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This is a portion of my yarn collection. It is a huge collection and these are the ones nicely rolled into balls that could fit in the picture. I have a ton more yarn but a lot of it I am in the process of rewinding due to storage issues that caused my nicely wound balls of yarn to tangle all over themselves. I know a lot about my collection. I keep the tags from my yarn and roll them up into the middle of each yarn ball skein as you may be able to see from this picture in several of the balls. This gives me everything I need to know about the yarn and how it can be useful in crochet and/or knitting projects. I'm a bit of a yarn hoarder to be honest. Much of my collection I don't have any ideas for specific projects for that yarn. I see yarn at the store feel the texture and if I like the color and/or texture it usually comes home with me. This is why I am no longer allowed to go into craft stores without supervision and somebody else holding my wallet.

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This is a portion of my personal crystal collection.
I started my collection about three years ago. I had interest in collecting intriguing and beautiful rocks as a child but I had forgotten about it until I was a little older. My interest became sparked again when my sister introduced crystals to me or as some people like to call them and use them for "healing stones." Crystals are said to maintain powerful healing properties, each individual kind unique to what it focuses on bringing to your life or helping you to focus your intention on what needs healing within you or around you. What intrigues me about my collection, is that each stone really does tell its own story and bring something so unique to my life. Beyond the healing properties the stones are intended to share, I have a memory that connects with each one of where I found it, was given it, or of the experience of going to the crystal shop and picking it out. I think that is the most powerful thing about my collection; the story each stones tell, specific to my experience and memory that connects me to it.

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Here is the majority of my earring collection.
My love of earrings and jewelry started in elementary school when I started to make and sell them. I definitely wore 'dangle' earrings as soon as I could after getting my ears pierced at age 8. None of the earrings pictured are from that time period in my life. I've found that I love wearing them. They make me feel powerful and fun! Their display is a cotton woven rug I decided to hang on the wall. Most are handmade and I love to admire and learn about their craftsmanship. Their materials include but are not limited to semi-precious stones, beads, shell, silver, brass, gold, Lucite, actual leaves, and chain mail. Some I've received as gifts, but most have been found thrifting or at art markets. Now with my mask-wearing, it has been interesting to figure out which ones I find comfortable but still gravitate toward.
My collection is always changing just as I am!

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This is part of my Funko collection, I am a huge StarWars fun since the year 2005 and that's about the same time when I started to collect StarWars items. Around the year 2012, I started to see these Funko figures showing up in stores, and back then I don't really like their design, but several years later when their products look better and better, I started to pick them up when I saw the character I like. I know every character's back story that I collect and I watched the documentary about how Funko grows from a four-man garage shop to a multi-million business.
As a collection, I think the point these figures most interested me is I could own some part of these characters that I love, it almost feels like they are with me when I display them. That's the same reason I want to work on museum product design, which I think many people would like to own part of a museum or exhibit.

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My Dice collection!! This is far from everything, just the ones I have on display (there's probably another 20 sets somewhere, lurking, waiting for me to find them again...), but these ones are my favorite. TTRPGs are how I made my only friends in college and I play a lot of them so I like to pick different colors dependent on the kind of character I'm playing. I love the feel and the sound of the dice and I think this test tube display might be one of my favorite things in my apartment.

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My collection of plants! This is just a small section of them but I have probably 50 different varieties in my house that I take care of.

The type of information I know about my plant collection would be, familiar types such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. Also since I have cats Im also very aware which are toxic and which are safe.

I collect plants because i'm a huge conservationist and I love the outdoors. Anytime I can bring the outdoors inside it helps me feel more comfortable and less claustrophobic about being in my house.

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My brother collects DVD movies. This is not a picture of his but his collection is pretty big.

1.) My brother
2.) The movies are from all different kinds of genres. There's over 100 movies, and still collects them even with streaming services.
3.) There's something about picking out a movie off the wall, opening the case, and hitting play on remote. It seems old fashion but it has a different feel to it rather than going on Netflix.

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This is a small portion of the books I have collected. Many are enjoyable reads and stories but a select few have a more interesting factor for me. Many of these books I have acquired secondhand from thrift stores, antique shops, and late family members. In these books are my favorite features of the signatures from their previous owners. One of these books is a copy of Alice in Wonderland published in 1915 that has 3 previous owner's signatures, (can be seen in the center of the photo, Dark green, next to a light green copy of a Love Story).

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This is (a fraction of) my collection of books that I got from my late grandfather. My grandfather was the one who originally collected these books, but I was the one who curated this particular selection. My grandfather owned thousands of books, and after he passed away last year, I was allowed to go through his massive collection and choose some to keep for myself. In the end, I picked around 100 books. Most of the books are are about nature and culture and history because those are topics that interest me. Although none of the books are very expensive or unique (those ones went to my mother), this collection is very close to my heart because it reminds me of my grandfather and reveals just how many of his interests were passed down to me.

