'Tis the Season for Decluttering

Where my trash can become your treasure...

In July of 2023, I had the privilege of spending two weeks with my mother. She lived in California, and I live in South Carolina, so in recent years we’ve only seen each other once a year or so. At the age of 91, Mom had decided it was no longer wise to live alone. I was there to help her pack up the 3-bedroom house she had owned for 34 years in preparation for the move to an assisted living apartment in Arizona, near my brother’s home.

Photo by Michal Balog on Unsplash

My mother is a writer (this apple didn't fall far). As soon as the youngest of her four children was in school, she went to work at the local newspaper. Over the following 40+ years, she wrote hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, short stories, and a novel. And she saved paper copies of all of them.

Mom’s novel: Delia’s Way by Olga Berrocal Essex

For those of you who don't remember the world before about 1990, most publications were not digitized. If you were a writer, you saved copies of all your published work. That meant clipping it from the newspaper or tearing the pages from the magazine and putting it in a scrapbook or a file box. Or in Mom's case, many scrapbooks and file boxes. This was how you built a portfolio.

The problem with owning a relatively modern house is that there are plenty of closets. There is no urgency driving you to sort through and cull your belongings because they are out of sight behind the closet doors. There is no need to make decisions about what to keep and what to toss. Until you move.

Mom and I began our sorting and packing in her home office. It was not an easy process. It had been years since Mom had looked at most of those scrapbooks and files. She wanted to read through her work and enjoy the memories. When something particularly delighted her, of course she wanted to keep it.

I, on the other hand, had a clock hanging over my head counting down the days until the movers arrived. I had a long list of things we needed to do, and the items on that list were not getting crossed off nearly fast enough for my liking.

I reminded Mom that she wasn't likely to need a portfolio ever again. She no longer had anything to prove to anybody. When she protested that it was her life's work, I actually said, "What are you going to do? Wave these papers in someone's face and say 'Look! I was important once'?" Fortunately, she laughed.

I did not "make" my mother throw anything away (no matter what she says about it now). I did make her question whether 1) she had room in the new apartment to store it, and 2) she was willing to pay to move it.

It took three days to sort and pack Mom's office. By the time we were done, her file boxes and scrapbooks had been condensed into just a couple of boxes. And we are still speaking to each other.

Mom is doing well in her new apartment, thanks for asking. She reads this newsletter every week, and is quick to let me know when my grammatical tics start creeping in. She no longer writes for publication, but she remains an excellent editor.

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The experience of helping Mom pack up her house has given me a fresh perspective on my own belongings. While I've never been an archivist on par with Mom, things do pile up. I sorted through a bookshelf in my office this week, and I found some knitting pattern books I want to give away. Would you like some?

I have designed several pieces for Knit Picks over the years. One of the many pleasures of working with Knit Picks is that they send me two copies of each pattern book in which my designs appear. But I don't need two. I gathered up the duplicates, and I want to pass them on to you.

Here is the plan:

• Listed below you'll find six bundles, each with two books. I linked the book titles to the listings on Knit Picks’ website so you can see the designs included.

• If you want a bundle, send a direct message using the link below and tell me which one you want. One bundle per person, please, and the first person to send me a DM gets it. If you’re the first in, I’ll be in touch to get your shipping address and give you my PayPal information. If someone beat you to a bundle, I’ll let you know.

• If you are a paid subscriber (thanks!), I’ll cover the postage. If you are a free subscriber, you’ll need to pay for the postage via PayPal. I can ship these using USPS Media Mail for $6 per bundle.

• Unfortunately, only readers within the US can participate in this giveaway. International postage is a hassle. Sorry.

Here are the bundles:

Bundle 1—For those who like to make accessories: Accents and Scrappy Knits: Projects for Partial Skeins.

Bundle 2—For those who like to knit for children: Playdate: A Baby Knit Collection and Generations: Knits for All Ages.

Bundle 3—For sweater knitters: Unparalleled: Modern Cables Collection and Windfall: Bulky Knits for Cozy Days.

Bundle 4—For lovers of traditional sweaters: Form & Function: Modern Ganseys and Entwined: Celtic Cables Collection.

Bundle 5—More sweaters: Vertex: Colorblock Projects and Unparalleled: Modern Cables Collection.

Bundle 6—Still more sweaters: Unparalleled: Modern Cables Collection and Timeless: High Desert Knits.

Update: Bundles 3 and 6 are still available. The remainder have been claimed by happy knitters.

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To request a bundle, click this button to send me a direct message. Please specify which bundle you want, and include your email address.

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This week, I read an excellent addition to our list of Books for the Endlessly Curious. It is Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World by Victoria Finlay.

If the author's name rings a bell, it's probably because she wrote the bestselling Color: A Natural History of the Palette. Fabric looks at the many ways textiles are made, with particular attention to the cultural significance of textile traditions.

This is not a book that could have been written sitting in a reference library. Finlay brings a very personal and experiential approach to the subject. She travels to a tiny island in Micronesia to spend time with a tribe still using traditional methods to make bark cloth. She learns to spin cotton and use a back strap loom in Guatemala. She goes to the Himalayas to meet the goat herders who raise the animals that produce the fiber for pashmina shawls. She learns to make patchwork from Mary Ann Pettway in Gee's Bend, Alabama.

Reading this book felt like traveling with a well-read and cheerful companion. Highly recommended for everyone with an interest in textiles.

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As always, I appreciate your inviting me into your head for a little while. Please leave a comment to let me know if you’d like to see more giveaways. Or just to say hello to my mother, Olga.