I have this burning question...

[shortylam]

How do you organize your stash and your WIPs?

yesterday I decided to organize my room and to my horror, the yarn stash and WIPs took over 1/2 of my closet. And I have a nice walk-in closet. So right now my dilemma is to organize the stash and the WIPs so that I can have more space in my closet. Otherwise I feel like I can't breath.

 

Unlike other lucky ladies, I don't have another room to store my stash. I'm a student who lives in a space-limiting apartment. Although I try to restrain myself, it's hard to go to JoAnn's and not bring home any yarn. As I get more yarn, I need to find projects for them. And in the middle of one project, I usually get bored and start a new one. Now I have 4 WIPs going on, each of them separated in a plastic bag. So now my stash is in a big clear plastic container and 4 WIPs are in 4 gigantic plastic bags. Not so aesthetic looking at all!

 

And how do you deal with left-over yarns? I can't throw any yarn away, even when they're just a bit left. Do you wind them into balls?

 

I don't know how to deal with the stash issue anymore. I need some room in my closet, otherwise I can't breath!

 

HELP!

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

I don't I need to organize & try to but it always ends up a mess again

[tracyleigh]

Organize? ((running to find my dictionary))

 

[eebrs]

I'm in a small apartment too. Which may be why I don't have much of a stash -that and the limited income. I hate to say it, but one of the best remedies may be to buckle down and finish the WIPs. I try not to start another if I already have 2 going. It motivates me to finish something. Most of my recent projects have been small, which helps as well.

[Daisy]

Tracyleigh That was too funny!

My stash and WIPs are a mess right now too, but when I do organize, I keep all my yarns in those large plastic bins with lids. If I get more yarn, I have to get another bin, lol. I also keep an extra bin for my WIPs, so I can find them....rather than scour the house to find them hidden in a bag somewhere. I stack my bins to save space.

[shortylam]

yeah, finishing the WIPs is one big thing I need to do. It'll take me lots of strength to do it but I'm sure I'll be done with all of them this summer.

[laurastar0962]

i keep buying plastic tubs, but I still buy more, there is no organizing here, just more piling up

[tracyleigh]

Hm, right now I have some of my stuff in a hope chest in my craft room. Which is in a completely different building that my actual living area.

I also have a 2nd cedar hope chest in my living room which is full of yarn That hope chest is piled high (almost to the ceiling) with more yarn

Well hey...at least I'm not hiding my stash:think

[nnt]

I bought a storage shed! :lol But DH STILL complains the stash takes up too much space from all his yard tools!

[Mermaiden]

Yarn - goes into storage tubs and the new huge Ziploc bags. All - well mostly all of those - stacked onto a storage rack.

WIP's, well those lay on a table, in a closed room, to keep my cats and their fur off it, LOL.

[Burgandy]

:laughroll Organize?? You mean the pile behind the couch doesn't count? :rofl

[bettycrackpot]

i bought a rubber tote and a cheap notebook. (yay dollar store! ) i sorted the stash into full skiens and partials. i rolled all the partials into balls, and wrote down EVERY single skein and ball. i included how much i had (i guesstimated on balls) what weight it was, brand and fiber. i also wrote down if i had an actual project for the yarn. as for the WIPs; i use canvas totes you can buy at wallys for cheap. HTH!!!

[Trinket]

I have a tote that I put full skeins into. And then there's a Rubbermaid storage box that I keep partial skeins, balls, hooks and other equipment, and WIP's in.

[Lady_of_Roses]

I took project cards (like you can use for needlepoint) and put a sample of each yarn on, and noted down what brand and color the yarn was. Then I throw the "scraps" of yarn that are of similar type together in a ziploc and put them away. (Like RH Super Saver, and Caron Pounders together, etc) That way stuff that washes and works up about the same is together for future scrapghans.

[RoseRed]

If it's behind the couch that is organized!

[darcee]

It took years, but I finally conditioned myself to only having 3 WIP. Well maybe 4, well maybe 5. Okay, i really try. I an now doing projects to use some of my yarn in the stash:lol :lol

[Crocus58]

What I used to do decades ago, when rocks were soft and storage space limited, was once a year make a firm (yea right) deal with myself not to purchase any more yarn until I'd used up what I had. Since I was poor and had a small apartment that really wasn't a problem.

 

Now I've got 5 rubbermaid totes in the downstairs bedroom (the last kid moved out a year ago) along with 2 large HL shopping bags, a 6' buffet in the living room filled (this is all full skeins) and 2 WIPS in tote bags in the guestroom, a cardboard box of scraps (to make squares for my scrapghan) in the guest closet, a ottoman filled with various WIPS and WIPS stashed in the new bookcase in the TV room. I thought I was running low (since I only saw the totes and bags) until I opened up the buffet to look for a serving dish and discovered it was full of yarn!!! Is that organized?

