Musical Rooms

“Are you taking over another room?” This is a refrain I have heard numerous times from my husband during the twenty-some years we have lived in this old farmhouse. He writes. He sits at the kitchen table with his computer. That’s all the room he requires. Me? I craft. Need I say more? There are five rooms downstairs. Of those, the kitchen is the only room I spend time in regularly.

Upstairs is a different story (pun intended). There is our bedroom/sitting room where I knit and read. My studio contains, well, studio stuff. It has been used for dyeing, spinning, felting, quilting, puppet making, and various other enthusiasms. There is an area that contains my desk, shelves of reference books, and archival boxes holding genealogical materials. In a previous incarnation, this room was a family/TV room.

My son’s bedroom has been inhabited over the years by several of his siblings. Most recently, it held my quilting stash, which has been packed into bins and relegated to the basement.

What is now a bathroom, had been a big walk-in closet and then my darkroom. Thanks to digital cameras I no longer need to closet myself in the dark with smelly chemicals, but I still sometimes mourn “real” photography.

The final two rooms are small with no heat. Remember, we are talking 1890’s “old” farmhouse. One has shelves and bins of supplies and equipment for batik, shibori, felting, and var... oth... enth...s.

The other was set up as an ebay room. Shelves hold stuff we thought we could sell. My son and I catalogued, and photographed all the items, but never actually committed ourselves to spending the time selling. This is the room that is about to be repurposed. It will become my “Dyeary.”  I will also do my carding in this room. But first, I need to empty it. Yup, more bins and boxes for the basement. We cannot, must not get rid of anything!

We are still experiencing uncommon heat. Algoma is on Lake Michigan. It’s a place where people come to cool off. Right now Algoma is 91 degrees. The Dyeary will be a dream until an 80 degree day, possibly 85. For now, I’m going to finish my second sock.

Be cool and Good Stitches