Wednesday 30 March 2011

Tidy mind, tidy stitches - 2KCBWDAY3

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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.


When I was a young child, I was incredibly messy! My parents used to have enforced bedroom tidying sessions, where they'd almost disappear into a black hole of junk. I was forever making things, and these 'things' would all get pushed into my rather large cupboards! Tidying was a major event, lasting an entire day. Luckily for my parents, things did improve dramatically, and I was an unusually tidy teenager. This (I hesitate to call it an obsession, but Mr JK might beg to differ!) need I have for order and tidiness has continued throughout my adult life. I'm lucky enough to have a room where I keep all my crafty accessories, and I try not to let them spread out too much round the rest of the house (apart from my current knitting projects by the side of the sofa!) Mr JK isn't at all worried about my stash (he collects vinyl LPs and guitars, and they take up far more space!!), so it's all on show. Nothing is hidden away! Do you want a peek inside my room?


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In one corner I have a shelving unit. This unit stores folders of patterns, knitting needles, all my knitting and craft books, buttons, beads ........... you name it, it's probably there! Yarn and fibre are all stored in plastic boxes. I have (ahem!) six of them currently! Here's my 'posh' 4ply box.


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I do have all my yarn photographed and listed on Ravelry. I bravely looked at the total on the spreadsheet to see how much I've got. Are you ready? Sitting down? Just over 83 kilometres!! That's over 50 miles! Blimey! Not all the yarn is currently stored in plastic bags, but that's something I'm hoping to remedy over the Easter holidays. I have another box of 4 ply, laceweight, DK, single balls and garment quantities of yarn plus 2 fibre/spinning boxes. Oh dear, it sounds quite a lot, doesn't it, put like that?! At least the fibre boxes aren't bulging at the seams (yet!)


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I'm not going to show you what's in all the boxes - if you want to take a look, you can find them on my Flickr page!

I'm a compulsive gatherer of cards whenever I'm at knitting shows, and these I keep on a little ribbon board. You just never know when they might come in useful!


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Tucked into another corner is a work table with 3 drawers (one is currently storing my Innocent Smoothie hat collection for this year, another stores my swift and ball winder, and the third is currently empty!!) My sewing machine lives here, along with the ironing board (the only time it gets used is when I'm sewing!!), and of course, my spinning wheel.


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I'm a complete sucker for lovely project bags to keep my knitting in. These are some of my favourites and come from Three Bags Full. I've always had a fantastic service from Michele, and I'm sure that I'll be visiting her shop again!


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Alongside my knitting bags, I have a thick plastic pencil case that stores all my knitting notions - sewing needles, stitch markers, dpns, tape measure, scissors....... I'd be lost without it!


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The one area I definitely need to improve on is how I organise my knitting needles. They are currently stored in several places, and to be honest, I don't know exactly what needles I've got. I'm sure that I've bought knitting needles when I didn't need to. How do you organise your knitting needles. Please share the secret with me!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

How neat and oderly

Ms C @ HappyElastic said...

Fab craft room! You have some verrrrry nice yarns too. I keep my stuff in those little zip bags too, the A3 ones are good for projects.

Hope Creations said...

Wow that's a lot of yarn! You have some beautiful yarn and fibre.

AC said...

Oh my goodness, so much yarn! I love the orange and pink (sock yarn?) poking out there.

faith76 said...

Wow what a great collection! I am currently using a kitchen cupboard which I have totally taken over and a section of my own wardrobe. Don't know where else to invade for my growing stash as only live in a 2 up 2 down terrace so space is very limited. I also use a knitting needle sewing role for my needles but my collection is miniscule compared to yours. Have a good week. Leah x

Northern Monkey said...

I love your knitting project bags, all the lovely project bags I've seen today prompted me to make a little etsy purchase!

I want to dive into your "posh" 4ply box and smoosh it all!

Lynne said...

Oh my goodness, what a lot of lovely yarn! I do like your project bags, they're very pretty.

Here's how I keep my needles - my straight KnitPros are in the roll case they came in, as are my KnitPro interchangables (they came in a case). All my other circular needles and DPNs are in a big makeup bag. All my straight needles are in a jug, and all my Granny's straight needles are in a lovely circular jar I got shortbread in in Selfridges.

thebyrdsnest53 said...

I love that sheep knitting needle gauge thingy. I saw lots of lovely colors in your yarn!

Anonymous said...

You inspired me to look how much yarn I had in my stash - Ravelry says it's 142km/88miles! Eek!

I'd like a craft room, but I suppose I really have a craft house, so I can't complain ;)

Jen Hagan said...

Wowza, you've got some pretties! For organizing knitting needles, I have needle cases, but for organizing when you're away from home and to make sure you have what you need, I recommend a set of Denise interchangeables. Comes in its own case.

Misty said...

Wow, the little fabric board for keeping cards is a great idea! I honestly keep all my knitting needles in a ziploc bag and "try" to keep track of them in Ravelry. It is not very fancy but it works really well.

Stefanie said...

Nice job there.

Wendy said...

Your stash is a knitter's dream!

Helsie said...

Wow I'm absolutely amazed by the HUGE quantity of yarn you have! No wonder you get so many projects finished, you are certainly immersed in your hobby. I guess if I lived somewhere where I could wear warm, snuggly knitted things I could easily become interested in knitting ( and crochet )too as it (or rather they ) are lovely hobbies. You certainly have it all organised very well.
Cheers
Helen

Voie de Vie said...

Ok, you've got quite the crafty room. I really like your idea of a board for the cards you pick up - I save those as well, but not in such a nice, tidy manner.

What a stash - awesome.

idyllicchick said...

I has a jealous of your fiber stash!

Moonie said...

I LOVE that ribbon board! Absolutely lovely. I think I may just have to make one for myself once I get all unpacked and my apartment is somewhat more visitor friendly.
Your notions case is infinitely better looking than my ziploc bag :)

pinkundine said...

That's a lot of boxes ;) Makes my one single box look positively restrained... But I'm sure I'll be adding a new box soon, and then it just carries on, doesn't it?!

Jennyff said...

Wow, that makes me feel better about my (concealed) stash. You do have some beautiful stuff and lovely accessories too. I keep my knitting needles in a chunky white cylindrical vase. With the ends at the top it's easy to find the size I need and a bit of an installation at the same time. I might show you sometime but now I want to look at those lovely bags.

Saffy said...

I've loved seeing peoples posts for Day 3 because (in general) they've made me feel much better about the size of my stash :)

Looks like you have plenty to be getting on with :)

pip said...

You have a fabulous stash... I'd love to rummage through a bit :) I love your project bags too!

melissa said...

you're defintely more organized than i am.
i have a system, i just never put anything away when i'm done with it, i just put it into a bag.
that's *not* a good system :)