Nearly everyone who takes up knitting as a hobby has run into troubles with organizing his or her yarn stash. Whether you have just a few skeins or your stash is spilling out of your closets, keeping your yarn organized can make knitting even more fun. These five tips will help you organize your yarn
Nearly everyone who takes up knitting as a hobby has run into troubles with organizing his or her yarn stash. Whether you have just a few skeins or your stash is spilling out of your closets, keeping your yarn organized can make knitting even more fun. These five tips will help you organize your yarn stash and keep it from becoming cluttered.
1) Start with an honest assessment
Before you can choose an effective organization system for your yarn, find out how much and what types you already have on hand. Go through your stash, including the skeins hiding in project bags, and determine what you want to keep and what you might prefer to donate, gift or sell.
Take pictures of the yarn you plan to keep. Depending on the size of your stash and your available time, you may want to take pictures of individual skeins or batch the yarn by brand or type.
2) Thin out your collection
If you do have yarn that you no longer want to keep in your collection, move it out before continuing to organize. You can gift yarn to friends or family who knit or crochet, donate it to a local charitable cause, give it out for free to local knitters on Craigslist on Freecyle or bring it to your local knitting group.
You may also consider listing the yarn for sale on Etsy, eBay, Ravelry or Craigslist. While selling your yarn is likely to be the most lucrative option, it will probably take the most time and effort, so consider if a less profitable but faster solution to your unwanted yarn is best for your situation.
3) Choose a storage style
Once you know what is in your stash, and you have removed any unwanted yarn, consider the type of storage options that will work best for you.
Open storage options, like bowls, baskets with an open top and bookcases, allow your yarn collection to shine. These can bring color into any room and serve as a consistent reminder of what you already have in your stash. If you have a larger home, creating a yarn library may even be an option. On the other hand, your yarn may become exposed to damaging light, critters, pet dander, or dust.
Out-of-sight storage options, like plastic tubs, storage chests, and vacuum seal storage bags, can protect your yarn from harm. These options are also helpful when you have limited space for display. You will see your yarn less often, though, which may mean that you forget what you have on hand already.
If you have the available space, consider combining some open and out-of-sight storage options to create pops of colors around the home while making it easier to care for your yarn collection.
4) Thematically organize
Once you have curated your stash and chosen the type of storage containers that work best for your home, organize your yarn thematically. The most popular options are by color, fiber content, weight, or project type. Choose a theme that makes sense for the way that you think about your yarn collection and your projects. Some knitters have a very focused collection with only one fiber content and weight, so organizing by color would work best. If you have a more varied collection, you may fill one plastic bin with medium weight acrylic yarn, and fill a decorative bowl with your favorite hand dyed wool blend sock yarn for display in your workspace, for example.
5) Digitize
To keep your yarn organized over the long haul, digitize your stash. Use the pictures you took and post your yarn online using Ravelry’s stash feature, or by hashtagging all your pictures as #yarn on Instagram. Include notes about where the yarn is stored, as well as fun facts like where you bought it and the project you plan to knit with it. Before going to a fiber festival or your local yarn shop, look through your virtual stash. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can even bring your virtual stash with you when you go shopping to pick out complementary colors! As you buy new yarn, snap a picture and add it to your digital collection.
By following these five tips, you can get your yarn stash organized and create a system to help it stay that way!