Before Christmas my knitting stash was an unbelievable mess and my two main areas for keeping my yarn and needles were inside a footstool in our lounge, and *shock, horror* chucked behind one of our armchairs!
Something had to change.
For the last few months I’ve been ever so slowly compiling items of furniture and home decor/storage boxes to be used in my perfectly cosy little office. A slow process because I’ve not wanted to just buy things for the sake of it. Instead waiting patiently until ‘the one’ of every purchase came around. This can take time, but one by one I’ve found my perfect desk, chair, desk lamp, lampshade, shelves and storage boxes. In due course I must take some pictures and show you how it all looks, but at the moment it still needs a lick of paint and a blind (just ordered).
However, it is useable. So over the holiday I started using my office space, having a full clear out of my yarns in the process. Here’s how I tackled my dishevelled collection.
- Separated it
I went through every ball of yarn I have, whether I’d started using it or not. I obviously kept all of the skeins bought with specific patterns in mind, but I separated out the rest into a pile. I then made cut-throat decisions like whether or not I was really going to use that half a ball of day-glow orange cashmerino I bought back in 2011! - Ditched it
I did not throw loads away. I only binned yarn if it was beyond using. I was the sort of person who kept 4 inch pieces of everything I’d ever knit with because eh, you never know right?! Wrong. So all the scraps went out, like they should have done the moment I cast off and stopped using the yarn. - Ebayed it
Any full, two thirds or half balls of yarn I no longer wanted went up on eBay as a ‘job lot’ stash for a knitting beginner to practice with (here’s hoping)! When sold, I’m not going to lie, I immediately went out and bought more yarn #notevensorry…. - Used it
Laying everything out actually made it really easy for me to see what I needed to accomplish. Projects I’d forgotten I’d bought yarns for were instantly visible to me, so I took them with me on holiday and got them finished. Great! That’s nine skeins of angora I don’t have to store any more, I’ll be wearing it instead. I got through three projects over the Christmas break as a result of my little clean out. - Colour-coded it
The remaining yarn I sorted into colour – so much neater! I now use my Quince & Co. Tai Baskets that I made last year to store some of my skeins. I also got kindly gifted these beautiful little storage crates (emphasis on little, because like handbags, if there’s space I’ll fill it). - Admired it
*Sigh* My knitting stash is decorating my little office space really nicely now, adding a bit of colour too! Instead of scaring the heck out of me every time I go into my lounge! The result has been so good I’m determined to keep on top of it from now on.
Let me know how you get on tackling your knitting stash – any hints or tips would be awesome!
x