Yesterday, we went through all our knitting needles and crochet hooks to purge the duplicates and unwanted ones. Now, what do you do with it all? For the organizationally challenged like myself, it can be so tedious sorting through that big pile, but it does pay off in the long run. When I’m ready to start a project, the last thing I want to do is dig through a bottomless pit of hooks, straights, circulars and double points, needle gauge in hand checking each one for the size I need. We asked our staff and our readers for some ideas on how to store your needles and hooks.

Straight or Single Pointed Knitting Needles

• Try using a needle roll. If you’re even a basic sewer, you can try making one yourself. It’s a fairly easy afternoon sewing project.
• The most popular suggestion for storing your straight needles is to stand them up in a vase or a jar. You can let them fall where they may for a decorative look, or to keep things organized, use a rubber band or hair tie to secure same sizes together.

DPNs or Double Pointed Knitting Needles

• You can keep your double points on display in a vase too. It’s best to tie these together by size so you don’t have to check each one when it’s time to start a project. You can use a rubber band, hair ties, or even twist ties.
• Keeping a three ring binder with page protectors for your double points and circulars is my favorite solution. I keep one size per page protector.
• Double point needle tubes are an inexpensive solution for keeping them safe from breakage and organized by size.

Crochet Hooks

• Tea tins are the perfect depth to stand your hooks up and keep them on display.
• If you have a big crochet hook collection, sorting by brand first and then size might be the way to go.
• A pencil case is a simple, compact and portable storage solution.
• The Lily Crochet Roll works great!

Interchangeable Knitting Needles

• Most interchangeable sets come with a carrying case already. You can usually fit some notions in the case too.
• The Della Q Fabric Case is a beautiful solution if you want something extra special to store your set.

Circular Knitting Needles

• You can use your three ring binder for circulars too. I like to organize by cable length, then size. I have binder dividers sectioning off each cable length, so all the 24″ length needles are in one section, and then each size is in its own page protector.
• The Que Theo needle case keeps all your circulars organized and easy to find.
• I love the hanging circular needle organizer. It keeps needles on display and in order.
• You can keep your circular needles in separate boxes, and each size has its own zip-top baggie with the needle size written on it.
• The Namaste Circular case is an easy solution. Or, try getting a tri-fold portfolio style case from your office supply store. They are perfect for circulars. Write the needle size and cable length on the tabs to make them easy to find.
• The original packaging is actually an easy and economical way to store your circulars long term. They’re usually easy to open and close without ruining, and can even be hung up or filed away easily.

How do you like to store your knitting needles and crochet hooks? Do you like to keep them on display or tucked away in a binder or drawer?

Yesterday’s task of going through all of your knitting and crochet books, pattern books and magazines was a big one. Some of you were overwhelmed by it or didn’t have the time to work on it. No worries. We’ll continue working on our our patterns through the weekend. And remember, don’t feel like you have to keep up with each task every day. Do the tasks you feel like you need to work on. And come up with your own schedule. I suggested to someone yesterday that instead of 31 Days to Get Organized, make it 31 Weeks to Get Organized, one task each week. This blog series will be waiting for you when you’re ready.

Now moving onto today’s task of organizing our single patterns. First step is to go through all of them and figure out what to keep and what to get rid of. Some things to consider while you’re sorting through your patterns:

• Is this a duplicate copy of a pattern? Do I have this in a book or magazine?
• Do I have an electronic version of this pattern that can take the place of the hard copy?
• Do you not like the pattern anymore?
• Did you start the pattern, got stuck, too hard to follow, or lost interest?
• Have you already made the pattern and won’t make it again?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, the pattern might belong in the get rid of pile.

Next step is to figure out how you want to sort your patterns.

• By date, newest in front or newest in back
• By designer or company
• By craft – knitting and crochet
• By completion – finished but will make again in one section, haven’t started yet in another section
• By type of garment – sweaters, blankets, hats, etc.

Once you have an idea how you want to sort your patterns, you’ll have a better idea how you want to store them. I used to store mine in 3-ring binders. Now I’ve switched to hanging files. Here are some examples of ways people organize their patterns.

