Counting my Bles... Er, Bags!

Recently there's been a ton of chat among my knitting friends about the Namaste Cali collection handbags/knitting bags. Elann and Dreamweaver Yarn, in particular, have a decent selection of the colors. I'm a total sucker for the 'Me, too!' bandwagon, and I've been grinding my teeth trying not to hit the 'buy' button. So today I decided to inventory the totes I have. The total is somewhere in the vicinity of 2 dozen plus.




So, to remind me what's in the Bag Stash, I've photographed the really nice bags I have. This first bag, from a gorgeous Laurel Burch fabric, was made for me last year by my dear friend U, with whom I've stayed in Sidney, Vancouver Island, BC. This has 3 nice-sized pockets.





The rest of these bags I purchased over 15 years from Dancing Cat Bags, a woman-owned business which produced the bags here in Burbank. All of these bags are the most amazingly durable totes you can imagine, made with lovely tapestry fabrics, heavy satin linings and never-fail zippers.


First is what I call my 'seniors' bag; this holds all the stuff that I take to my seniors' charity knitting/crochet group, so any patterns, ideas, FOs, etc. that I have for the group during the week just goes into this and I'm ready to go. It's big enough to hold a baby-ghan either finished or in process, with all the yarn that takes. This is Dancing Cat's 'El Grande Tote', and it's huge: 24in x 17in, though there's only one zip pocket.



Then there's my 'Multi-Purpose Bag', the one that I usually take with me to my Friday night knitting group. This was my first Dancing Cat Bag, bought back in 1991; it was my briefcase-equivalent for several years of daily use, and it's gone on many trips as my in-cabin tote. It's a messenger bag, really, and there are small pockets, medium pockets, and 2 dividers in the main section.






These days, I'm carrying a 'Deluxe Zippered Tote' as my handbag/small knitting project bag. I have 2 of these, one a deep red with black/white/silver patterns; the fall-colored one will probably rotate in after October. These have a zip compartment and 2 nice big pockets, right-sized for sunglasses, cell phone, etc. There's plenty of room for a knitting project bag, on top of all my purse-type things. I have a small cosmetic bag that holds a small set of essential knitting notions as well as lipstick and so forth.



Not in use right now are 3 'Essential Totes'. These are plenty big to be project bags or unstructured handbags; there's only one zip compartment in these.








Here's where I quit counting: This drawer and this cubby are jammed full of other totes, from Barnes & Noble, from Lands' End and from all sorts of other sources. I've culled from here once or twice already, and I suppose I should do it again.












Midnight is exhausted from helping me consider all the options. She's 90-leven to our zero when it comes to getting her medications down her; she's gotten much better at spitting and foaming them out while we've used up all our ideas - kitty burritos (wrapping her mummy-fashion in a towel), smashing them into powder to be mixed with her canned food, pill pockets, pill pusher-thingys, etc. But she's got a good appetite and doesn't seem to be drinking too much, so we have our fingers crossed that she's having a good bit of life right now. She's spending more time grooming herself, which is also a good sign.