A lot of my knitting is done sitting in the sewing room with Boots. I learned quickly that yarn needs to be kept out of Boots’ reach. I bought several Chica yarn keepers.
Yarn Keeper
I have several single keepers and this one double keeper. So long as I was in the house, I didn’t have to keep my yarn in a keeper . . til Rita discovered yarn cakes. It’s funny because she doesn’t bother most things. She’s past the chewing stage. She arrived house trained. But yarn is a temptation she cannot pass up. She doesn’t bother it when I’m sitting in the living room but when I get up, she starts looking for a ball of yarn and she barks at it and swats it and chases it and she will unravel a project and get the yarn wrapped around the table legs and everything else. So, all yarn that I’m using has to be in a yarn keeper of some sort.
This morning I was looking at ordering a couple more yarn keepers and then I saw this on the bar:
Lid with Grommet
It’s a Tatler lid with a grommet. This is the grommet we use for fermenting and this is what the setup is supposed to look like when used as intended!
Jar for Fermenting
But, this is what it looks like with a cake of yarn crammed down in that Mason jar and the yarn threaded through the grommet hole in the lid.
Yarn in Jar
That will keep Rita from destroying the yarn but I’m not so sure about a glass jar so I began looking around for something else I could use.
Yarn Containers
The easiest to empty was the coffee can so I dumped Vince’s coffee in a Mason jar. I had these grommets that I had bought for making some other kind of bags.
Eyelets
I punched a hole in the plastic coffee can lid and used one of the eyelets. That works!
Yarn Keeper
Then I noticed this container. Plastic containers are not my favorites for storing food but they should work great for yarn!
Yarn Keepers
The smaller one would probably be good for fingering weight yarn or smaller skeins. The worsted weight (Malabrigo Rios) was a bit crowded in the smaller container.
Now I have three new yarn keepers and it didn’t cost me a dime . . made from stuff I had around the house already.
Yarn Keepers
Rita had already found all three of those skeins of yarn and kinda mutilated the cake but they should work ok.
And then Vince came home for lunch:
Vince: Why is there a hammer in the house?
Me: I was using it!
Vince: I don’t like it when you use a hammer or a screw driver. (I always screw something up!)
Me: Wait til you see what I made!
Vince: Is that my coffee can? Where’s my coffee?
Then I told him how much the storebought yarn keepers cost and showed him that I made three for nothing and he was happy again! 🙂
Helene says
You are so wonderfully resourceful! And Vince cracks me up!!
Joan says
Terrific idea! And I’ll bet the yarn in the coffee can smells great, too!
JudyL says
I ran it through the dishwasher first but it probably will still smell like coffee.
Linda in NE says
Thinking outside the box got you what you needed AND saved you money to keep the hubby happy….we all know Vince loves a good deal. Way to go!
Mary in VA says
I hadn’t thought of yarn keepers! I have been putting a yarn pin in the project to keep the cats from pulling it loose when they attack the yarn ball. Thanks for the idea!
Sue S says
Sounds like Rita is part kitty… I had a cat who did that, and my solution was to get a 2 liter soda bottle. I cut a good-sized hole in the side big enough to put in the skein of yarn. I threaded the yarn up through the neck of the bottle. Then I used some duct tape to put the patch back on the bottle. He could roll the bottle around but there was no way he was getting past the duct tape! When the bottle got ratty I tossed it and made a new one. I like the idea of the tubs and grommets. We have lots of 1 gallon ice cream tubs at our house — I can see putting multiple holes in one, with the cakes neatly arranged inside the tub, yarn coming out separately for striped knitting. Now see what you’ve started! lol!
Amy (Waunaknit) says
Great idea!
Tam says
I use a large coffee can with a hole cut in the lid and a slit across the lid to the center so I can slide my project out of the can and lid without cutting the yarn.
Tam, who can’t seem to get the correct gauge on any yarn
diana In R.R says
Tilly was good at that too. Came home one day and the yarn that was upstairs was down the steps. Not sure if she had been playing with it upstairs and had it caught on her leg and just took it with her or she wanted to be a little devil. Probably the latter! Yarn is the one thing she would go after as a puppy.
Glenda in Florida says
I’m not allowed to play with tools either! Vince’s comment was the funniest thing I read all day.
Tinkerfeet says
Very clever you are! Now with the money you saved you can spend it on more yarn! Makes sense to me!
Gari says
Good job. I use fresh fruit containers from the grocery and sometimes the containers from dog treats. It’s much easier to have several projects going when it doesn’t cost anything to keep the yarn safe. 🙂