The yarn is organized!

I set a few goals for myself this year and in order to start things off right I really needed to get my yarn organized. I’ve tried a variety of ways to organize it in the past but never found the right way that really worked well for me.

After doing some investigating I decided the best way to get this yarn under control would be to organize it by project, and then organize the leftovers by type. I always have many projects floating around in my head at any given time and because the yarn was never easy to find before I would just end up buying more (yippee)! This only made my problem worse.

Sorting by project was going to be just the thing I needed to use up my stash and keep things under control. At first I thought about buying plastic bins to put each project in, or even large zipper bags but then I saw my stash of gift bags across the room. I always save these darn things intending to re-use then but every time I need one I end up buying a new one anyway. These are just the thing to sort my projects and not have to buy anything else.

 

The first project bag filled up quickly and before I knew it I had a whole pile of projects, bagged and ready to crochet!

Now that the yarn was organized I decided to figure out a way to organize my patterns too. I am notorious for writing my patterns down on little scraps of paper and even post it notes. I found these old plastic stacking trays in the closet. I used to use them when I used paper for work but now everything is on the computer so I had packed them away. They will work perfect for storing my patterns as I write them down (using real paper and NOT post its)! I have 6 trays and divided them up into baby items, blankets, accessories, amigurumi, women, and men. This seems like it will work for now but I may need to modify this system later as I start using it. I am just excited about the possibility of actually being able to find a pattern when I need it!

 

This book shelf is serving as my inventory storage for now. The shelves are adjustable so I am hoping it can hold most of my items. I’ve started doing more custom orders so that I do not have to keep as much inventory on hand at any given time. I can see outgrowing this quickly though if things pick up in the new year like I hope they will.

 

 

Here is my workspace, I decided to store all of the festive project bags under my desk area. My 2 Italian Greyhounds, Paige and Emma are always curious about anything that has been moved or is new in the house.

Paige was posing so nicely here!

Here is the other side of the room which we mainly use as a library. I wish these were all craft books but there is quite a bit of science fiction thrown in too.

That’s one goal down and I think I am off to a good start to the new year so far. I hope I can keep this system up and make it work unlike so many other ways of organizing yarn that have failed in the past.