How do you organize your yarn stash and keep track of which yarns you own or use for a particular project? Do you have a system? Or do you just tie a piece of the relevant yarn around the yarn band and chuck it into a drawer never to be found again?
My “yarn organization” used to look like this:
A whole bunch of yarn ball bands with lengths of yarn tied around them to help me keep track of what each yarn was. I could show you my first rudimentary efforts at cataloguing them, but I am too embarrassed, frankly.
Once I started designing in earnest, I needed a better way to organize my yarn stash. This is what it looks like now:
Each yarn is attached to a page, by brand, and labelled with the Shade Number and the Shade Name. All these luscious strands of yarn (and a few of my pattern ideas) now live in these two files (with many more to follow):
The Lion and the Elephant pictured above are from my book, Amamani Puzzle Balls (also available as an Electronic Download
). The pile of squares is from the Block a Week CAL 2014, and the wavy goodness under the Lion is a WIP that I am calling Lazy Waves (the pattern for which can now be found HERE).
Things You Will Need:
- Lever Arch File
- Mod Podge
- Paintbrush
- Heart Punch
- Template (for printed sheets)
Optional
- Laminator and Lamination pouches (like this Purple Cows Hot and Cold Laminator
)
I wanted my pretty yarn to have a pretty home, so I started off by covering a Lever Arch file with fabric and Mod Podge
I used Shweshwe, which is a traditional South African fabric. The fabric is very stiff and it is often called the denim, or tartan, of South Africa.
I used it because I love the designs, but more importantly, because my mom gave me these pieces of Shweshwe and when I miss her (South Africa is so far away!!), I just look at the bookshelf where the files live and I feel a tiny bit better.
Just look at that beautiful fabric!
Once my files were covered, I printed out some of these templates. I stuck a ball band at the top of each page (some brands needed more than one page, because I have so many shades)…
…and then laminated the pages. This is not strictly necessary. If you print the template out on cardstock, you should be fine. But I like myself some laminating!
I made sure that the care instructions were visible. For some brands, like the Stylecraft above, I had to cut the ball band into segments.
Then I took a Heart Punch
Oooh…hearts…and of course my mind was running away with possible uses for the cut-out hearts. And as I write this, I remember that I had actually wanted to take the hearts with to South Africa when we went to visit. They would have made a perfect addition to my sister’s confetti. Blast!
When that was done, I took my ball bands and noted down the Shade Number and Shade Name of each colour.
At first I attached the yarn by just looping it through the hole, like so:
Isn’t that just scrumptious? Unfortunately, all those dangly bits of yarn were very annoying…
…so I took my crochet hook and turned them into shorter, more manageable chains.
I cannot tell you how useful it is to have all my yarns “listed” like this. Whenever I need to reference a yarn I can just open my “catalogue” and flip through until I find it.
No more running around the house rummaging in all sorts of drawers and bags and coat pockets to find a wayward yarn-band and it’s corresponding piece of yarn.
While I was going through the photos for this post, I stumbled upon this one of Kettle the (grumpy) Cat giving me the evil eye. Yes, I fit the stereotype. I own a cat!
Debbie Pribele has made another version of the Yarn Stash Organizer. You can find that HERE.
This blog post contains affiliate links. I only link to products I personally use or would use. All opinions are my own.
Alexandra says
This is a GREAT idea! Thanks for sharing your organizing tip!
Dedri Uys says
Thank you :)
Maureen says
Awesome idea!!! Thanks for sharing.
Jodi says
In that picture I think Kettle is saying “No YOU do not own a cat, you are owned BY a cat.” Which is about right when sharing a home with a kitty. (I have 2 of them in residence. Shadow – all black , and Zoey – tuxedo)
Dedri Uys says
Hehe, Jodi. You are right, of course. Kettle took over as head of the household the very first day we got him. He whacked my sister’s water off of her bedside table (she was staying with us at the time) and then smacked her (my sister) in the face. Gone was the meek little kitty that had cowered under the oven when I went to fetch him. The lady who sold him to me actually asked me if I was sure I wanted him, because he is so boring. Methinks not! Kettle has the courage and temperament of a Lion!
