Yarn Organization and Inspiration

A few weeks ago, I was suddenly hit with the urge to ORGANIZE. Now, this situation does not happen often. So when it does, I need to act fast. For example, I still have my Grandmother’s old knitting machine sitting in a bedroom (which needs some fixing) which I haven’t touched in over a year. (Well, actually, I have old knitting machines from both of my Grandma’s, which makes my lack of projects on these machines even sadder. But think of how great it will be when I eventually do fix them!)

Anyhoo, my yarn stash was sort of divided into different reusable grocery bags on a project-by-project basis, which enabled my nomadic crocheting lifestyle. Looking for a particular colour? Good luck and godspeed.

I decided to consult the internet and spent many delightful hours on Pinterest looking at different ideas for how to organize my stash. I knew I wanted to organize by colour (since this was clearly the prettiest technique) and I also needed a method of organizing the little yarn bits, which were just strewn and tangled among the different grocery bags.

Upon dumping the grocery bags, it looked like this:

I hit up Target and bought a couple of hanging shelves (very inexpensive) and small Tupperwares (also very inexpensive). The rest was a long process of untangling, and rolling back up into balls.

Boo, as always, was extremely helpful.

Now it looks like this:

Much better. The hardest part was rolling the bits of yarn into balls, but it was so worth it. If you’re attempting this on your stash, I recommend doing it in front of some good TV.

After I had all of my yarn bits in their small Tupperware containers, it really made me want to use them up. I was in need of a new iPhone case, so inspiration struck!

I made a Granny Square blanket for my Mom a couple of years ago, which turned out really well. It’s based on this amazing pattern from Annie’s Attic. (I’m sure I’ll go back and make another someday. Once you Granny Stripe, there’s no going back.)

I used the same pattern to make an envelope-style case. It’s definitely not a space saver, but I liked the look of it.

I used a string to secure my envelope. I’m pleased with it.

The only downside is that once it’s been kicking around inside my purse for a while (with all of the other things that live in my purse), the yarn can start looking a little worn. I suppose cleaning out my purse would be the logical next step, but let’s just take this whole organizing thing one step at a time. 😉