How do you keep your yarn wrangling organized? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organization exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organized at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organized, blog about an aspect of that organization process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organized stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.
Tips: Many people use their blogs partly as an organizational tool – logging and cataloging projects and newly attained skills, projects and modifications. Did you bare this in mind when you began blogging?
Alright.
I admit it.
I have a lot of yarn.
No, really, I have a lot of yarn. My stash on Ravelry doesn't even begin to cover what I have hiding - it's maybe 10% of my yarn. And then there's the roving...but I don't have nearly as much of that. And, really does that count as stash?
Oh, and then there's my knitting needles, crochet hooks, books, loose patterns, notebooks of notes, and my own patterns that I've written down but not done anything "official" with (yet).
My crochet hooks are, for the most part, stored up in the little jar from whence I found them. Those are in my main knitting bag (from The Plucky Knitter). My straight needles are in a huge vase in my bedroom. I have each pair rubberbanded together so I don't have to dig too far for them. My DPNs are stored in DPN tubes that I got from Knit Picks (except for anything larger than #10.5 because they don't fit in the tube)...those are in a basket with some skeins of yarn on the same bookshelf that the vase of straight needles are sitting in.
A problem of interest are my fixed circular needles. I have several...most of them get put back into their respective packages, which I store in a small project bag or I put needles of the same size into one package to reduce the number of packages. My interchangeable circulars are fine...no problems with that. But the fixed circulars......I just hate looking for them. I've thought about putting them into hanging file folders in their packages so I don't have to dig through them...but then I'd have to have somewhere to put said file folders and I just don't feel like it.
Books....booksbooksbooks. I have a lot of knitting books. Who am I kidding? I have a lot of books, knitting and otherwise. Because we didn't get a chance to fully clean out my grandparents' house before moving in, getting all my books in one space has been somewhat difficult. There's a huge built-in bookshelf with glass doors in the room that will eventually become my office. I can maybe, perhaps, put my books in there...organize them by category and how often I use them and other types of things. It's my goal. But first, I need to clean out my office.
I have a bookshelf in the living room (where I have a small selection of my knitting books, and all of our classic board games from Target). I have a bookshelf in the bedroom (where the majority of my knitting books and binders of loose patterns are contained). I have another storage thing in the bedroom...I think there are two or three knitting books there (and some yarn contained within). Oh, and then there's the other bookshelves in the house and the closet(s)...but most of my knitting books are in the bedroom.
But, let's get back to the yarn. Yarn is important :) And Bob knows I have enough...but that doesn't stop me from buying more.
Most of my yarn is stored in Rubbermaid bins (30 gal., or 76 qt., or around that size). So far, I have six that are stuffed full of yarn, sitting in a hallway closet. I have one in the living room, also stuffed (those are recent purchases). I think I have one more half-stuffed one, also in the aforementioned closet. Oh, and let's not forget about two dresser drawers packed full (those are fully stashed and photographed on Ravelry)...and the yarn basket sitting with the DPNs on the bookshelf...and the other storage thingy has some yarn in there...and there's a HUGE pile in my living room that isn't in a bin at all (recent purchases)...
I think my yarn is getting out of hand. I don't organize by yarn weight but if I have a bunch of similar types (Lion Brand Cotton Ease, for example) or a bunch of the same yarn, same color, same dyelots (like my sweater quantities of Cascade 220), I tend to put them together. But, that isn't always true (hence some of my yarn on my stash page saying that the yarn is located in two places).
My yarn stash is a work in progress...an organizational WIP, if you will. My intent is to make myself accountable for my stash...all of it. It may force me to do some work getting rid of my yarn (either by selling or by FOs).
Other knitting type things that require some kinds of organization are my project bags, stitch markers, pattern holder, post-it notes......they're kind of scattered everywhere.