[CrochettingMama]

I have a spare/guest room. My full skeins are in totes and the huge ziploc bags and a trunk.

My partial skeins that are big I have in a giant ziploc. Some I roll into balls.

My 3 WIPS are in a basket on a chair and in canvas bags. I only ever have 3 or less wips and I don't start anything until I finish one WIP, so I only ever have 3.

Finish your wips, get a nice basket or two and store some yarn or wips in them.

[kkms]

don't know if this will help you any but check out this thread.... make sure you see her remedy!

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49409

[SmittenKitten]

Plastic Bins @!

 

I have meows with urinary rebellion issues and anything that gets left down other than the floor gets wet on out of spite:no

(BAD KITTY)

I find lots of cheapo plasti storage organizers that tuck neatly into closet or roll to living room that stash my stash !

[Aphadon]

Well, I *try* to put all my yarn into containers/drawers, but that doesn't always work...

 

Right now, I have WIPs on my bed, yarn tucked down beside my headboard and a chest at the end of my bed, in a big plastic drawer unit I need to empty for baby clothes, and WIPs, yarn, and FOs in two big pink Rubbermaid bins in the basement. I should probably get another bin just to move everything into one spot, but I'm lazy *lol*

[mustang lady]

I try to keep mine organized in the plastic storage totes, but that sometimes doesn't work. I have a wicker basket that I keep the projects that I am currently working on in by the couch. I sometimes think that yarn reproduces just as bad as rabbits do.

[RoseRed]

When I start a project i buy a gift bag to give it away in. It's great for keeping the yarn and the wip all together. Now if I could just stop starting projects and start finishing them I might get somewhere.

[Me&P]

We're space limited as well.

 

I recently did a major destashing (about $450 in my Paypal acct after fees). I decided that there was no reason that I needed yarn that I did not have projects in mind for - save the staples that I use for stuff all the time (I make a lot of baby blankets so I allowed myself to keep the CottonTots in white and cream, of which I have over 20 skeins each). I also allowed myself to keep a few of the things I bought on vacation or that were a little pricier that I REALLY wanted to use but was waiting to "speak" to me. Otherwise, just stuff I had projects for. That's it. I have about 1/4 of what I did before.

 

That really helped a lot. Now, I know where everything is, I know what I want to do with it. I don't forget I have it or have to pull everything out to see what I have just to run to the store and buy something else just b/c I didn't want to work with what was in my stash already.

 

As for being organized, I have a couple of plastic drawer things (2 with 2 big bins each and 2 with 3 smaller drawers each) in the closet. My yarn is in plastic ziplock bags with the other yarn like it and then placed into the drawers.

 

I have a basket downstairs along with my small take-along tote box that holds my hooks and notions for my WIPs.

 

Oh, and I also have some yarn downstairs that I use for "decorating." I have a metal stand with 3 hanging baskets that are full of yarn and a basket on top of my entertainment center that has some neat yarn in it, too.

 

If the yarn is a natural fiber, I put it in a baggie and then I'll toss the bits into the chiminea when I light it up. If it isn't natural or it's just a little too much to burn, I put it in another baggie that I save and then give away (I posted it here last time I did it and someone asked for it - she did lots of little projects).

[shortylam]

Thanks for all your lovely comments so far. You all make me feel much better now as I thought I was the only person who has the stash problem

 

My own issue was I did not have a proper storage place. So I stored all my yarns in a card board box that a friend of mine sent a while ago in one swap (Hi Sherri!) As I did not see how much yarn I have, I kept on buying more and more, thinking that I would use them of this wonderful project and that incredible pattern. Well, wonderful things don't happen everywhere and now I'm in a phase that I would be extremely happy just to crochet or knit some couple of hours straight.

 

However, time constraint still could not keep me from buying more yarn (because I didn't see how much I have, really!) Until yesterday when I cleaned the closet that I realized how much I really have. Compared to a lot of people here at c'ville, my stash is a baby. Really, they don't cost me that much because I used my coupons wisely and I never buy anything from the LYS. But the facts that WIPs are pilling up and yarns are everywhere really bother me to no end.

 

I was thinking of the garment hanger for once but it will take a lot of difference in my income to have such a stash to use such thing. But I'll keep that in mind

 

Now my stash is pretty much under control. The full-skein yarns are in one plastic container so that I can see how much I have EVERYDAY! The odd yarns will be winded into balls and I'm thinking of getting a ball winder. I'm about to cross one WIP off my list and it's a big relief! The other 3 are just fun projects since I tackle the big one first.

 

I guess I will never say "no" to yarn. It's something so precious not to buy, and touch, and pet, right?