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