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I would have to say that my favorite collection is my dog's squeaky toy collection. I think there's about 15 squeaky toys in his collection and about 6 of them still make noise. He obviously doesn't collect them himself (even if he likes to think he does) but my mom loves to spoil him with new toys. I think I enjoy this collection because it brings him and my family so much joy when he plays with them.

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For years, my father has been collecting glass cups with fictional characters from his youth. These glasses have lived in the cabinet for my whole childhood, making an appearance for special occasions like my dad's birthday. He has characters ranging from Superman to Penguin to Speedy Gonzales. I am interested in this collection because of what I think it represents for my dad. Being raised by a single mom, my dad didn't have the best childhood. I think that these glasses are a way to hold on to his childhood and remind him of happy memories watching cartoons with his sister.

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This is a small part of my magnet collection. It’s my favorite collection because I’ve been buying magnets from every place I visit for the last decade and some magnets have been given to me as gifts so they have sentimental value. Collecting magnets intrigued me because they aren’t a super expensive souvenir so it’s an easy way to have something from everywhere I’ve been.

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This is the whisky collection of Valentino Zagatti. Zagatti was fully blind after a landmine accident in WWII, but due to his love for scotch and whiskey put together an extensive whisky collection nonetheless. It had grown to 2987 unopened bottles by the time he sold his collection in 2015, where it is now all displayed by Scotch Whisky International as its own collection known as "The Unseen Valentino Zagatti Collection". I have a profound love for scotch whisky, and the history and culture behind scotch whisky distilling. When in Scotland, I visit and take as many whisky distillery special tours as I can.

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I collect plants! A lot of my plants are actually babies of other plants that have been passed around my family. I grew up in a home that was covered in plants, inside and out, and was taught to garden at a very young age -- it would feel wrong not to bring a little "jungle" to my IC apartment. I guess I have them organized by size and light requirements. The smaller or succulent types are on the window sill, the less sun-dependent or larger plants live below the window or around the room (shelves, desk, bedside, bathroom, kitchen).

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I collected this lovely array of yarn. I also wound them with my yarn winder. I have a much bigger collection than this but these are the ones that are neatly wound so I wanted to show off these. I have 3 plastic boxes, one square footstool box, a few yarn bags and a cylindrical footrest box all filled with yarn. I am hoping to get everything wound up nicely this year so that they fit more easily in the boxes and they are easier to work with that way. I am a crochet/knitting person and that’s how I got into collecting yarn. Every time I’m at the store for a project I end up getting at least 3 extra yarn skeins that just look pretty. Most of the yarn comes from Joannes or Michael’s but I do have a couple skeins from the local shop Home Ec in downtown Iowa city and one skein my grandmother gave me. The yarn just all feels so nice and I’m really a texture person I won’t buy any yarn that I don’t like the feel of and then of course I go by looks for most of my finds but sometimes I have a pattern I want to try that requires a certain color so I get However much is called for in the pattern plus an extra skein just in case. I love my crafts and my collection reflects that I think even if I don’t know what I’m going to do with a lot of it yet I know I will use it someday. Most of the yarn people I know call our yarn collections our stash and it’s quite fitting I think. I have seen much bigger collections than mine and hopefully someday I will have a huge collection too but it will have to wait until I’m done moving around so much.

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This is a collection of pottery I stumbled across in the Geronimo Springs Museum in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico on Labor Day weekend, five years ago. I was stunned at the number and quality of pieces. The Museum website has only this to describe this wealth of artifacts, "The museum’s Mimbres pottery display, as well as some fine quality Tularosa, Mogollon, and other forms, is world class." The lone docent could not give much more detail, other than to say that the collection consists of pieces locals find on their property and bring in. She added that years ago, people did not attribute any value to the pieces and would use them for target practice. It left a lasting impression on me, and I continue to think about how much could be done to preserve this collection. Maybe some day I can help them.

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This collection on my bookshelf was collected by me. It is my rock collection and contains rocks from Texas to Wisconsin. What is so interesting about this collection to me is the fact that I collected it and I'm a geology major so I find rocks really interesting.

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This is part of the home of Lisa Gill, who is the art director of Enchanted Living magazine (I follow her on Instagram and am also a subscriber to said magazine). She thrifts vintage medieval, Pre-Raphaelite, and similar items from local markets in her area and I really like her aesthetic. What really attracts me to the items she collects is how they invoke a sense of wonder and magic within myself and for the world I live in (I intend to base a good chunk of my future home upon her own and would love to get my hands on similar items).