• Hanging Files – easy to put away patterns, but files can get messed up more easily
• 3-Ring Binders (with patterns in plastic sleeves so you don’t have to punch holes in your patterns) – keeps your patterns well sorted, but takes more time to pull out a pattern and put it back
• Magazine Files – basically a vertical pile, but if you don’t have many patterns, very easy to set up
• Expanding Files – a lot like hanging files but more portable, but also more difficult to change your categories
• 2 Pocket Folders – could work well stored in magazine files
• Digital copies – scan your patterns to create digital copies (more on organizing digital patterns this weekend), then store your hard copies in a box out of the way

When deciding on a method to sort and store your single patterns, consider the size of your collection, if space is an issue, how easy you want retrieval to be, and the ease of keeping your system up to date and organized.

What’s your favorite way to organize your knitting and crochet patterns?

Moth is a four letter word in the fiber community, and keeping them away from our precious yarn and finished projects should be a high priority. Working for months on a sweater only to have it ruined is heartbreaking. Preventing these little critters from getting into your stash isn’t too difficult. Removing them once they’re there can be harder, so some preventative measures are the best way to go. We asked our staff for their favorite ways to prevent yarn disaster.

I keep anything I bring into my house separate from the rest of my yarn for a little while just to make sure, and then it goes in plastic bins. – Mary K.

Lavender is a natural moth repellent, so using lavender sachets (which are easy as a DIY project with some fabric and dried lavender) is a good combination with an airtight container. (See image below)  - Michael W. and Sara D.

Within my storage bins, I group my yarns by weight and brand and keep each in a separate seal-able bag. For example, if I have 6 skeins of Cascade 220 I will put those into a zip-top bag, and put my 5 balls of Valley Superwash into another bag, even though they are both worsted weight yarns. That way, if moths happened to come home with me when I bought the Cascade 220, they will likely only destroy what was in that bag.  The Superwash is likely to be safe even though they were all in my worsted weight yarn container.  - Tina

Plastic storage bins with latching lids have been the best solution I’ve found. Some say that the original eucalyptus and lavender scents of Eucalan also discourage moths – they certainly can’t hurt! In the end, though, if your stash is more than a few years old, you’re going to have to know when to freeze it (if you suspect moth contamination, noticing a granular, sand-like “dust” on the yarn or find some adult moths on or near it, a few days in the freezer or outside in a bin in winter should kill moth eggs) and when to toss it. If you notice frayed ends sticking out of the yarn, you know there are even more within, and it’s time to let it go. But natural, undyed fibers DO make good compost – just saying!  - Kirsten H.

I know a lot of you have been waiting for tips on how to organize your yarn stash. You’ve been looking for ideas on how to sort your yarn, but also how to store it. Last week we did a lot of work going through our yarn stashes and whipping them back into shape. Now comes the fun part of sorting our stash and putting it all away.

As my yarn stash has grown and changed over the years, so has the system for storing my yarn. Now I like to keep some of my yarn out in the open. I might not use it for awhile, but I can still enjoy it until I do. Yarn is beautiful, with all of its textures and colors. I don’t have pets or small children anymore, so I can have a bowl of yarn on a shelf and not worry about it becoming a cat plaything. Even though some of my yarn is not on display, it is stored in a way that is still accessible for me. This system works for me, but it may not work for you. The key is to find a solution for your yarn stash.

Let’s look at a some ways that people sort their yarn and different ideas on how to store yarn.

How to Sort Yarn

People who know me know I love sorting. It brings me pleasure. How I sort my yarn as changed a lot as my yarn stash has changed. 75% of my yarn stash is stored in the hutch above my desk now. I sort my yarn partially by type of project, fiber content, and weight. But I also have a couple of special categories such as fancy yarn, keepsake yarn, and teaching yarn.

If you have your yarn spread out in front of you, you’ll start to see some natural categories that make sense to you. Here are some categories to help you start sorting.

