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Organizing and Keeping Track of Your Stash

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stash bustingThis is the part of talking about stash that I’m really not equipped to talk to you about, because I’m really bad at storing my stash in any rational way. Every year or so I will decide I’m going to put everything on Ravelry (I’ve even written about how to organize your knitting life on Ravelry, though I’ve never actually done it) and then I realize what I giant pain that would be to actually do and don’t actually do it.

Some of my yarn is pretty well organized. I have a giant bin of basic acrylics, for one thing, and all my sock yarn is in one bin. I have a door organizer full of Cascade 220 and another giant bin of basic cotton yarn

But the rest of it is here, there, everywhere. I couldn’t tell you what’s there or how much of it I have in a lot of cases.

So I’m opening this one up to you: how do you organize your stash and keep track of what’s in it? Maybe your brilliant ideas will help motivate me to figure out what I have and where it’s hiding!

 

Comments

  1. I was keeping it in two totes and two buckets, with some here and there, too. Yesterday I pulled it all out, and am trying to resort and restore!I did conquer the circs first.

  2. So far, I have 2 large & 2 smaller Sterlite crates full of yarns that must be kept away from moths. Most of my sock yarn is in one of the large crates, most of my laceweights are in the other. However, most of the worsted & heavier weights are simply in ziplocs inside large totes — I’ve run out of places for the crates!

  3. My small collection is on/in a bookcase so I can see what I have. Arranged by color. Trying not to buy (hoard) more til I use what I have!!! But we know how that goes…

  4. Hello,
    I kept mine in plastic bins and those giant zip lock bags. Mainly because I do not want mice to get in them. Recently I sorted my yarn by project. Like the fuzzy yarn like Cha-cha yarn together for scarves. Baby yarn for baby projects and etc.

    The giant Ziploc bags are for little squares. If I have small balls of yarn, I’ll knit little squares out of them and later it would become a blanket.

    I also have a notebook which I keep details notes of which yarn is in what bin for the sake of my sanity and my back.

  5. I have a 12 area PVC pipes made into 12 spaces and store in my garage with plastic containers that I put my yarns according to wt and ply in those Ziplock storage bags and then in plastic sterlite containers. I then take a label or make tags out of material that states what’s inside. My stash has 2 of everything from speciality to baby and cotton and 4 ply. My colors are ones I like and add a few tweeds & multi colors to add a little color. Keep in mind I live in Fl and they’re Palmettos ugh and other creatures that can get into containers, therefor I use ziplock to keep them out and any wool I keep in my craft/quilting area in my home!

Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn. 

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small. 

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches. 

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come. 

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you. 

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?). 

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry. 

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns. 

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]