I think it’s the spring fever but lately I’ve been putting a lot more effort in the organisation of my stash, both the way in which I store them as in inventorying what I have. I’ve been going trough the whole of my stash to reorganise it as well as making an inventory of what I have.
Knitters organise their stash in various ways. Either by weight, by projects, by quantities (small projects or big), by brand, or by colour. I know some knitter have beautiful displays of their stash in bookcases in their study, or in bowls on the table of the living room, whereas other knitters choose practical storage over pleasing eyes. I wish I fell in the ‘beautiful displays’-category, truthfully I don’t. At the moment it just isn’t practical. The Treehouse is known for many things, but not for large spaces. Furthermore, my cats have learned to leave my WIPs alone, having my stash openly displayed would prove to much temptation for them. Heaven forbid yarn damage by cats, sunlight or moths as consequence of having the stash openly displayed.
I store my yarn, less fashionably, in plastic bins. With bags of lavender or pieces of cederwood thrown in between it. I love all animals, but I love moths the best when they stay far away. I have them sorter by project. This works the best for me, as tend to do a lot of colourwork projects and in this way I have them grouped nicely together. Most of the yarn in my stash is sweater quantity because that is what I knit the most. I’m fairly loyal to my project plans and yarn brands that I like.
All my stash has a conceived purpose. If my taste changes I can re-purpose it easily because since it’s project based, I tend to have project quantities instead of lost of different small skeins that don’t match with other skeins.
I have also been making more of an effort, because I was reorganizing my stash anyway, to photograph my stash and note the details of each of the yarns (how much I have, what project I plan to use it for etc). This is especially helpful for myself because knowing what I have and want to make helps me plan my projects better, but I’m slowly adding it to Ravelry as well. I found myself using the stash function a lot more , mostly to look up yarn and colour details from other people’s stashes(you know…just in case I want to expand my stash), so I know putting up yarn photo’s and information can be useful for other knitters as well as for my own organisation. I try to capture as much detail in the pictures as possible: what brand and what thickness is the yarn, what texture is it. That’s why I photograph the yarn with the etiquette still on.
How do you store your yarn? Do you use Ravelry to keep track of your yarn? Let me know!
I started an answer, it became long-winded and then my phone ate it (not for the first time).
I wrote a blog post instead.
http://darktwistedstitches.blogspot.no/2014/04/too-much-stash-formation-post-on.html
Dat is altijd wat om de diverse spullen op te slaan en dan nog weten wat er is.
Heb je wel een verassing als je wat speciaals vindt waarvan je dacht dat het op was.
De groeten.
Daaag
Paul.
I don't use Ravelry to keep track of my yarn, but I do store it in plastic boxes like yours, with anti-moth stuff. It's always a good plan.
I adore Rav for organizing my yarn — but starting the process is hours and hours of work. Once you've got the bulk of your stash though, it's so wonderful to see a new pattern, click your stash and know EXACTLY which yarns would work to cast on immediately!! Nothing compares to that, in my book.
Funny, I think we use the same boxes! I have about 7 30litre boxes, but I need more… Or really get knitting all those sweater I´ve planned for all of them. It is not yet beyond life expectancy, because 5 sweaters and 7 socks seem do able in my lifetime. I do have a large amount of Laceweight, but that is because I also knit Little dolls sweaters and those need laceweight and I like all the colors. What is yarn on the cone~?
Haha, I just bought more boxes for my yarn! I expect that by the time I'm approaching old-lady-hood scientific progress will have found a way to keep people alive for thousands of years provided they have a large enough knitting queue ;).
The yarn on the cone is Jamieson and Smith 2ply jumperweight. It's an amazingly rich brown colour with blue, purple and orange flecks.