Organizing My Yarn Stash
My goal for this year was to use up my yarn stash. In order to do this I decided to start by getting my stash organized. We have a woodstove, which creates tremendous amounts of dust, so I decided to get some clear plastic totes to store it in, as opposed to those awesome cubbies everyone else is using.
The point of clear was to be able to see the colors. There have been so many times I don’t even look to see if I have something because I don’t want to dig through my stash. I figured if my goal was really to try to use it up this year then I needed to be able to see what I had.
On my 1st venture to the store I picked up 3 – 56 qt. totes. I got halfway to the registers and decided to go back and get 2 more. I live 1/2 hour to the closest store, so it’s easier to return it than run back out if I need more. I got them home and got right to work.
I pulled out the yarn from my walk-in closet.
I pulled out the yarn from my little yarn corner of the living room.
I pulled out totes (not clear) that I already had put in the basement.
I then started to organize by yarn weight and labeled the buckets. I put all pastels in one bucket, winter/darker colors in another, etc.
Then I ran out of buckets – oops!
So, on my next trip into town, I stopped at the store again. Again, I was only going to get 2 more, but something told me to pick up some extras. So I ended up getting 4. Back home I went to work again. Then, the unthinkable happened.
I ran out of buckets again! – All I could think of was “Great, now that I have all my yarn in one spot Danny (my hubby) is going to know just how much yarn I really have.” lol – (Don’t worry, I came clean and he still loves me.)
So, I’m embarrased to say that I have 9 large buckets of yarn, and 3 small ones, and I still have 2 more boxes of yarn in the basement, yarn on my island, yarn on my computer desk…..you get the hint.
>I have tried to organise my stash this year but couldn't decide wether to group as colours, or yarn type???That is quite a stash you have there, xx
>You have been busy organzing your yarn. Mine is all in rubbermade totes. But not all of my totes are the clear ones. And I don't have them organized by color groups either. That is a great idea. :)
>Jacey,I actually had enough that I could organize by both.#4 – light colors#4 – dark colorsYou might be able to just get smaller containers and do it that way.
>I have been meaning to do that too! Thanks for the inspiration!!
>that looks great! I need to get more bins. I have several, albeit not all of them clear…I like the clear ones so you can see through…I have to work on that this year. By the way: I love my Crochet Hook you sent me. It's very, very comfortable…I may have to buy those soft grips for all my hooks…thank you so much!
>Awesome stash! I thought I had a lot of yarn… and I say that even though I know there are many out there who have way more than I do. I want to create with your stash!
>Oh my goodness, good job! You're not alone – I started this recently, too. There's still yarn all over the place here, as well. :P~Danielle @ FromATangledSkein
>Sarah,I'd love to create with my stash too. Now all I need is time.
>I'm a new follower =)wow I thought I had a huge collection!! I keep trying to organize my stash but it keeps getting crazy tangled… I have a HUGE ball of a million different strands and cannot for the life of me get it untangled… I'm such an organized mess!I'm actally slightly jealous of all the yarn you got there! lol!
>haha – Lauren, it's taken me about 10 years to build a yarn stash like this.