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A Stash of Timely Tips, Informative Articles and Inspiring Stories,
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Too Big a Project
by Brad Clark

We live in an 80 year old house. We’ve been here about 18 years. The attic was finished off before we bought the place. The finished attic is divided in two by a doorway in the middle of the space. There’s a cedar-lined walk-in closet and two small doors accessing the remaining attic storage space. There are windows on each end. Some day I’d like to put in sky lights.

Once upon a time, it was decorated in “old lady” wall paper. It’s a flowery dark country mauve and tan wallpaper; stuff your grandma might have in her guest or sewing room. We certainly didn’t put it up; it was like that when we bought the place. It was done in two “complementary” (if you can call it that) patterns. Some of the walls are covered in an ivory background paper, with swirling vines and dainty pink and blue flowers; and the other walls are covered in a vertically stripped pattern of tan and dark mauve; of course it’s all covered in tiny flowers and vines. Really nauseating!

When we first moved in, in 1991, our boys were little, so we set them up in their own bedrooms on the main floor. We used the finished attic as a bedroom and sitting room; the upstairs was Mommy and Daddy Territory. The country wallpaper worked fine for a bedroom. As a smart, young married couple, we got our friends to help us move; and lug our giant king-size waterbed mattress up the steep attic stairs. I can remember our two strongest friends at the time, Tim and Scott, pulling and pushing The Blob up those skinny stairs.

We were busy working, raising two toddlers, and trying to survive. No time to worry about removing or replacing perfectly fine wallpaper; even if it was hideous.

Shortly after moving in, through a series of life-changing events we decided to move to Africa. That’s another story; but thankfully we were smart and rented out our house, while we lived overseas for four years.

When we came back in 2002 we rearranged our home, remodeled somewhat and claimed a bedroom on the main floor. We made the finished attic into an office and junk storage area. We set up desks, filing cabinets, and bookshelves. The upstairs was still Mommy and Daddy Territory; used for studying, business, and storage of all the “stuff” our well meaning family and friends had given us upon returning from Africa.

It was nice to have a big private upstairs office. I had wanted to use the storage room for an art studio; a place to draw and paint, but it just sat and accumulated junk. When I worked at the desk or computer something always bugged me about the space. It wasn’t my space. I hadn’t decorated it; I hadn’t chosen the ugly wallpaper that was still on the walls. I didn’t like it!

But I was familiar with these old Portland houses. The houses with real 2x4s in the walls, lathe and plaster, lead based paint and 100 year old wallpaper. We had a lot of friends who had spent hours, weeks, months; scraping, peeling, and burning old wallpaper off their walls. I had work to do, I was busy; I had no time to scrape that ugly wallpaper off. So I put up with it, for 6 years! I got to where I didn’t even think about it; I just tolerated it and was blind to it. I hated the wallpaper, but couldn’t, or didn’t, do anything about it.

Then I did some thinking, re-evaluating, and re-inventing. I decided to do what I love. I declared myself an artist. No more hiding it. I am an artist! I create verbal, written and visual art! If I was going to get serious about this, I would need a studio, a space. I had the perfect space; but it was covered in that depressing, suffocating, creativity-killing wallpaper. Finally I had had enough, and decided I would start to think about the astronomical job of scraping off that hideous wallpaper.

I decided to peel off a corner, if I could, with my fingernail and rip off a tiny bit as a symbolic commitment to begin this giant task. I hadn’t wanted to previously begin a project I knew would take months to complete. Even though it was my private space, and rarely seen by anyone, I didn’t want to mess up the walls. I figured it was better to have bad wallpaper than torn up walls.

But, I was sick and tried of not having a space where I could thrive. I was frustrated and upset and no longer cared if the walls were partially scraped; until I could do the required research and rent the equipment necessary to tackle the daunting job. I was suffocating and needed to create a space where I could write, work, and create. I needed a bright, inviting space with art of my choosing on the walls.

In my frustration and anger, I reached up and impulsively picked at a corner of the oppressive wallpaper. My fingernail caught the corner and surprisingly I was able to grasp a small piece. I pulled; and to my astonishment, was able to peel off almost an entire sheet! I couldn’t believe it! I continued picking and pulling. I was amazed at how easily the wallpaper peeled off the wall. There was no scraping or cutting required. With just my bare hands, I was able to quickly peel off the majority of the paper!

