The Deep Archives

As the weather turns cooler and the calendar turns to September, I am driven by some deep inner urge to clean corners and cupboards. I have been unusually successful in quashing this feeling the past number of years as I turned an empty bedroom into a study and from study into yarn haven. I'd forgotten just how deep the deep archives were.

The deep archives are some deep cabinets Mr. Needles built as we were gussying up the family room. The cabinets are approximately 3 feet deep by 2 feet by 2 feet. There is a lot of storage behind those tidy knotty pine doors. I could have sworn I took out all the yarn a few years ago, but it seems not. Three of these cubes still contained yarn.

Once the old catalogues and magazines were cleaned out, and the yarn pile was sorted, I was left with this.The photo does not do it justice. The pool table is 4 x 8 feet and the pile of various and sundry stashed items covers 1/3 of the table, piled like this, right across. As you can see, most of the yarn is your basic big bag o' yarn from purveyors of ordinary acrylic. Some of it comes from my mother-in-law's stash as she became too infirm to do hand work, but most of it was for projects which were never made. I've done many afghans over the years and any a number of thick crocheted aran sweaters to wear in my former place of work.

Even the deepest darkest archives can hide special things. Hidden among the general miasma of inexpensive acrylic, there were some things I forgot I ever had.

The first find was a nice little book on sewing tips I had forgotten about. I probably could have used it. (see photo above)

Then there was a cross stitch duck. I wondered where this had gone off to. It was from a pair of pieces I wanted to do for the family room, suited to our warm golden pine, and rich green walls. It will sadly, not be completed. There are too many other nice things I want to embroider before my days are done and way too much knitting to do. I might turn it into pillow topper though. Waste not when you put all the time into a project. Next, I found a bag of crochet cotton and lace.Does anybody still makeParadise Collector Doll outfits? (They have some interesting new stuff on their website. New bags and beaded fancies to make) There was a time, in my house of men, where I really wanted to make some of these fancy dresses for display. Even then I had a vision of a study where all my girlish impulses could hang out, where ruffles would rule and pillows would be scattered gracefully on everything. I started a project and found to my dismay, that working with black crochet cotton is an exercise in the un-fun.

I found good quality acrylic in one of my favourite colours. There is enough of it to do a little something, but I have no idea what.There was some seriously fine dk weight cotton. There isn't enough of either yarn to do anything serious with, but as part of a tapestry crochet project, its going to be fantastic. (Not that I have any tapestry crochet planned, but you never know) And from the mists of time, from the depths of history, some deep cherry red mohair. I have done a few mohair things in my time, and its not my favourite fibre, but even now, I find can't resist the colour (its a much deeper cheery red than the photo shows)

2 and a half balls of red beauty. sigh...

I had to put it under covers to stop myself from petting it all night. I already have plans for a nice simple lacy scarf to show off it loveliness.

We have lived in this house for 15 years, and cleaning the rest of the 'deep archives' is not going to be easy. I don't think there are any more treats scattered in the dark corners, just bits and pieces of things I have not used in a decade or more. But you never know. Its an adventure.

And if I keep telling myself that, maybe I'll believe it.