photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Bless her heart,

she gave me a couple more

of the fab wire baskets

that she made a few years ago.

Here’s one of the

new ones,

sitting on the

shelf that lives

on my knitting machine

table.

When I was

busy admiring

the new baskets,

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I realized how  much

I love using baskets

for organizing studio

stuff, and that I have

baskets by the dozens.

(There’s another one of

Chloe’s baskets in this

pic, too)

So, I started taking

photos of some of

the baskets in

my studio,

and before long

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I had taken

almost 50 photos….

I won’t bore you

with photos of

all the studio

baskets, but

there are a few

baskets that are

dear to my heart…..

The blue wicker basket

is an old one that I bought

when I was a teenager. I painted a sheet of masonite with a homage to oriental carpets, and wired it to the top and used the basket as a table. Now, it holds a huge whopper of a melon basket that I found at a garage sale this summer. They are both great for yarn storage.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I thought that I would

also include a pic

of Ms Kitty examining

a couple baskets

that I have just recently

made.

I posted a tutorial

on how to spool knit

the basket that is full

of spool knitters.

The crocheted basket is made

with yarn that I spun from

paper streamers from the Blue Man Group show last month.

Baskets are one of the most ancient ways of organizing the stuff of our lives.  They are also a wonderful way of expressing creativity, because every handmade basket is, by it’s very nature, completely unique.

Do you have any favorite baskets?

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

They are useful,

and can be embellished

in endless ways

to make them one of a kind.

There are a million ways to make a basket.

One of the most fun

ways of making

baskets is to spool knit them.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

To make a

spool knitted

basket,

you’ll need to

spool knit a heap

of cord.

Luckily, this is a

very pleasant and

contemplative task.

Make a couple

of yards each of

2 contrasting colors.

I like to use my 2 peg

Cordelia spool knitters

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

as they are so speedy

when I’m spooling up lots of cord.

Making a basket

is much easier if

you have a mold

to shape it over.

So, for this basket,

I used an empty

olive oil tin.

Trace the bottom of

the tin onto graph paper

and draw lines at the center.

Find a chunk of foam or

use several pieces of

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

cardboard so

you can stick pins in it.

Pin the 2 cords to the center

of the pattern.

Bring one of the cords around

the other,

and then,

coil them

in a spiral,

until you fill

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

in all the lines.

It’s a good idea

to pin the cords to

the pattern,

but you might

prefer to not

pin….

you’ll begin

the stitching

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

process at the

center of the

coils.

Stitch through 3 cords

at a time, working

your way around

the coils.

Place the stitches fairly

close together for

sturdiness.  As you stitch,

the shape of  the base of

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

the basket

is being established,

so squinch and

squeeze to make

the base fit the pattern.

When the base is

complete,

lift it off the foam

and continue wrapping

2 cords around the tin.

Stitch through both of them, and through the last cord of the previous round. (Remember, you always stitch through 3 cords at a time).

What do you do if you run out of cord?  Grab your spool knitter and spool knit some more!

You can weave in the ends later, so don’t worry!

Finish the basket by cutting the last round of spool knitting, taking the end through the stitches at the end of the cord, and weaving them into the basket.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And, before

you know it-

Voila!

Or as some people

say it: Wallah! LOL!

you have made

yourself the

most wonderful

little basket…

perfect for holding

your spool knitters

and spool knitting or

other fab yarnie projects!

I made a little video about basket making , for those who like to see things in motion:

Happy Spool knitting! and Happy Basket Making!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I want to be able to get at my yarn and tools quickly and  easily, but keep them away from mischevious cats and small wicked dogs (yarnaholic animal companions are a pain in the skein!).

I am blessed with a large studio that we heat with a wood burning stove in winter and big south facing windows.

This is great, but oh so dusty, so I can’t have my yarn displayed openly.

Having a big studio means we have a tiny bedroom. That’s mostly okay, as I spend my waking hours in the studio, and don’t need much room to sleep- )

BUT that also means storage in the bedroom is just about non existant. erg.