• Color – Are you the type of person who walks into a yarn store organized by color and feel a sense of calm? When you are searching for a yarn to use, is color the most important attribute?
• Weight – If you know the pattern that you want to make before you decide on the yarn, sort your yarn by weight. It’ll be easier to find what you need when there’s a new project you want to knit or crochet.
• Fiber – Do you only knit with certain types of fibers depending on the season, alpaca in the winter, cotton in the summer. Try sorting yarn by fiber content.
• Project – Some people buy yarn for a particular project. Sort these yarns by project type. Consider even storing the pattern with the yarn.
• Care – If you like to knit or crochet things for babies and children and machine washability is important to you, keep the easy care yarns separate from the hand wash yarns.
• Keepsake Yarn – Some yarn you may never intend to use. It’s more of a keepsake. Don’t hide these yarns in a box. Display them in a bowl so you can enjoy them daily.
• Yarn Scraps – Don’t throw away your yarn scraps. Keep them in an accessible location to be used for waste yarn, practicing new techniques, even stuffing your latest amigurumi.

Containers for Yarn Storage

There are so many ways you can store your yarn stash. Just Google “yarn storage” and check out all of the image results for some inspiration. Also searching for yarn storage on Pinterest will bring up even more ideas of how to organize your yarn. Here are some examples of how others store their yarn.

• Plastic boxes and totes with lids – These can be inexpensive, stackable, and available in many sizes.
• Plastic bags – Shopping bags can help sort yarn in large totes. Clear zippered bags that bedding comes in works great for yarn storage. Oversized ziploc bags are similarly good. Small ziploc bags are great for partially used skeins to keep the yarn and ball band together. They’re also nice for storing slippery yarns like ribbon yarn or bamboo that might get tangled in a large bin.
• Open baskets  - These work great on shelves and are good for yarns you want quick access to.
• Shelves and bookcases – Shelving with lots of cubbies are popular with many crafters.
• Closet organizers – Hanging shoe and sweater storage can be perfect for organizing yarn too.
• Reusing food containers – Large oatmeal boxes and large clear bulk food containers are good options if you’re on a tight budget or would rather spend money on yarn than storage.
• Cabinets and cupboards – Behind doors but easily accesible, there could be some empty cabinets just waiting to be filled with yarn.
• Drawers or dressers – These work great for yarns that don’t stack well such as yarn balls. Also easily accesible, but out of the way from pets.
• Decorative containers - Bowls and glass vases can be great for showcasing some of your favorite yarns.

Preparing Yarn for Storage

The best way to store yarn is either the way it came, or in hank form. If you want to store your yarn wound in a ball, be sure to wind it loosely. If it’s too tight, the yarn may lose some of its elasticity while being stored. If you have a ball winder, winding your yarn is quick work and creates beautiful little cakes of yarn that are stackable. To avoid winding your yarn too tightly, wind it twice. When winding a ball from a ball, it will be looser than when you wound it the first time from a yarn swift.

Tomorrow, Grace will be posting some tips on how to keep critters such as the dreaded moth away from your yarn while in storage.

Hopefully some of these ideas have given you a little inspiration for organizing your yarn stash. Please share your favorite yarn storage idea in the comments.

- Dena

Did you find any mystery yarn when you went through your yarn stash last week? If you were updating notes on your yarn stash, how did you deal with the unknown yarns? Mystery yarn can be yarn that you handspun, yarn that lost its ball band, or yarn that was leftover from a long ago finished project. Before tucking this yarn away with the rest of your stash, find out some information of it and jot down your findings and store it with the yarn.

What Is The Fiber?

If you’re not sure of what the fiber content of your yarn is, do a little detective work by doing a burn test. Cut off a bit of your mystery yarn and bring a flame to it. But please, do it in a safe place. Check out this handy flowchart for doing a fiber burn test that will help you narrow down what kind of yarn you have. If you think you have a complicated blend of different fibers, it might be difficult to figure out exactly what kind of yarn you have.

What’s the Yarn Weight and Gauge?