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1. My roommate is collecting old cameras
2. My roommate goes to garage sales and buys old cameras.  She just started collecting them this summer.
3. I am a photographer and I own an old camera and was thinking about starting my own collection. I am interested because we both find different cameras and it is cool to see what we both can find.

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1. This is my collection of purses.
2. There are 18 purses pictured here, and I have more back at home in Des Moines.
3. I have never really considered myself to to be a collector, but when I read the description of the assignment this was the first thing I thought of. I began buying purses last year, and I now have 20+ purses altogether. I really enjoy having so many purses because I am very into fashion and I think that a great purse can really tie a whole outfit together. Most of my friends have 1 or 2 purses so I think that it is really fun that I have so many I get to choose between.

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Here is my collection of objects from travels as collected by myself, my grandmother and my mom. It was started about 20 years ago and has items from locations in the United States and abroad such as Wyoming, Washington DC, Arizona,  Mexico, South Africa, France, Turkey and Switzerland.

My mom has taken yearly trips since her retirement and she brings me an item from each country she visits. I always do this as well when I travel and I love keeping them together and arranging them in different ways. It is a visual reminder of the places I have been or places that I would like to visit. I enjoy the different shapes, textures and stories behind each item and they are a good conversation starters when people come over to my house. Small items are something I have collected since I was a child, collecting rocks and shells and anything else I could find outside, so this is an extension of that desire to collect but still being able to fit everything neatly in its place in an organized way.

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This photo features a large portion of my fanart collection. I love to show off what I am passionate about, as well as to support small artists, and so I started seriously collecting fanart prints about a year and a half ago. The prints are by a number of artists and feature a range of characters from various forms of media. They are largely based around characters I have loved in my lifetime, however, a few prints were purchased from a close friend of mine or given as free gifts with other purchases. Now, as this is my personal collection, I know quite a bit about the majority of the featured characters, in addition to the artists themselves. The nice thing about purchasing from small artists is the ability to form a relationship with them and to learn more about both the artist and their art.

The intrigue for me largely comes from the ability fanart has to bring people together. Someone who has never met me before could look at this collection and know a lot about who I am as an individual based on the characters and fandoms represented. Fanart is a great conversation starter and it gives others an opening to share what they are passionate about. At the same time, I find it fascinating to see how others interpret the same characters. Many characters are repeated throughout my collection, yet no version of them is exactly the same.

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Weaver, Rebecca

1. I Collect plants, I am a plant momma!

2. These a just a few of my outdoor plants, I saved the Aloe Vera from a dark bottom shelf at lowes when it was itty bitty. The Fern was saved from a spot in my yard where it probably would not have survived; the basil was grown from the seeds, and the Sansivieria was a gift from one of my best friends back home in Oklahoma. I have many more!

3. I would have never considered myself a plant person a few years ago because I just did not have a green thumb, however, I have slowly educated myself and becoming bolder in my plant choices! I love everything about nature and our environment which is probably why I chose a career working outside. I feel happy and re-energized around green oxygen giving earth.

I wish I could show you all of them,but seeing as Im currently working away from home, I do not have a chance to share them.

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This is a Picture of all the things I have collected over the years. The Owl is from Greece, Lighthouse is from Copenhaguen, Scotsman is from Scotland, castanets from Spain, clay cup is from Klaipeda and London scroll is from England and the little painting is from Turkey. All this from my Husbands overseas tour while he was in the Navy and he brought them home to me. The nesting dolls, music box and eggs are from  Russia and I found in antique shops here in Iowa. These are one of my many collections I have and I love that they all tell a story in some way and I would love to see all these places and know some more of the history there.

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Below is a picture of a broadside from WWI, just one document of hundreds housed in the WWI collection at the State Historical Society Building here in Iowa City. I was fortunate enough to work with this collection last spring before everything closed down. The collection is comprised of broadsides, mostly recruitment media, from the First World War that were collected by one person from Iowa who had access to these broadsides. Sadly, I cannot remember his name right now! The thing about this collection that intrigues me is the level of artistry that went into these posters and how the artists so masterfully use imagery to evoke emotions in the American and European audiences. The colors are beautiful, and the call to action usually portrayed in these broadsides is incredibly motivating and moving.

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Here is a photo of my collection of old German books. These books range in date from the 1880s to the 1920s and are written in the German language. Some of the books are religious in nature, some are works of fiction, and some are language learning texts. This collection was accrued by some of my older family members, who then passed it on to me as I am the only one left who 1. Can read German and 2. Appreciates really old books! I love this collection because not only does it give me an excuse to practice reading German, but they tie me to my family’s roots. They may not have monetary value, but I believe all old books have historical value. Maybe someday I will collect more.

