I came across this photo a the string ball my husband made years ago and we gave away when we were cleaning out our house in Denver.



Back in the old days before everyone had a personal computer on their desk at work the results of computer programs were printed out from main frame computers in the form of 'jobs.' At the aerospace company where Mr. Troutbend worked (for 26 years) the jobs were tied up with string to separate them. He couldn't stand the waste of throwing the string away so he saved it and made this string ball. As each new piece was joined he very carefully tied a square knot and nobody else could do it right. This wasn't all the string he had: there was a box of loose string, and a smaller ball that he kept to bring up here in case we'd ever need some white string.

Eventually the company started packaging the jobs in clear plastic that they sealed with heat. He brought a lot of those empty plastics home and used them to sort his tax back-up piles.