A good way to estimate the weight or gauge of your mystery yarn is to determine its wraps per inch (WPI). In other words, how many times can you wrap the yarn around a tool to cover an inch. Nancy’s Knit Knacks has a WPI Tool with pre-marked increments. You can also wrap the yarn around something with a consistent circumference like a pencil. I like using a ruler since it has measurements marked on it already. When wrapping the yarn around your tool, don’t wrap the yarn too tightly. Make sure the wraps don’t overlap and don’t have any gaps between them. If you have a yarn that has an even diameter, wrapping an inch worth is enough to calculate the WPI. But if you have yarn that is not consistent such as a thick and thin yarn or a handspun yarn, wrapping over a larger width will help you calculate a more accurate number.

Once you’ve calculated the WPI, you’ll want to compare the number you calculated to a WPI chart to find out the corresponding yarn weight.

Lace – WPI > 35; > 8.5 sts/inch
Fingering – WPI 19-22; 7-8 sts/inch
Sport – WPI 15-18;  5.75-6.5 sts/inch
DK – WPI 12-14; 5.5-6 sts/inch
Worsted – WPI 9-11; 4-5 sts/inch
Bulky – WPI 7-8; 3-3.75 sts/inch
Super Bulky – WPI < 6; 1.5-3 sts/inch

My friend had some handspun that we calculated it to have 26 wraps over 2 inches. Dividing that number by 2 gave us 13 WPI, a DK weight yarn.

How Much Yarn Do I Have?

Finding out how much yarn you have by weight is one of the easier things to figure out about mystery yarn. Grab your kitchen scale and weight it. Some patterns do give you yardage requirements by weight rather than yards.

It’s really useful to know how many yards you have of your mystery yarn to help you from running out of yarn in your project. I quite accurate way to determine the number of yards in a ball of yarn is to run your yarn through a yarn meter. Another option is winding the mystery yarn onto a yarn swift. Measure the circumference around the swift and multiply by the number of strands in the hank of yarn you wound. This will be the total length of your mystery yarn. A niddy noddy can also do the trick, and they’re fun to use. If you don’t have a yarn swift or niddy noddy, you could use this method by wrapping the yarn around the back of a chair too.

What kind of mystery yarn did you discover in your stash?

- Dena

Earlier this week we began the process of organizing our yarn stash by first going through it and pulling out the yarn we no longer want. Most of your unwanted yarn probably ended up in the giveaway pile, rather than the trash. Here’s a list of ideas of how and where to get rid of destashed yarn.

Sell It

• One reason it might be hard to get of yarn we know we’ll never use is because we might have paid a lot of money for it. It’s easier to get rid of this kind of yarn if you can sell it and get some of that money back (to buy more yarn of course!). Try selling your yarn online at places like ebay, yarnfind.com, Ravelry, and Etsy.
• To keep things simple, you can also sell it in a garage or yard sale, though you probably won’t be able to get as much money for it.

Trade It

• One of my favorite ways to get rid of yarn is by having a yarn swap with some fiber friends. It’s a lot of fun going through other people’s unwanted yarn finding your next treasure. Later this month, some of the WEBS employees will be getting together for an evening of yarn-swapping fun.
• In addition to being able to sell your yarn on Ravelry, you can trade your yarn with someone else on Ravelry too.

Give It Away

• If you’re tired of your unwanted yarn taking up space or need to get rid of it fast for fear of it creeping back into your stash, drop it off at a nearby thrift store like Goodwill, post it on Freecycle, or leave it in a box at the end of your driveway with a FREE sign on the box.
• Donate your yarn to a worthy cause or charity. There are a ton of knitting and crochet charities out there that accept yarn donations.
• Give the yarn to someone you know who wants to learn to knit or crochet. Bonus points if you help teach them!
• Give it to another knitter or crocheter. Bring the yarn to your next knitting group. Or ask a friend or family member if they want first dibs on the yarn you’re getting rid of.
• Find somewhere locally that could use your yarn like a school, art department, knitting club, or nursing home.

