mØmmacat's blog

Day Three: 30th March. Tidy mind, tidy stitches.

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 have to say I’m not an organized person. I try like heck to be. But it just doesn’t happen. I used to be. I used to remember every detail of everything, too. I think I filled up my brain too early in life. Or maybe that I’m just usually too overwhelmed to bother? I go through bursts. I will be great for a little while, then I fall backwards.

My knitting organization goes in bursts as well. When I have a lot of projects on the needles things can get a little hairy. Scraps all over, needles flying, random skeins just lying there. Usually, though as the projects are finished, I “clean up”. I do have a modest sized stash, which helps keep the mess at bay.

My main stash is organized in to 3 large Rubbermaid bins. One for sock weight (I’m in a couple of sock clubs), one for worsted/dk nicer stuff, and one for my junk yarn (that I pull out when the kids need something). I also have a bin for my fiber and extra bobbins, patently waiting for my spinning wheel to be put back together. None of those bins are more then half full so I have room to grow. They live on a shelf in my laundry room.

My tools are mostly organized, but still very primitive-like. I have a Hello Kitty pencil case that holds my stitch markers, needles, stitch holders and other tiny bits. I have a second long narrow pencil case for my dpn’s and this case I made for my circulars. This system works mostly ok for me. Its a p.i.t.a. when I’m trying to find all 5 of a set of dpns amongst the zillions I have. I am constantly having to find my needle sizer thingy to figure out which size needle I’m looking at. I keep all these little boxes and my wip’s in my farmer’s market basket that lives right near the couch where I do most of my knitting. When I go someplace else to knit I just toss those boxes along with my wip into a bag and go.

I keep my finished projects organized through my Ravelry Projects Page. I do post knitted things on my blog as well, but try to not bore my non-knitting readers too much, so I keep it to the “good” ones. I am currently participating in Raverly Nerd Wars, I’ve been making a post about each completed project (mostly to better clarify that project and how it ties into team spirit), or so my fellow teammates can refer back to it. It will be nice to look back at the end of the tournament and see what I’ve accomplished in the 3 months.

I guess I’m more organized then I thought…maybe some of that will filter into my non-knitting life. One can only dream.

2kcbwday3