Organizing Your Yarn Stash: Assessing What You Have
At the beginning of 2022, I went through my stash to pull yarn for the projects I had planned for the year. It took longer than it should have to find what I was looking for. Surrounded by yarn, it became obvious that I needed to organize my stash to focus on what I truly needed. If you need to organize your yarn stash, grab some plastic, resealable storage bags, and follow this action plan.
Planning and Prep
First, think about the projects you have made over the past few years. What yarn did you use? What did you make? With this information, create a list with three columns: Often, Some, and Rarely/Never. Yarn fiber, weight, and project types should be written in the column based on how often you use the yarn or make the item.
This list is useful for the next step of the process: creating rules for organizing your yarn stash. Some useful rules that I follow are:
- Keep yarn written in the “Often” column.
- Rehome partial, scraps, and project leftover skeins.
- Rehome yarn in the “Rarely/Never” column.
Rules like these are personal. You may want to keep partial skeins and leftovers for future, scrappy projects, while I do not. Do what works for you! Your rules should make the most sense to you and how you use your stash.
Having these guidelines in place will help you make decisions when you’re on the fence about a skein. For example, you might love the color of a skein but if it’s not a fiber you love, nor is it a weight you use often, and it’s not enough to make the kind of project you like . . . do you really want to keep it?
Related: We Love Yarn: Meet Our Stashes
Sorting Your Yarn
Before you can organize your yarn stash, think ahead to how you want to store it once sorted. Popular organization choices are: color, fiber type, and yarn weight. Another option is to sort by project type, such as yarn for hats. Choose the option that makes it easiest for you to make the most of your stash.
Now, it’s time to sort your yarn. Skein by skein, apply the rules to your stash. Put the yarn you are rehoming into resealable, plastic bags, and place in a bag or box for later. Yarn you are keeping should be grouped into piles based on how it will go back into the stash, such as all the lace weight or red yarn together. Tip: If yarn is earmarked for specific projects, store the skeins together.
Do you have to follow all of your rules? Of course not! There will be times when you look at a yarn that the rules say you can keep but you realize you don’t like working with it. That yarn can be rehomed.
Related: Stupid Yarn Stash Purchases I Have Made
If you keep track of your yarn on Ravelry, be sure to remove yarn that is no longer in your stash.
Organizing Your Yarn Stash
The final step is to put your freshly sorted yarn into whatever you use to store it. If you keep your yarn in open storage, like a bookcase, and have pets or small children, consider placing the yarn in sturdy, resealable, plastic bags for safety purposes.
If you use multiple, plastic storage containers, write a list of what is inside. Since a single piece of paper can be torn, tape a page protector on one of the container’s sides to hold the list. This way, you can find what you are looking for without opening every container, and the list can be updated easily.
Now that your stash is organized, it will be easy to find the yarn you want for your next cast on. Now the challenge will be to keep things organized!
C. Brooke Caldwell is a Librarian living in Arkansas with her cat and dog. You can find her on Instagram @cbcald.
Since I use wool and/or alpaca, I make sure to have cedar balls in wherever I’m storing my yarn, whether it’s finished projects or my yarn stash. I appreciate the advice on how to organize my stash – I’ll be giving that a try later today.