Keep It

• Yes, that’s right. I just told you to keep yarn I told you to get rid of. I like to keep a little yarn in a basket to use for testing new stitch patterns and trying out new techniques. I also use this same yarn when someone comes over and wants me to teach them how to knit.
• If you were getting rid of yarn just because you hate the color, consider over-dyeing it. You can make an ugly duckling into something you love. If you’ve never dyed yarn before it’s a lot of fun. Check out Gail Callahan’s Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece book.

When you need to find a new home for yarn, what do you do with it? Do you have a favorite person or charity you like to give yarn to?

- Dena

This week, the staff at WEBS is giving us some great ideas of what we can do with our leftover yarn!

(Left) I like to use leftover yarn as decoration at the bottom of a vase or mason jar. I filled this one with little pom poms made from scrap yarn and use it to keep my crochet hooks on display. > Mary K.

(Right) Adrian at Hello Yarn just published a beautiful mitten pattern that is BEYOND perfect for using up scraps of worsted weight yarns – which I happen to have tons of! The Hickory Mittens are gorgeous in just about any color combination you can think of and I’m already done with one, I’ll have a pair by the weekend and it is ALL STASH YARN! Cascade 220 and Northampton. > Sara D.

(Left) I have a basket full of random single skeins of yarn, and I want to get in the habit of doing a little creative knitting every day. So, every day this year, I’m knitting a small rectangle from my scrap basket and piecing them together on random weekends. By the end of the year, I’ll have a blanket! I’m taking a picture of the square I’ve knit each day and posting it to http://annualblanket.tumblr.com/ if you want to follow along. > Kirsten H.

(Right) I use some of my leftover yarn from bigger projects to give these crocheted hemp (or linen) bowls a decorative splash of color at the top. > Amy S.

(Left) Leftovers are perfect to use for tiny projects like toys and even for the stuffing inside them! > Grace H.

(Right) Yarn dolls use very little leftover yarn and are a perfect project to do with the kids. > Kristin L.

(Left) I love making felted slippers with my leftover feltable yarn like Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride and Valley Yarns Northampton. Since you hold together two strands of yarn for the Fiber Trends Clogs, you can get some fun results. > Dena C.

(Right) These furniture feet are a great way to protect your floors and add some design to a room. They use very little yarn but have a big impact. > Grace H.

Sorry to have missed posting an organizing task yesterday. Between digging myself out of what looked like a yarn stash explosion (I was right, it does look worse before it gets better) and dealing with a persnickety computer glitch, the hours slipped away from me.

Now that we’re done weeding out the yarn we no longer want, today’s task is to update our yarn database and notes about our stash. But maybe you don’t have anything set up to keep track of your yarn. Here are a few things to help you decide if tracking your yarn stash is something you want to do.

WHY TRACK YOUR STASH? – A lot of us have some sort of record of what is in our stash, but if you don’t, why is it useful to keep track of your stash?

• After your stash has grown beyond a certain amount, you might not be able to remember what you have. Write it down and you don’t have try to keep it in your brain anymore. There’s no way I can remember every color of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that I have. It’s so much easier to look a my list than it is pulling it off the shelf and checking all the labels.
• Especially if you keep an electronic database of your stash, it’s easier to sort and search through your yarns to find out what you have. See below how I can easily sort by color on Ravelry.
• Check your list while you’re shopping and you’re more likely to buy what you need and not find out later that you already have something similar.

If you do use electronic tracking of your stash, I would recommend occasionally backing up this information somewhere. Last year I lost 3 years of my exercise log because of a couple of poorly-timed electrical storms. It was really time consuming to recreate. If you use Ravelry, it takes just a moment to download an Excel spreadsheet of your stash. Click on the little green Excel icon in the top right of your stash page. Bam, you’ve got a backup copy now.

Do you keep track of your stash? What keeps you from not tracking your stash or from keeping your tracking up to date?

Today is Day 8 in the 31 Days to Get Organized series, and we have a great tip for you! On Day 2, you went through your WIPs to see which projects were worth keeping, and which needed to be frogged.

