Wednesday, March 30, 2011

TIdy mind, tidy stitches.

Today's Topic: 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.

I'm actually pretty tidy when it comes to yarn. I tend to only have a couple of projects going at any one time. I'm not much of a stash builder if the truth be known. I guess technically, Lorna's Laces is my stash and that would be considered pretty huge, but even pre-LL, I wasn't a big stasher.

See? That's ALL the yarn in my entire apartment.













I have a theory about why I've never been a stash builder. The LYS was always a centerpiece in my social life. Before LL, I worked from home as a rep selling college textbooks. I didn't have the every day interactions with colleagues at the office. I was also single, so I didn't have a spouse who came home every night to give me someone to talk to. I craved human interaction.

I created reasons to go yarn shopping and hang our with my yarnie buddies. "Oh, I broke a dpn, I need to go get more." "These stitch markers won't possibly work for this project, they clash." "I am going to collect every size of a particular brand needle and today is the day I am going to buy the 6's. I can go back tomorrow for the 7's." Each task gave me an excuse reason to go to the shop. If I had a huge stash, I wouldn't have been able to justify the trip.

I like the way my little scheme worked out. My frequent visits to the yarn shops helped me develop friendships that I wouldn't have had under other circumstances. I took classes, I learned techniques. I found a lifelong love of yarn that compelled me to take a risk with Lorna's Laces and it's been a dream come true.
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 30, 2011 at 10:17 AM

    My stash is somewhat larger than yours at home... but if I had a LYS of my own or, dare to dream, a yarn dying business, I suppose I'd have a lot less at home.

    I keep mine in Container Store plastic shoe/boot boxes, neatly labeled with the mfr, type, color and total yardage so I can see what I've got at a glance. I try to keep similar weights (sock, lace, worsted) together, but one does what one must. If you go on my FB page, you'll see my stash pics.

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  2. Deb Donnelly DesignsMarch 30, 2011 at 10:59 AM

    I de-stashed much of my yarn last summer. My cute red basket and my knitting bag are what I have left. Ahh breathing room. The basket holds most of my stash and I only buy new yarn when it gets low.

    I store my supplies and my current project neatly in my Deb Donnelly Designs knitting bag. I keep any skeins that I am currently using for a project on one side of the bags divider pocket and my project goes neatly on the other side. There are tons of pockets for needles and misc. items.

    I do love my own bag! To see pic. check out my latest posting.

    http://debdonnellydesigns.blogspot.com/

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  3. StefanieMarch 30, 2011 at 1:17 PM

    I can't believe my stash is bigger than yours. I thought you'd be bringing home samples and such from the company. Mahalo for sharing a bit of your life; it was interesting to read.

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  4. CraftyCaroleMarch 30, 2011 at 7:04 PM

    i feel gluttonous.... must.destash.

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  5. Lorna's LacesMarch 31, 2011 at 9:23 AM

    You shouldn't feel gluttonous. You haven't seen my work stash. It's obscene.

    ReplyDelete