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My favorite collection is the miniature book collection that is held by the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections. It was collected by Charlotte M. Smith, a book collector of Newton, IA, and began collecting them in the 1970s. The collection was a gift to the university in 1996, with around 4,000 miniature books. The age of the books span from the 17th century to the present. All of them have been catalogued in the libraries InfoHawk+ feature and you can schedule visits to Special Collections to view them. I’ve always found miniature items cool (that’s why I liked dolls so much I think because they came with little tiny accessories) and the fact that the university actually has this collection of miniature books is amazing. There’s even a 4mm microminiature bible in the collection!

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This is a picture of some of my vintage teddy bear collection and one of my life sized porcelain dolls (I have two). I also have a large collection of porcelain dolls (not pictured here). Almost every one of these were given to me by my Grandmother who collected them over the years. I love this collection as I have had it for most of my life and is one that I can add to and later pass down. I know many people would probably be a little freaked out by a life sized porcelain doll but I've had her for so long it is like she is a part of me.

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This is a photo of items associated with my grandfather.  He enjoyed technology as shown by his; Bell & Howell 8 mm projector,  Eastman Kodak "Brownie" camera, Schick electric razor and my favorite - the full size RCA Victor radio. When I was younger he would let me take home things that I showed an interest in and the bulk of the items I acquired after he died. I also have most of his prison guard uniform (hence the handcuffs) and rotate items out of storage to display randomly.

Seeing and touching these items reconnects me with him as well as to another point in time.

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I took a while to make this post because I was really wracking my brain looking for anything other than my shoes to post about. Mainly because there’s just so many of them and putting them all out and organized like this was a pain in the butt. This is all 101 pairs of shoes I own(96 if you don’t count my dance shoes). And before you even think it, yes I wear all of them. To say my style is eccentric is perhaps a bit of an understatement. My fiancé recently did a Pop-Culture paper about DocMartins and described me aptly as a “fashion chameleon.” I have 6 pairs of Docs, none of them a standard color. For me, getting dressed to go anywhere can mean either a binder, tshirt, jeans, and skate shoes, or it could mean chemise, corset, skirts, stockings and a pair of heeled oxfords. Some of these I’ve had since middle school (I’m 21 now), some have been gifted to me, some from my travels out of the country, and almost all are resale or close out. Most I wear fairly regularly. Even the heels. Especially the heels. My bad knees and genetics make me acutely aware of the time limit I have to be able to wear something as high as I like. Those that don’t get worn regularly are generally the less fancy ones I have for Ren Fairs. I like to dress up in garb outside of fairs but then I’ll generally go for flashy over peasants.

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This is a collection of die cast tractors that belong to my dad. This is just a small portion of what he has. I know that all of the tractors in this collection are Internationals. This collection means a lot to me. Many in this collection are models of machines that my dad and grandpa used while they were still farming. I also enjoy seeing the progression of the machinery through time. I find it interesting to see the steps in between where this kind of equipment started to where it is now.

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These are glass jars filled with a rocks I have collected from my travels around world. Each is filled with rocks and sea glass from a different country including Greece, Italy, France, and Portugal.

Initially I grabbed a rock of two to try to capture of piece of the place and bring it home with me. I eventually brought home enough to fill these little jars because (in my opinion) rocks are the perfect "souvenir" from a far away land. This is because they are are free, unique, they take up little space in my suitcase on the way home and on my shelves at home and the bring me back to the memory of the beaches picking them up.

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This is a collection of Mississippian/Caddoan pottery that is on exhibit at the Heritage Museum in Burlington. The artifacts were collected by a dear friend of mine, Carol Soliem, and her late husband, Baron Graham.
I curated the exhibit, and I love the collection because each piece tells a story. I love how the smoke marks from the firing process make each piece of pottery unique, and how the fingerprints from the past person to handle the pottery before firing are still visible. I love the patina on the chert tools that came from being used to work the earth. I love how they can tell the stories of the people who used them.
And, I especially love the black 'seed pot' in the back. It was likely made by an inexperienced pottery, and is very asymmetrical. I love to imagine how they felt about that piece, from start to finish. This collection has special meaning to me as I am a would-be potter, and I am Native American, so this is a special connection to the Ancestors.

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This is a photo of two collections combined. One is my rock collection and the other is my son's minion collection. They have both been intentionally curated and selected based on themes. I love the beauty and fun of these collections combined.

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My favorite collection I have ever seen is my friend Cade's hockey stick collection. He has basically just kept every stick he and his brothers have ever used and has amassed quite a pile of sticks.I enjoy the collection because it is cool to see how much stick technology has changed from when his oldest bother who is 35 played down to when we played being 22.