But it meant moving my textile stuff from the attic into the basement which still was still filled with all the stuff my parents brought with them when they moved in with us.
So I had to sort through a lot of things. Most pleasantly was the sorting through the crafts stuff in my flat. Which at least resulted in a tidy crafts cabinet
and well organized weaving yarn
And then there was the basement.
Imagine two people moving out of a more than 5000 square feet (that's 500 square metres for the metric people) house into a 1000 square feet flat (90 qm). They arrived with 2 moving vans (3200 cubic feet = 90 cubic meters) full from the bottom to the roof. Everything that didn't fit into the flat (which was quite a lot) went into the basement. And stayed there. For now almost 11 years. And wasn't touched or moved.
When my father died I began the feeble attempt to sort through but my mother was still physically active back then and swarted most of my attempts. (You know the comic routine when one person carries something into a van and the other carries it back into the house again - only it didn't feel comical at the time.) So I quit and didn't touch it. But now my mom is bound to the wheel chair and everything outside of her direct view is out of sight and quite literally out of mind.
Which meant, I was free to delve into it and clear the basement.
And it was a roller coaster down memory lane. After four days of sorting through I was emotionally exhausted.
I don't like to throw out still useful and functional things but true to the motto keep only that which is useful and/or beautiful (to you) this angel, a few photos and some tableware was all I kept. I brought my mom her very personal stuff for her to sort through and the rest went to the recycling yard. And oh joy most of it was kept by the workers there for their little second hand shop. I was very pleased. (German waste management is a whole story for itself.)
Why the angel? I am an atheist, I don't celebrate christmas but this angel was hand made by my father and decorated the nativity scene in our house during my childhood christmasses.
After the war when my dad had no work, he and a friend made nativity figurines out of plaster, painted them and sold them. Unfortunately, only one of the kings and this angel are left of ours. I don't know what happened to the rest and mum can't remember. And so this angel will find a place in my atheistic household. Because it is beautiful to me. And reminds me of my dad.
But I did find time to knit a bit.
As promised I began the Fana inspired sweater with the rest of the yarn.
The needle size is one size smaller than the one I used for the lusekofte which makes for a much denser fabric (and a much slower knitting) But I don't think I will need it for this winter (which didn't arrive yet and is most probably not showing this year) so I will have almost a year to finish. One stitch after another ;o) I think, it will need some Norwegian stars too.