Once you decide which projects to frog, you have to get that yarn back into shape so you can work with it again. A lot of my WIPs have been sitting for months and even years. After I frog a project, the yarn is left crimped and crinkled from being knit up for so long.

To get your yarn back into shape, you first need to get the yarn back into a hank. You can wind the yarn straight from your project onto your swift. You can make a hank by using the back of a chair or a niddy noddy too. Tie off segments of your hank to keep it all together using a bow or a loose knot so you can get it untied easily later.

Next you want to give your yarn a good soak. Make sure it’s fully saturated and the water reaches all the nooks and crannies. Get all the excess water out by rolling it gently up in a towel, then just hang your yarn to dry! It will drip, so keeping it set up in the bathroom or outside is your best bet.

Once the yarn is dry, you can put it back on the swift, wind it into a ball and you’re good to go!

Before storing, if you know the identity of the yarn, label it with some essential info like fiber content, weight, and yardage. If you know it’s a partial skein, weigh it on your kitchen scale and write down the weight so you know later how many yards you have left.

It’s so satisfying to bring old yarn back to life. Do you have an old WIP knit or crocheted in a yarn you would love to make into something else?

Thanks for sharing the photos of your piles of yarn yesterday. I hope if you didn’t post it publicly, you still took a photo of your stash. This is Day 7 (one full week!) of 31 Days to Get Organized. Today we’re yarn destashing. A yarn purge. Yarn decluttering, whatever you want to call it. Essentially, we’re trying to get rid of the yarn we don’t love or won’t use.

Getting rid of yarn can be a hard task for many, especially if you paid good money for the yarn, or if someone you care about gave the yarn to you as a gift. But our time is too short and our spaces are too precious to have them filled with yarn and things that aren’t useful to us. So grab some containers for your big sort. With my recent move, I’ve already tossed anything that is useless to most. I’ve also given away a lot of yarn too. Whenever I get rid of yarn, I pause and think “Am I going to miss it?” 99% of the time, I never think about the yarn again. And all the recipients of the the “free” yarn totally make up for the 1% I kind of wish I had back.

So back to the piles you’re going to make.

Keep It! – If you like the yarn, if you plan to use the yarn, even if it just brings back a happy memory, sort the yarn into your keep pile. Most of the yarn in my stash I intend to knit, crochet, or weave someday. (I’ll be around until I’m 97, so I have some time.) But I have yarn in my stash I have no intensions of ever using. It’s keepsake yarn for one reason or another. I’m ok with this. I keep this yarn out in the open in a bowl, on top of the shelf of my craft books. I look at the yarn frequently. This makes me happy, so I’m keeping it.

Find A Better Home – Then there’s the yarn we don’t like anymore, or don’t have any use for. There are SO many other places where this yarn could be used. On Wednesday, I’ll be posting lots of ideas for new homes for wayward yarns, places to sell yarns, and places to give them away. Stay tuned.

Just Throw It Away – Sometimes there’s just no hope for a yarn. Maybe you tried making something; it became hideous; and the yarn fused to itself. You really can’t rip it out now. NOBODY is going to want it. So just chuck it in the garbage. Have a few yards left from a project? Toss it too. On Friday, we’ll post some ideas of what you can do with your leftover yarn. But sometimes, it’s best if it just goes in the trash can. You make the call. Some of you can’t bear to throw out a scrap. Who knows, maybe someday you could use it for a knitted toy or some crochet amigurumi. But if you don’t have the patience for saving bits of yarn, toss it.

A yarn destashing can take a little bit of time. There’s a lot of decisions to be made. Have you ever noticed that it’s not the organizing that takes so much time, but all of the decisions you have to make?

Tomorrow we’ll have a tutorial on how to recycle yarn from a project you’ve ripped out so you can add it back to your yarn stash. This gives you an extra day to possibly spend on destashing. Take the time you need. The rest of the organizing posts will be waiting for you when you’re ready.

Happy destashing!

- Dena