Storage

Hi All! I’m getting ready to do my annual sort of my stash and was pondering if I should change up how I store my yarn stash. That lead me to wonder how others store their yarn hoard. So how do you store your stash?

I have a yarn room, so I bought Better Homes & Gardens cube storage and dividers to use for my stash. It’s sorted by weight and somewhat by color (but it needs to be re-sorted for color right now). I like having everything easy to find and out where I can look through it. I’ll note that the yarn is not in direct sunlight and I do keep the blinds closed most of the way, though that room is on the shady side of the house. I don’t have concerns over insects for a few reasons, but if that is an issue where you live then it might be better to store your stash in air-tight plastic tubs.

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@LiddleDesigns LOL! It’s so different when the kids are out of the house. Our house is large and used to feel like the perfect size to have kids running in and out. (Our house was the gathering place for my son and his buddies.) The yarn/craft room used be a guest bedroom, but we never had any overnight guests except for boys crashing in the game room. When we re-carpeted upstairs my husband suggested getting rid of the guest room and making a craft room instead. (He uses the 4th bedroom as his music room and was tired of my stuff taking over.) I used to spend tons of time in the craft room either knitting or scrapbooking. (Oh yes…there is more than just the yarny stuff. I really should sell some of that other stuff.) Now that my son is in college I really spend more time knitting in the game room (which is next to the yarn room) than in the yarn room itself. At this point we could easily downsize, but I’ve pretty much gut renovated the majority of the house and we’re waiting to see if the housing market comes up at all. We’re also waiting a couple of years to see if my son ends up anywhere near to Oklahoma. We’d eventually like to custom build a smaller, very modern house that is about 2/3 the size of this one.

I try not to keep a lot of yarn, but it accumulates for various reasons, as I’m sure you all know.

For years (decades) I just stuffed it haphazardly in a spare dresser or a very large cardboard box.

It was a mess. Now I keep it in clear plastic tubs.

Large tubs labeled #4 Wool and Wool blends; #4 Acrylic and Cotton.
Smaller tubs labeled by weight #1, #2, #3
And one smaller one for lighter weight cottons.

I think each person has to decide how they sort their yarn, based on how they use it.

I like weights and fiber content in the same box because I often do multi-colored projects.

Obviously I like my sock yarns together because I always have a sock on the needles.

Within each box I keep a plastic zip bag with smaller leftovers of that category. I also keep clear plastic zip bags from bedding and store large quantities of the same yarn in them. Smaller quantities are often loose in the tub.

All the tubs fit nicely in a guestroom closet. I guess that’s my craft room. The dresser in there holds WIP’s, notions, sewing supplies, etc.

I do have to admit to still having one drawer full of whatever yarn all mixed together. I call it “To be filed”. Once or twice a year I get around to sorting it.

For my first 20-25 years of knitting I bought yarn only for a specific project. I was monogamous, only working on 1 project at a time. Mostly, I just couldn’t afford to buy anything that I didn’t need (We can debate whether yarn is a necessity or a luxury - I can win both sides of that argument.). So my “stash” was simply leftovers and I kept them in a plastic bin.

As my income increased and the kids flew away, I was freed to buy yarn I like and deal with finding the pattern later.

Still, my stash is small compared to lots of knitters. It fits in 1 extra large and 2 large plastic bins which are stored in a closet that is easy to access. Each “project” is bagged together in zipper lock plastic bags - 2 gallon bags will hold a sweater quality of most of my yarns, but sometimes I settle for using 2 bags. The odds and ends from completed projects are also bagged together in “like” bags - based on weight and fiber content.

I have a room that will eventually be a “me” space and I’ve thought of using some barrister shelves with glass fronts to store the yarn where I can see it, but I am worried about bugs (we don’t have air conditioning and keep our windows open a lot).

I’m interested in hearing what you finally decided to do @Natasha25461 .

