As mentioned the other day, this week's posts will be mostly -- possibly all -- fiber related seeing as this week is the 2nd Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week.
Today's topic is "Tidy Mind, Tidy Stitches":
How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.
My stash is not very organized, but I also don't have much of a stash so I don't feel embarrassed about photographing it in all its unfettered glory:
Though not tidy, it's not very bad and perhaps I should be embarrassed by its pitiful size rather than its disorganization. This is a pittance compared to some people's stashes!
Anyway, the box holds full and partial skeins of yarns as well as needles. The bottom bag contains yarn that's all loosey goosey and needs to be wound nicely, some need detangling.
The top bag holds a bunch of squares I made as my first knitting project. I was going to make a bunch of squares and join them together, but never did. I kind of dropped knitting for a couple of years, then picked it back up again about two years ago. I'm no longer interested in making that blanket. I might join a few squares together to make a cat pillow cover. Or I might frog all/some of the squares and reuse the yarn.
I am thinking of taking a cabinet that's currently being poorly used and putting my stash in there. We have cats and, while I can't escape cat hairs getting on my yarn and projects, I don't want the cats to have access to the yarn. Of course, they'll make a mess of it, but some of them also like to eat it which could easily end in an emergency room visit.
One thing I really could stand to do is to organize my needles. I find I go yarn shopping, can't remember if I have the right needles and so end up buying them, only to find that I did have them after all. Now, I do have a weakness for fiber related gadgets, so I can't say I mind having multiple sets. And sometimes simultaneous projects use the same size needles. But it would be good to know what needles I do have. As it is, I get out the box and rifle through them all to see if I have what I need. Ravelry has (among other handy features) a neato needle/hook chart that I've half-heartedly filled in.
These pictures aren't as good, but I include them because these guys always seem to show up when I'm fussing with my stash. Edison in the closet where the stash is kept:
My stash isn't embarrassing, but as for that closet -- oh well, I've recently made a resolution not to worry overly much about stuff like that. Here Miles is literally and figuratively all over my stash:
The cats do bring up an important point regarding stash storage. Many yarnists are very particular about their storage, preferring plastic (think Rubbermaid) tubs and ziploc bags. Of course, one wants to avoid bugs; many also want to keep pet hair out of their fiber.
This is especially important if you're into trading or selling your yarn. Some people periodically "destash" in order to reduce their stash to a more manageable size, to raise funds quickly, to give away yarn they no longer expect to use, etc. Stash recipients typically want clean, well-stored yarn, i.e., without bugs, pet hair, smoke smell, etc.
I haven't developed enough of a stash to warrant destashing. In fact, since I have this thing, as in a fear of my stash getting out of control, I doubt -- at least I sincerely hope -- that I'll never get overwhelmed by my stash. I think it helps that I buy yarn by the project, that is, I only buy the yarn for planned projects.
Some people buy yarn when they come upon something really special and/or they really love. In that case, it makes sense to buy what's considered a "sweater quantity" of yarn so that, when considering what to make with it, you at least have enough to make a sweater. So that leaves you with lots of pattern options. Also, for some yarns, it can really make a difference that all the yarn for a specific project come from the same dye lot. Otherwise, you might be able to tell and, in the case of really special and/or fancy pants yarns, you don't want to have spent the money to find the finished project looks funny.
See other Day 3 of the Knit/Crochet Blog Week posts here.
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