I was overjoyed! I was near euphoric! I couldn’t believe how easily this dark, nasty creativity-killing wallpaper was coming off the wall! At the same time I was surprised how the process affected me. I was at once, filled with optimism, and sadness. Joy and hope for the possibilities that a bright new office and art studio would provide; but regret for not having tried to pull off the wallpaper sooner.

This space hadn’t been wallpapered in the 30’s, but probably in the 80’s. This wasn’t the nasty old wallpaper you had to scrape and burn off; this was “removable” wallpaper, you simply had to peel off! Why hadn’t I tried to pull it off years earlier?!

I had been trapped and suppressed by something that didn’t really exist. What I thought would be a monumental obstacle was a relatively quick, easy project. How many other things in my life have been holding me back, not because they are such big obstacles; but because I have made them into giant scary problems? I was unhappy with an environment I could have changed at any time. I was trapped by walls that didn’t really exist.

Reminds me of the baby circus elephant chained to a stake in the ground. The baby elephant can’t pull out the stake and get away because it’s too small and weak. Then, as an adult, it remains captive to the stake in the ground. It stays trapped, even though it could easily rip the small stake out of the ground. It’s trapped, and held captive by something that doesn’t really exist. It’s trapped more by false beliefs than by real restraints.

I’ve decided to focus on reality; and not allow myself to be held captive by imaginary problems and fears. I’m determined to destroy all the paper walls in my life, and I encourage you to do the same.

What fears and false beliefs are trapping you and holding you back? We’re often limited by our own false perceptions. It may be fear, procrastination, or dreading a big project; but things usually aren’t as bad as they seem. We often expect the worst and rob ourselves of experiencing all that life has for us. Even if a job is difficult or takes time, most things are not as bad as we imagine.

Putting off making a faire isle hat, or tackling that sweater project? Go for it! You can do it! Take the first step. Get started. It feels great! You may need to take a class or come in for help, but I assure you, it won’t take years, and you won’t have to fire up the blow torch.

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HOLIDAY KNITTING: A CAUTIONARY TALE
By Carolyn Little

At Portland’s Saturday Market, they call it the “Festival of the Last Minute.” For knitters making holiday gifts, the beginning of December marks the home stretch.

Every year we have thoughtful folks who show up at the shop in December wanting to learn to knit in time to make something for someone for Christmas. These well-intentioned givers have not yet come to appreciate the amount of time it takes to work skeins of yarn into a beautiful hat, scarf or sweater.

Yet whether you’ve been knitting for a short time or a lifetime, you know the secret: knitting in and of itself is a gift to anyone who has come to appreciate the simplicity and meditative quality of letting yarn play through the fingers and wind around the needles. Knitters need to knit. Holiday gifts give us an outlet the non-knitting world can appreciate.

Holiday knitters seem to fall into three distinct categories:

Obsessive and Compulsive

Some very well-organized knitters work on holiday gifts all year long. Others start in the summer and knit like crazy for several months. These are the ones you see hunched over needles on the bus, a partially-completed wool sweater draped over their laps in 90-degree heat. Non-knitters will never understand these people.

Cast-On Feverish

These are the ones who knit in concentric circles. They start six projects, then hopscotch from one to the other, making miniscule progress on each one. About this time of year, the cast-on feverish get serious, and do finish at least some of their projects. But for every one they cast off, they cast on two more.

Delusionally Optimistic

These are the knitters who set out to make holiday stockings for each of their seven siblings and sweaters for their five nieces and nephews, and a few for the dogs in the family, too. Or, maybe they’re relatively new knitters who choose a complicated lacey shawl pattern for their first venture on beyond scarves. Unfortunately, time has a way of shattering this delusion, somewhere amid the piles of unknit yarn and/or dropped stitches, around midnight on December 21 st. Ironically, these same folks chuckle heartily at stories of the aforementioned newbies and their desire to learn to knit and make presents inside a few short weeks.

Whatever category you fall into, we hope your holiday knitting brings you much joy and little stress. Feel free to stop by the shop and show us your progress! And by the way, we’ll gladly teach those eager gift-givers who want to be knitters. We’ll set them up with needles and yarn and teach them to cast on. They’ll say, “Wow. This is taking longer than I thought it would.” Then we’ll smile and encourage them to look ahead into next year’s calendar. A birthday gift, perhaps?

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