So, when closet organizing popped up from Martha Stewart’s website, I went to have a look.

Her expensive options are totally out of the question for us, but the cheapest option looks kind of useful…..

here’s the link:  closet makeover

Do you have some good ways of organizing your stash?

and yes, I know – give away give away give away……  I’m working on it!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Even though I don’t have time to get to it, I still like to know what’s where.   I bought some of these thingies a few years back [for some wooden boxes that I've since given away]:

I took the bolts out and measured half way up the box

and 2 inches (5 cm) in from each side.

Then, I drew around the posts on the back of the lable thingie and poked holes with a sharpish file.

(Couldn’t find my awl… now what was I saying about getting organized? erg)

I pushed the posts of the label holder into the holes, and miracle of miracles, they held! Kewl! So I folded a little  piece of paper to fit it and wrote vaguely what is in the box.

I figured if I was going to do one…. I may as well do them all…

I think I just had a ‘Martha Moment’.

It was VERY satisfying!

Now, I wonder where I put my awl?

 Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Here’s one of my most favorite book cases. It’s GREAT for storing yarn and stashes:

We found it at a garage sale. For FREE! The lady who owned it reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hated it. (I didn’t ask why).

On the second shelf, I have a heap of yarn in wire baskets from a retired freezer.

They came from another garage sale.

They are good in that I can see the yarns and colors, but tend to latch onto one another and launch themselves at me if I pull on one of them without anchoring the others. erg. There’s nothing like yarn erupting when you least expect it.

Of course, the small dog ,who has mastered the art of extortion (I bite your arm off if you take this ball of yarn away from me without a piece of cat food…. grrrrrrrr) just loves it when yarn (and books) start ricocheting around the studio.

Yarn games! wheeeeeeeeeee!

The rest of the boxes, baskets and suitcases are full of workshop projects, new designs, paperwork and of course:

Yarn.

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

A constant question for yarn aholics yarn afficianado’s is: ‘ACK!!!!!!!! My stash has eaten my house! HELP? ‘ um…. ‘How do I store my yarn so it’s easy to get to but out of sight of cats, dogs, friends and relations?’

Here are a few pics of some of the ways that I deal with my stash of yarns and rovings:

Rule #1 for yarn storage: Any piece of furniture that is high enough to have yarn stored under it is fair game in our house.

This pic shows the old family tin picnic basket that is now used for storing yarn. (see pic below) You can also see the corner of a folding yarn bag. (Stuffed to overflowing with sock yarn. One year, I spent all my birthday and Christmas money on sock yarn. I will be knitting socks for many a year from that stash!) also see pic below….

One of my favorite storage solutions is the good old fashioned knitting bag:

and then there’s the….

picnic baskets that are great for yarn storage. (and roving and fleece).

another picnic basket and a wooden box that I got at the second hand store for a dollar or so.

I really like folding yarn bags. I even used this one in several puppet shows.

Here, you can see a whole bunch of my yarn storage solutions. The black and white boxes are tidy, cheap and cheerful. I bought them at my local fabric store for a couple of dollars each and they hide a multitude of sins store a LOT of yarn and fleece.

In the lower left hand of the pic is a really ugly white plastic 2 drawer thingie that I got at a garage sale. Ugly, but oh so handy for storing yarn!

Speaking of plastic, the clear plastic boxes that salad comes in are great for small project and yarn storage.

In the middle lower part of the pic are more ugly plastic baskets. Again…. ugly, but oh so handy.

And in the upper right hand is one of the folding knitting bags that I built last winter. Won’t be doing that for a long time! LOL! Those things are evil to build! So simple looking but nasty little tricksters. Good thing they hold a lot!

I’ll post pics of more of my yarn storage later.

So, how do you store your yarn?

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (Copyright)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Some of her baskets are made with copper and silver wire. They look like they could float away, they are so airy and bouyant.

Others are earthy and solid… being made of the stuff of life itself.

For your hit of inspiration today, definitely check out her website:

Basketry art 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn