Stitch and Unwind

Organize Your Stash! 10 Tips + 10 Free Crochet Patterns to Get You Started

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Guest Post by Jennifer Dickerson from Fiber Flux, connect with Jennifer on Facebook.
When warm weather arrives, I’m always left with a big yarny mess from all of the cold weather stitching.  Here are 10 easy tips you can easily do in very little time to get things under control!  As a bonus, I’ve collected 10 free crochet patterns that will help to not only organize your yarn and tools, but look beautiful too!
Organize Your Stash! 10 Tips + 10 Free Crochet Patterns to get Started

Here are 10 helpful tips to get you started on your organization adventures:

  1. Sort the yarn.  I like to begin by making various piles of everything…perhaps you have something reserved for a project?  Maybe some you’d like to donate?  Do you want all of your worsted weight in one place?  How about all of the purple yarn in another?  This is largely personal preference, but sorting will definitely help to get started.

  2. Contain the yarn.  Get creative!  From bins to baskets to shoe boxes, or even book shelves and wine racks…practically any place has room for your (ever expanding) yarn collection.

  3. Seal It…natural fibers like wool for example, are a food source for critters like moths, which is bad news for your precious yarn.  I like to seal mine in freezer bags so I can see what is inside and keep everybody out!

  4. Very limited on space?  Store any yarn that is out of season.  For example, you could keep your lighter weight yarns like sock yarn handy this time of year, while the super bulky skeins can be put away for now.

  5. Save it…this seems rather counter-intuitive, but saving scraps in a designated place (bin, bag, etc) is a perfect and inexpensive way to stuff pillows, handmade toys, and even the birds like it for building nests this time of year.

  6. Labels!  So important for identifying what you have…because who wants to spend time digging and searching for things when you could be crocheting?  Again, you can sort and label by color, yarn weight, etc.

  7. As for your tools, you could store them in a tool box, a shoe box, a cosmetic zip case or if you have a table/desk/shelf, a beautiful vase of hooks is lovely.

  8. For your works in progress (WIPs), store them out of harm’s way from curious pets and little people by designating a special basket that you can tote around the house or if you have a “spot” where you work, how about designating a nearby drawer?

  9. This step is totally optional, but if you have a ball winder and swift, those neat little yarn cakes they produce stack very well, kind of like yarny building blocks.

  10. And one last idea…you may already be doing this, but when you have completed a project and are done with a yarn ball, be sure to tuck in your yarn ends when you are finished with your project…so often I forget this and when I go back, it has unraveled into a big tangly mess!  Easy to do and saves so much time.

Here are 10 great patterns you can work up to help you organize your yarn and tools too!

  1. Crochet Toy Bag or Basket by My Merry Messy Life, beautiful colors and portable too.

  2. Stashbuster Pencil Case by Petals to Picots, this is great for pencils, but how about crochet hooks too?

  3. Rainbow Pencil Case by Siona Karen, great for a small project on the go.

  4. Crochet Hook Case by Crochet Dynamite, pretty and functional!

  5. Teacher’s Favorite Paperclip by Annemarie’s Crochet Blog, this is great for clipping pattern sheets together.

  6. Organization Now! Crochet Basket by Moogly, love this very useful hanging storage container.

  7. Mason Jar Cozy Crochet Pattern by Petals to Picots, these make a beautiful home for all of your tools!

  8. Crochet Hook Jelly Roll By Apple Blossom Dreams, amazing hook roll, and makes your collection super portable too.

  9. Rose Cosmetics Case by Lily Sugar ‘n Creme, this pretty bag is great for storage, small project and lots more!

  10. Spikes Yarn Basket by Gleeful Things, I just love this beautiful yarn basket, especially that pretty stitch used.
I hope you have lots of fun organizing your stash…other ideas?  Leave them in the comments below to share!

 

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