This past Fourth of July, I decided to celebrate my nation’s independence by beginning the work of organizing my crochet empire/guestroom to get my crochet out from under the tyranny of the mess and disorganization that had overtaken it.

Today, I am taking a look at the state of my IKEA Expedit cubbies then and now to get a sense of the progress that has been made.

First, a view of the 16-cubby IKEA Expedit as it was:

and a view of the same 16-cubby IKEA Expedit three weeks and three days later:

Here is the other 8-cubby IKEA Expedit unit before I began my clean-up quest:

and here is the same 8-cubby IKEA Expedit unit three weeks and three days later:

Here is a photo the projects I have finished or made over the past three-and-a-half weeks as a result of the work I did to get the cubbies in order:

All of the stash bags were made using this pattern from Purl Bee, and four of the five stash bags are made from yarn that was shoved into the various cubbies. Most of the yarn now housed in the new stash bags was also in the cubbies.

The electric blue felted stash bag was made from yarn that was not in a cubby, but in another part of the empire. I did, however, dye the formerly beige bag with 20 packs of Berry TwistKool-Aid that was sitting on a shelf in one of the cubbies.

I found the crocheted pieces for the cat in the photo when I was cleaning out one of the cubbies. To my delight, with just a few minutes of research at ravelry I was able to locate the free pattern I had used and finish the project.

I also found the body of the hamster as well as the book, Mr. Funky’s Super Wonderful Crochet by Narumi Ogawa. Both had been buried in the yarn debris and neither was accessible; however, in just part of one afternoon, I was able to get the hamster done, and put the book on my bookshelf where it belongs.

I also used a bulky weight yarn I found in one cubby and modified Kim Werker’s Bullseye Pet Mat pattern to better fit my own crochet peculiarities, to make the pet mat on which the cat and the hamster are having a romp.

I modified the stash basket pattern to make the small felted bag pictured.

While going through another cubby, I came across the long dormant quadrant blanket. It had been finished, but on reviewing the project, I decided I wanted to make it larger so that I could donate it to Project Linus. To that end, I removed the border and began work on eight additional squares, ten of which were completed at the time the photo was taken.

The last three weeks and three days have been quite a journey. I have a number of project that still need to be finished, but I have also found and tied up many loose ends.

When I sit down and read through the Premium Book for the 2011 North Carolina State Fair, I will be sure to go through the unfinished projects I have uncovered in the past 24 days and include as many as I can in an effort to make 2011 a year that I finish more projects than I start.