Mark Twain

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do ...
Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Sizing Down



Yesterday I stabbed the Evil Clutter Fairy to death.  I have done this many times in the past.  I guess fairies are immortal.  The Clutter Fairy most certainly is.

I get the feeling to reduce my stuff probably once a year.  The "stuff" around me becomes too much.  It seems to close in and make my living space smaller and smaller.  And then the "need" hits and I start the down sizing cycle again. Sometimes my efforts center on one room - like the kitchen.  Not this day.

My one extravagance in life is my yarn and fiber crafts.  Tools, yarn, fiber, equipment, patterns, books ...  it has taken over one whole room so you know it is serious.  I like this room to look organized.  I live with the impression (not the reality) that I can find what I need in that room because I just reorganized it this spring. The room is small, only 8'x10', so if I need something, it most certainly can be found.

Yesterday that impression was tested.  I tried to find a knitting pattern.  One pattern.  It was probably 5 sheets of paper clipped together.  No luck.  Ridiculous!  I was just using it.  It is right in this one little space - a small book case - in this small room.  No luck.

This book case has about 40 books and five binders - filled with patterns I have clipped over the years - all categorized for ease of use.  But still. No pattern. On top of this book case was a stack about 18 inches high of patterns I had yet to file away.  Eighteen inches is a lot of patterns.  I looked through the stack.  No pattern.

Then the thought hit.  Even if I lived another 25 years, I wouldn't knit all the patterns in that stack or in the binders.  Time to thin this space out.

I went through every single pattern.  My God!  What ever was I thinking.  Some of those patterns were butt ugly.  Some patterns would look good if I was a size 2. (Not!)  Really ... that pattern has no shape.  Holy Moly!  I would go crazy with boredom knitting that pattern!   And so it went.

Four hours and a huge bag of paper recycling later, the patterns were thinned out and all were filed.  And the one pattern that I wanted still wasn't found.

I guess it truly wasn't there.

You know, I feel so much better.

But I can feel the Evil Clutter Fairy rising from the dead again!

Looking around!  Yep, time to clean out another spot!


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That evil clutter fairy is a hard gal to keep down.

Linda said...

And I couldn't sleep last night thinking of all the stuff I will be bringing into my already over stuffed house on Sat! Yikes!!! I better go home and do some decluttering tonight! You are inspiring!

happyone said...

I can just picture you surrounded by all those patterns! : )

I need to do some decluttering myself.

boysmum2 said...

I have several little areas like that in this house, I see them, they bug me but I never quite get near them to clean them out!

Anita said...

I can identify. Members of the crochet group I (sometimes) attend all collect patterns. When the stack becomes overpowering, we take our excess patterns back to the room we meet in. Nobody has the nerve to throw any of them away! The stacks of patterns fill a storage cabinet, a small shelves on a stand (like one from the 50's to hold the 33.3 rpm records), and the number is constantly growing. Someone will bring in a new pattern book and everybody wants copies "run off". Goodness knows how many wonderful patterns I've missed because I've not attended this Summer. Whatever shall I do without them?

Unknown said...

Oh dear, I think that the clutter fairy has invaded my home lol, I wouldn't mind but I just did a clear out a few days ago, and I think I need another one lol.