Hey everyone! It’s Lori here again and today I’m here to share some tips on how to store your yarn and all your hand made goodies. It’s so easy to buy all the yarn your heart desires when it’s on sale without thinking about where you’re going to put it! I’m guilty of it myself, who could pass up a sale?! I’m sure we all have a bag of yarn or two sitting in the corner of the room as we speak and it’s almost impossible to know what yarn you actually have so you just end up buying more. It’s a never ending cycle.

After being embarrassed of my yarn mess for far too long, I decided it was finally time to turn my mess into something I was proud of! So follow these steps and maybe you too will want to show off your stash of yummy fiber!

The first step is to gather all your yarn. I like to dump my yarn on my bed because if I want a place to sleep that night, I have to clean it up! For me this is the perfect motivation. Once you finished gathering your yarn from all over the house, it’s time to sort.

Before I start sorting, I like to grab a couple of bags (I usually already have some in my room full of yarn!) or boxes to help out. I designate one of these bags for any trash I may have (yarn labels and bits of yarn from ends I weaved in and shipped off!) and one for donations. Now it’s time for the fun. I like to sort my yarn by yarn weight so I can easily find the yarn I want for projects. I also like to sort it by color within the weight category. This not only is appealing but it again allows you to easily see what you have.

The thing that always makes my yarn stash look messy, is all the little skeins of cotton and left over half skeins. Those little suckers almost always wind up on the floor and I swear they tangle themselves! So after detangling and winding those little suckers into balls it’s time to contain them in a basket that will fit nicely on your yarn shelf! This will help hide the mess and make it easy to tote around when you decide to work on your latest scrap blanket!

I also go ahead and sort my handmade items and inventory. I keep a basket full of ‘prototype items’, items I use to base a product I sell off of, a basket of work in progress pieces, a pile for inventory pieces, and a pile of personal finished projects.

After you sorted your yarn and stock, it’s time to put it on the shelves. I like to use cubed shelves for my yarn because it allows me to sort my yarn even more! I prefer to use a regular book shelf for my stock because it allows me to clearly see what I have and what I need to make more of. Plus it looks nice to see all your work in one area!

It’s not only a good idea to display your yarn and stock and not contain it because containing it in storage bins does not allow them to breathe. They can make your fibers take on a bit of an odor. Yeah, they’re convenient and easy to put away, but you can’t truly see what you actually have. You’ll spend more time searching through them than enjoying your craft. So by displaying your items on shelves and embracing them as a piece of art, you can spend more time creating.

So those are my tips. I hope they help you to clean up that messy stash and spend more time dong what you love! Cleaning and organizing isn’t always the most fun , but, I promise you will have a more creative mind and you’ll actually enjoy showing off your collection!

LORI is the maker and owner of Lunar Knits. She enjoys making fun and colorful pieces of yarn art and sells them in her etsy shop! You can find more fun things on her Instagram @lunarknitsbylori