organizing yarn

[astridz55]

I know that can be difficult but I wanted to get peoples opinion on the best way to organize one's stach so it can be used most effectively. Any ideas would be welcome.

We are in the middle of a move and I want to have the stash put away once I can find it all to unpack it.

Hubby says to barcode it all and put it in a personal warehouse. The meanie.

[nucki]

I think a lot of it depends on just how big your yarn stash IS.

 

Me, I don't have a huge stash (although I have to admit it seems to be growing now that we have more money!). So what I did was go out and buy myself a 4-drawer chest (you can see it here). It's a lot bigger than it looks in the picture, though. I have all my supplies and patterns in the top drawer, all my novelty yarn and natural materials (cotton, etc) in the second drawer, and the bottom 2 are filled with acrylic, since that's what I use the most. I keep it in the corner of my living room, since that's where I do the most of my crocheting.

 

But someone with a bigger stash would find that MY solution wouldn't work for them. So again I say it all depends on how big your stash is.

[laurastar0962]

I find that I do better organising by tyoe. I have a large stash (over 1000) and like green so it would be difficult to do by color

[losingmymind2]

Organized? Stash is supposed to be organized? oh dear I'm TRYING to get it organized. I have some large storage tubs I can divide the yarn between acrylic and wool, but after that I'm not sure.

[Tiga]

Mine is organized by project, as I rarely buy yarn without knowing what I'm going to do with it.

 

I have yarn for projects I've yet to start in Space Bags as I won't need to get to it. I have yarn for current projects in Ziploc big bags - these are the skeins I'm not currently using.

 

I keep my scrap yarn in one Ziploc big bag and some scrap baby yarn in a comforter bag that zips up, so that it's handy when I need it.

 

For projects that are long term, ongoing projects, like the 63 squares afghan, I have 3 3-drawer plastic organizers to hold the skeins I don't currently have a hook in.

 

In the living room, I have 2 large and two small wicker baskets that hold projects with hooks in them, as well as a small "ladder" that has small canvas bags. I use that to hold my cotton yarn for dishcloths, and some small projects that are good to take with me when I'm out of the house.

 

It's not the most elegant storage system, but this way, I can easily find the yarn for whatever project I have a fancy to work on at that moment.

[goaliemom33]

I have one of the nine section cubes that you can find in the closet organizing section of Walmart, Target, Lowes, etc. It has bins that fit into the sections so I keep my projects in them and then keep my extra yarn in the cubes that do not have the bins. It works great and looks neat as well.

 

Pam

[tigermom]

I just started gathering yarn again. What I did was, I had two plastic zip bags that mattress pads came in. I put my yarn in them. Projects in the works I put in 2 gal (or what ever size is best) zip lock bags with the yarn and pattern, then they go into a huge tote bag. Some day the tote will be empty! The dollar store here had under the bed zip storage bags that would be prefect for a large amt of yarn. It is clear so you can see the yarn at a glance.

[carovan]

Organized? Stash is supposed to be organized? oh dear I'm TRYING to get it organized. I have some large storage tubs I can divide the yarn between acrylic and wool, but after that I'm not sure.

 

LOL That's my opinion too! You mean I'm supposed to organize what I have? My stash isn't very big, because my house isn't very big. Mostly it surrounds my chair in the 5th wheel trailer. Now I suppose I'll need to buy a couple of containers to organize it . It probably would look a little better if I organized it some.

[Tampa Doll]

Mine is sorted in colors. The colors I use the most are easy to get to. I have several of the cubes from Walmart on the shelves of my closets.

Love the bar code idea, but not the wearhouse. Still laughing about that though.

[krzykajun]

I don't have a "huge" stash, but it is growing. A couple of months ago I went through all of it. I wrote down what I had by brand, weight. and the amount I had. Then I made me a table in WordPerfect with all that info. I add to the table each time I buy new yarn. As for storage I use the clear totes, comforter bags and those big Ziploc bags.

[The_Virginia_Hooker]

I bought those flat Sterilite under-bed storage containers (about $12 each) to put my stash in. They stack on top of each other, are clear so you can see the contents.

[Lady_of_Roses]

I really need to actually organize my stash, so I'm probably not much help.

 

One thing I do like to do is "bag up" projects that I intend to do so that when I want to start a new project, I can just grab the bag itself out of my room instead of rooting thru my yarn.

[MyissaG]

ORaganized ???? LOL! I tired. And I failed miserably. Owell, atleast I have most of it in Rubermaid totes. I do have my ww cottens in there own tote. I also have two totes of thread that I will never use. I have been going through it and got rid of some. But replaced that with more. LOL!!!

I couldn't imagine having it organized by colors, or even organized by brand.

[secretstasher]

my stash is organised chaos on the spare room bed. I have bagged it up into colours that co ordinate. when I finish one project I go hunting for inspiration.

[butterfly_girl]

I really need or organize my stash! It's out of control! lol I've got it in 4 totes so far, and can fill 2 or 3 more i think! It's pretty much all acrylic, and a bit of wool. mostly all worsted weight, some sport weight. no fancy yarns. I would really like to sort it by color, and then by weight. I've got it all over the house, closets, living room, bedroom.......car....

[Selune]

My stash is organized by weight and color. For instance, all my variegated yarn is in the same bin, all Homespun in same bin, all "fur" in same bin. Then, they are further broken down into color. I buy big clear sided stacking bins, and try to stick one skein of each yarn on the outside, and the extras on the inside. That way, not only can I pick out a tub with the color I want, I can also easily see which shades I have by the colors you can see through the side. The only downside is that if I like one from the bottom or want to see the color more clearly, it's digging time to get to the bottom of the bin.