Someday, I'll get it all organized and taken care of......and there will be photographic evidence :)
Tips: Many people use their blogs partly as an organizational tool – logging and cataloging projects and newly attained skills, projects and modifications. Did you bare this in mind when you began blogging?
Alright.
I admit it.
I have a lot of yarn.
No, really, I have a lot of yarn. My stash on Ravelry doesn't even begin to cover what I have hiding - it's maybe 10% of my yarn. And then there's the roving...but I don't have nearly as much of that. And, really does that count as stash?
Oh, and then there's my knitting needles, crochet hooks, books, loose patterns, notebooks of notes, and my own patterns that I've written down but not done anything "official" with (yet).
My crochet hooks are, for the most part, stored up in the little jar from whence I found them. Those are in my main knitting bag (from The Plucky Knitter). My straight needles are in a huge vase in my bedroom. I have each pair rubberbanded together so I don't have to dig too far for them. My DPNs are stored in DPN tubes that I got from Knit Picks (except for anything larger than #10.5 because they don't fit in the tube)...those are in a basket with some skeins of yarn on the same bookshelf that the vase of straight needles are sitting in.
A problem of interest are my fixed circular needles. I have several...most of them get put back into their respective packages, which I store in a small project bag or I put needles of the same size into one package to reduce the number of packages. My interchangeable circulars are fine...no problems with that. But the fixed circulars......I just hate looking for them. I've thought about putting them into hanging file folders in their packages so I don't have to dig through them...but then I'd have to have somewhere to put said file folders and I just don't feel like it.
Books....booksbooksbooks. I have a lot of knitting books. Who am I kidding? I have a lot of books, knitting and otherwise. Because we didn't get a chance to fully clean out my grandparents' house before moving in, getting all my books in one space has been somewhat difficult. There's a huge built-in bookshelf with glass doors in the room that will eventually become my office. I can maybe, perhaps, put my books in there...organize them by category and how often I use them and other types of things. It's my goal. But first, I need to clean out my office.
I have a bookshelf in the living room (where I have a small selection of my knitting books, and all of our classic board games from Target). I have a bookshelf in the bedroom (where the majority of my knitting books and binders of loose patterns are contained). I have another storage thing in the bedroom...I think there are two or three knitting books there (and some yarn contained within). Oh, and then there's the other bookshelves in the house and the closet(s)...but most of my knitting books are in the bedroom.
But, let's get back to the yarn. Yarn is important :) And Bob knows I have enough...but that doesn't stop me from buying more.
Most of my yarn is stored in Rubbermaid bins (30 gal., or 76 qt., or around that size). So far, I have six that are stuffed full of yarn, sitting in a hallway closet. I have one in the living room, also stuffed (those are recent purchases). I think I have one more half-stuffed one, also in the aforementioned closet. Oh, and let's not forget about two dresser drawers packed full (those are fully stashed and photographed on Ravelry)...and the yarn basket sitting with the DPNs on the bookshelf...and the other storage thingy has some yarn in there...and there's a HUGE pile in my living room that isn't in a bin at all (recent purchases)...
I think my yarn is getting out of hand. I don't organize by yarn weight but if I have a bunch of similar types (Lion Brand Cotton Ease, for example) or a bunch of the same yarn, same color, same dyelots (like my sweater quantities of Cascade 220), I tend to put them together. But, that isn't always true (hence some of my yarn on my stash page saying that the yarn is located in two places).
My yarn stash is a work in progress...an organizational WIP, if you will. My intent is to make myself accountable for my stash...all of it. It may force me to do some work getting rid of my yarn (either by selling or by FOs).
Other knitting type things that require some kinds of organization are my project bags, stitch markers, pattern holder, post-it notes......they're kind of scattered everywhere.
Someday, I'll get it all organized and taken care of......and there will be photographic evidence :)
LOL - I have a huge huge huge lot of yarns - and I am in a 24ft rv. People are amazed.. but I make it work... LOVED LOVED your article
ReplyDelete