Does it seem I spend more time organizing yarn than I do knitting? My stash was pretty organized until the last few months of 2013, when the yarn sales were happening and I was ordering yarn like there was no tomorrow. It was bothering me that a lot of the new yarn was still sitting in boxes in one of the spare bedrooms. Everything is plugged in on my Ravelry queue so I knew I wasn’t going to get confused about what yarn went with which project but I wanted to get it all together so most of yesterday was spent organizing.
The yarn for each project went into a grocery sack and the name of the project was taped on the outside of the bag. The bag went into a Rubbermaid tub.
Knitting Projects
On the outside of each tub is a list of projects in that tub.
List of Projects
There are a total of about 45 projects and except for six of them, they’re all sweaters! Six projects that I’m either currently working on or will be working on soon, were not placed in the tubs. Those are:
- Cabled Front Sweater (test knit for Laura Aylor)
- Winter Stole (test knit for Laura Aylor)
- Pocket Sweater for Addie
- Tressage Pullover (knit along beginning in March)
- Blue Sand Cardigan
- Go Buffalo! for Addie
Another tub was filled with mostly sweater quantities of yarn that I have no idea what pattern I had in mind when it was purchased. Some of it was purchased when we were still in MO and a shop there was going out of business. Here’s what I have that I need to match up with a pattern:
- Plymouth Encore/Worsted – Gray – 8 skeins
- Alpaca with a Twist – Baby Twist/DK – Teal – 5 skeins
- Malabrigo Rios – Playa – 6 skeins
- Malabrigo Silky Merino – Cloudy Sky – 3 skeins
- Malabrigo Silky Merino – Coral – 5 skeins
- Cascade 220 Superwash – Brown – 7 skeins
- Cascade 220 – Lime Green – 8 skeins
- Madelinetosh Vintage – Composition Book Gray – 7 skeins
- Madelinetosh Pashmina – Dr. Zhivago’s Sky – 3 skeins
- Dream in Color Groovy – Lipstick Lava – 3 skeins
There may or may not have been a project in mind when I bought all these skeins but I need to match them up with a pattern.
I think . . if I don’t stop ordering yarn and start knitting . . Nicole is going to inherit a whole lot of yarn! At least I feel more organized . . somewhat!
WyoPat says
This made me laugh–I’m in the process of organizing my decorative painting books-magazines-supplies!
Sharon in Michigan says
I’m the same way about organizing. My feeling is; if you can’t find it, you won’t use it. Enjoy
Angie says
It’s a good feeling to know exactly what you have. If I haven’t “organized” in a while, I’m always amazed and pleased to see something I had completely forgot about! Whew, that is a lot of Yarn and projects! Just thinking about all that knitting made my fingers sore! :o)
Beth C in MA says
Great idea!! I think I know what I may be doing this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon and a few more afternoons after that!
Judy S says
There must be an “organizing bug” in the air because I caught it, too. With that came the realization once again that I need to quit ordering and start knitting faster, or my yarn stash (and other stashes) will outlive me! Sure is hard though to pass by all the pretties, but I need to do just that.
pdudgeon says
one question…do most knitting patterns list the skeins required or the oz required to knit that pattern? Whichever it is, that number should be the first category that you use to organize your ‘undesignated’ yarn.
Teri Jordan says
Wow….that was a lot of work…I love to organize….the last thing on the list is the bottle of wine you are hiding to drink after all the hard work….enjoy….LOL
Linda in NE says
Your yarn sash should see you through the hard times so many are predicting. 🙂
Patricia says
You could open up your own shop, with that much wool 🙂
Ava says
I wish I could make myself do that.
I am so excited that I have finally learned to knit socks. I need to stock up on sock yarn. I’ll make a bin that says “sock yarn” and that will be my organization for 2014. Next year I’ll organize worsted weight. Now I have a yarn organization plan. Ha Ha
Linda says
At the speed you can knit, you’ll be needing more yarn next year for sure!