Pia Thadani says
So cool! Honestly Dedri, you are amazing :)
Dedri Uys says
Thank you, Pia :)
Hollie@MiaFleur says
Thanks so much for linking to our blog post on covering a lever arch file in fabric! Glad you found it useful. This is a great way to organise yarns- and I have to get myself one of those heart hole punches!
Dedri Uys says
No, thank you for the post, Hollie. I just sat down to do the step-by-step tut for the files when I thought to Google it one last time. Saw your tutorial and thought that there was no need for me to repeat what you had already done so wonderfully.
Yo Timkoe says
thanks for the lovely idea and for so generously sharing! I love the feeling of kinship as I live so close to where your parents live (I’m in Port Elizabeth)
Will be making mine this week!
Dedri Uys says
It is such a small world, actually, isn’t it?
Starling says
Ermegerd I love you for this post! I shared it with my ghoulz on the Craftyghoul Facebook page as soon as I saw it! https://www.facebook.com/craftyghoulcrochet
Dedri Uys says
Thank you x
Kathryn says
What kind of marker did you use on your laminated pages to make sure it didn’t smear and rub off?
Dedri Uys says
Kathryn, I use a Sharpie.
Adriana says
Love this idea! :)
Patty says
Oh wow! Just in time! Thank you so much for the templates! My new kitten has managed to make the house a disaster zone with yarn strung all over the place. She literally takes them out of baskets and runs. I was going to try today to figure out how to organize and this will make the job even better. Thank you!
Lynne says
Lovely
Robin C says
Thank you for the visuals and the template. Not to sound really stupid, but how does this help keep your stash organized? What do you do with the rest of the hank, skein or ball? I appreciate the answer. Thank you again!
Dedri Uys says
Robin, the rest of the skeins are kept in plastic boxes. I have them organized by brand and weight. This file just helps me keep track of what I have/have used before and which specific colours they were. If I need to decide on a colourway, I flip through the file, which is infinitely easier than lugging out all the different skeins so that I can have a look at them.
If I need to remind myself about a yarn/colour I used for a specific project, I just look it up in the file.
Robin Paone says
oh myyyyyyy – and I thought I was organized – you are killing me!
Linda rivera says
Great idea thanks for sharing I keep my yarn inventory much like you did. But this good. So if I go to start planning my book
Beatrice Hopper says
I don’t see a free template in your newsletter for the above. What happened. Do I need to modify it for my own use?
Dedri Uys says
Beatrice, the template is provided as a link in the post. If you scroll to the bit where I say “I printed out THIS TEMPLATE”, you will find the link.
Stephhy says
Hi — great ideas. I’m posting your site to http://knittingparadise.com so others can share.
Dedri Uys says
Thank you :)
Sherry says
I love this idea! Thank you for sharing!
Brenda Joy says
I love this idea. So clever. How do you know which yarn is what after you take off the label band? Or is this something you only do after you finished a project?
Dedri Uys says
Brenda, I keep the ball band on the ball of yarn until I am ready to use the yarn, at which point I snip off about 10″ of yarn and tie it around the ball band. That goes in a little box until I get around to filing it. About once a month I put the new pieces of yarn in the file and make more pages if necessary. There is no point in removing the ball band before I use the yarn as I won’t have any reason to reference it if I haven’t used it yet. Occasionally I do just file them as I buy them, though.
If I don’t end up using the whole ball/skein, it just goes back in it’s box (along with other yarn of the same brand and weight). If, at a later stage, I need to know what kind/colour it is, I just check it against the samples in my file.
chatti says
Excellent idea!! Thanks for the template. I’m going to get started on getting my yarn stash organized! :)
Rebeckah says
I love this! I only have one type of yarn I use, so I just have a colour ring with each colour’s code on it. But I would definitely love something like this. :)
Dedri Uys says
The colour ring sounds like a brilliant idea, Rebeckah :)