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!