I keep my yarn in Ikea storage, I think they’re called Kallax cubes. I also have some for my fabric. My yarn used to outnumber my fabric stash until I inherited my MIL’s stash almost 2 years ago. Now I’m trying to work through both stashes. If either place ever gets to the point where I’m not embarrassed to show them to you I will. I am not a great housekeeper.

I call my craft room organized chaos. Housekeeping is for when company comes.

I have moths in my home, so have to use plastic bins. I tend to sort by weight and fiber type, with some exceptions. So all sock yarn in one bin, for example; all worsted weight and DK wool yarn in another; and all heavier weight wool in yet another. I do not have too much cotton yarn, so all goes in one bin, regardless of thickness of yarn. I have a fondness for Noro self-striping yarns, and buy it when I find a good sale, so I have one a bin that contains just Noro. The bins are all labeled, with most of them stacked in an extra closet, and a couple with less-used yarns (the bulky and lace weight ones) in the garage.

Because of the moth issue, I also keep one bin in my bedroom, for temporary storage. I keep yarns there that I am currently playing with, considering for a new project , or just bought and haven’t had a chance to catalog yet.

Creative people are often messy. No time for cleaning up!

I store my yarn in clear totes so I can see what is in each. I try to keep it sorted by weight and real wool separate from acrylic. Some totes have just a certain brand of yarn because I buy a lot of that particular brand. All my cotton is in its own tub. Yarn I consider for baby blankets/clothes is in its own tub.

I have a shelf for my craft books and magazines. A small table where I have my ball winder and swift set up. A few wicker baskets that hold scissors, pencils, yarn bras. I also have a stack of craft bags, the plastic see thru bags that bed comforters come in and those smaller see thru bags that hold bedsheets and pillow cases. And then there is the bed sets that come in a drawstring bags made of the same material. I keep those too.

I really miss having my stash recorded on a website. It was nice to be able to call up what ever weight of yarn I was planning to use. Sometimes I would forget about some yarn I had. I have purchased a lot of yarn since June 2019. I found an old app that works for me right now. I record just the recent purchases on it. But I would love to have ALL of my yarn recorded in one place. I felt pretty organized back in those days.

Admin is working on a stash feature, we’ll get there

I exported my stash into an excel type document and add and subtract there. I am a nerd, as I have a new page every month so I can track what I use each month. Doesn’t have pictures, but I can sort by yarn weight and / or color if that is entered.

Not very elegant but most of my yarn stash and fabric that came from my sister-in-law. There’s also a BIG cardboard box under my cutting table with more yarn. There was/is a lovely, generous woman on R who sent me yarn she was clearing out of her apartment. This should last me a few years!!

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I love your room! I have all my yarn in individual plastic sleeves, in a cabinet, with cedar logs on the shelves AND lavender sachets hanging everywhere. Obviously moths have not made their way north of the Red River. Sigh.

What is this ‘housekeeping’ you speak of??

@plainjaneknitter Wow! That’s a lot of protection. :slight_smile: I’m sure there are moths here, but maybe they don’t like our climate as much as yours. I’ve never had a problem, but I do take extra precautions. We have the house sprayed quarterly and I vacuum daily. Plus that room is set apart from our daily living areas…it’s upstairs and in it’s own “wing”. I’m really the only one who spends much time upstairs these days. Oh! And it probably helps that we have turf rather than real grass in the back yard. With 4 dogs there was just no way to keep the grass growing back there.

Mine is in a dresser, in the drawers. I have cats, so it has to be stored securely. Anyway, it keeps it dust free and is easy to see this way.

[SIZE=16px]Good morning. Are there any updates on when we will have a program to record our stash? Just curious. [/SIZE]:relaxed:

Good morning! :slight_smile: Myself and one other user is in the process of beta-testing it, and we’re trying to get a few bugs out. I’ve sent a message to our programmers to see if they can give me a general idea. Glad to have you back!

It’s good to “see” you!