A baggle, a duo, and a trio

 A baggle:
Good knitters have lots of yarn, lots of needles, lots of patterns, lots of books, lots of stitch markers, lots of darning needles, a couple of crochet hooks, a cable needle or two, lots of tape measures and scissors (that disappear as soon as they are needed)...and lots of bags. In my quest to simplify, I have decided that it is time to pare down the bags. Some have many personal memories for me, but I learned from a friend after my Mom died that one way to visualize the memory of things is to take photos. It makes it a bit easier to give away the items. I  know I have tons of UFO's, but I do not need a separate bag for each one. Here are a few, as well as their stories. I'm operating on a 10% rule: 10% goes. Away. Of course, however, there are exceptions and corollaries and whatevers to this rule: after all, I am a woman and entitled to change my mind! Here is a gathering, called a "baggle" (don't you just love news words?) of most of the bags I have used. Notice I have included only a few of the wonderful sacks received with purchases at yarn shops. I usually take a used bag with me, in hopes to save a few leaves and a penny or two for my LYS.

Note: this does not include the baskets and bins that store my yarn and notions. That would be asking a little too much cleansing at this point in time. Hopefully, as my stash (especially the acrylic challenge project) decreases, the storage containers will decrease. Or will there just be room for more new yarn....?

Anyway, these are the lucky bags that get to go on a trip and hopefully find a new home:

My most favorite Junior League placement spanned several years with the puppet show "Kids on the Block." I kept my lines( for Mark and Renaldo) and my black shirt in the bag.       

My family spent a delightful Thanksgiving at The Cloisters in Sea Island, GA, with my parents and my brother and his family. We rode bikes, learned to shoot skeet (sorta,) danced, and ate like pigs. I bought a bag.

My parents took several organized tour vacations (Alaska, Mexico, etc) with another wonderful couple. In addition to little souvenirs, I received the tour-issued "carry-on flight bag" when they were no longer able to travel.

I bought yarn a number of years ago at a shop in NC and received a larger than normal fabric bag. It is coming out of the closet and into my car, to use when I have only a few things to purchase at the grocery store.

So, three bags are leaving, one is getting repurposed. I have used my Rule of 10 in other areas (sweaters, socks, pocketbooks, hotel/motel sample bottles, etc) and plan to use it in other areas, and plan to repeat it each year or so as needed. 

A duo
Here are #45 and #46:

Yet another helix hat

And yet another ballband hat.

(I'm sticking with tried and true patterns so I can get this 52 hats project finished!)

And finally,
The trio:

Reading these books, I learned that college freshmen in my mom's era were just as unsure about friends and studies and activities as I was...and as they probably are today; that a New England girl's voyage to China in the 1840s provided excitement and new knowledge, as well as uncoverd the mystery of a pendant she wore; and that a young Egyptian boy could learn how to balance his Muslim upbringing and his love of art.

This was inside one of the books:

Mom was 10 years old at the time. On the opposite page, in pencil too light to photograph, was "Christmas 1929. Written January 28. I have grip." Little did she know that on that same date 19 years after she had the flu, her son would be born!

Earth and Fire and Water

Is there some sort of weird fungus growing in my yard?

Nope. It's just a fun fur hat. I was going to call it a mink hat, or a porcupine hat, or a hedgehog hat...but I could not think of an appropriate photo setting. With pearls? With one of the dogs? Nope. It's a fungus hat.

It has been a gorgeous weekend, but certainly not as fall-like as it should be in October. It was very warm- in the high 80's. That sun was working overtime!

The pattern for this hat is a double seed stitch. It looks happy.

Hardly any leaves have started to change, so that made it perfect to make a picture of yet another swirl hat, this time combining the green tree/earth and the blue sky/water. (Can I claim sky and water together?) I do plan to include "air" in a later post, but the sky was so blue that it looked like water!!

I think this makes about 43 hats so far...

Oops- I almost forgot about the child's cap! A bit more sunshine/water/sky...and #44 in the countdown!

Peace.

Fireballs and almost antique books

FIREBALLS

Water tones, earth tones, and now fire tones (with a bit of artistic license for the purple and pink!) Of course, the first one in the series is a helix hat!

 

This next one is another attempt at stranded knitting. I hope to take a class at KKQ in January 2012. On my left hand, my fingers are all thumbs!

ALMOST ANTIQUES

 

There is a bit of my new reading challenge to report. I have read 3 old books so far...2 were old-fashioned fluffy. The other one, at 512 pages, was ponderous at first, but then kept me loving the language and the metaphors and descriptions even though the plot was somewhat predictable.

I can just imagine my mother's delight as a child to find stacks of books under the tree each Christmas- she told me they were usually all read by New Year's Day. One of the ones that had been saved dealt with a teenage girl's trip to Paris for a year of "intensive learning," of language and customs coupled with the fun of shopping and side trips. The other was probably special to Mom, since she shared the same name as one of the 2 protagonists. That book dealt with two dissimilar girls who discover that their strengths and weaknesses complemented each other and that each in her own way was growing into maturity.

Apparently this final book came from my Dad's side of the family. It was given to my Great Uncle John by his sister, Great Aunt "E" (Elisabeth Emily) in 1907. The book was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, of Secret Garden fame.

This book used the metaphor of a shuttle: not the bus/train/plane, but the shuttle that weaves and interlocks a story using multiple yarns, from simple to elegant. The decorative pattern may change over time, but the completed piece, flaws and all, tells an intricate story and is a work of art. I have never been a fan of English literature (gasp and apologies to all the Jane Austenites) but I did find this book to be a compelling read. The thoughts and actions of the characters were full of expressive detail and the descriptions of the landscape painted the English countryside like a Constable.

This book will NOT be donated to the Friends of the Library yet. It's a keeper.

It's easy being green!

Hats off (or on) to Kermit!

These caps take me up to the mid-30's or so in my quest to knit 52 hats in 2011. These were made 2 months ago and I did not do a good job of documenting the particulars. Suffice it to say that the yarn is acrylic and the patterns are from various sources...

This first one is another one using the waffle stitch. It is wonderful TV or work/break knitting.

This next one is the pattern "Almost Argyle. " I like the crown, too.

 

"Welting Fantastic" is the name of this pattern. Again, I like the crown.

This one is some sort of openwork rib. I guess the crown did not turn out too well!

 Finally, here is a generic hat blending the earth and sky. Long live Fun Fur!

Next: the third element.