Ahhh...The Fine Art of Yarn and Other Knitty Storage

Today's Topic: How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised?

A few months ago, someone on Twitter commented about these storage bags fron Woodland Woolworks.  At $2.50 a bag, I considered them a steal and immediately ordered 6 small and 6 large to store my stash....Love them! They fit under my bed (crazy yarn storage but what can I say?) or at least the part of the bed that isn't taken up with all of my scrapbooking and photos.  And they fit under a chair.  And I can see what I have....no opening or unzipping bags to peek inside!  It's all visible! And, did I mention, inexpensive? 

Storage Bag from WoodlandWoolworks.com

Since receiving them, I have more or less organized my stash....Malabrigo, Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Pagewood Farms, Lorna's Laces, Madeline Tosh, Quince and Company... all go in separate bags.  Some yarn is just stored by weight since I don't really have enought of a collection of a lot of brands....sock yarn in particular because there are soooooo many pretty sock yarns out there.  Note to self:  Look for Quince and Co yarn...I didn't notice it when  I was going through my yarn and planning some projects last week.

I haven't been that interested in listing my stash on Ravelry but recently I did go through my knitting books (another collection of sorts, I might add) and I updated my Ravelry Library. I also put all of the knitting books in one place so I would know where to look for them!

As far as knitting needles are concerned, I do confess that until a few weeks ago, most were piled up in a tote bag.  And, by piled up, I mean piled up!  For a while, it seemed like I would buy knitting needles every time I bought yarn at the Local Yarn Stores.  But I ordered a very nice Needle Organizer from Namaste (it no longer seems to be available or I would give a link).  I also bought a 2 inch notebook binder (the kind my kids use for school) and an assortment of pen and pencil holders that fit  inside the binder.  I used the Namaste bag for my smaller needles 0 -5, mostly DPN's, some circular needles, stitch holders, stitch markers etc.  The notebook is filled with mostly circular needles size 6 - 15.  Of course, at any time, you may see some stray sets of needles around my house.

Don't get me wrong though....there is plenty of yarn lying around my house for me to ooogle and pet.  When I get new yarn, it is immediately placed on the counter in the hallway so that I can look at it and plan what I am going to knit with it.  Sometimes, only the yarn/project that I am currently working on sits on that coveted spot in the hallway.  Sometimes, it's yarn that I've had a while that I am interested in knitting.  And, sometimes, I just pull out all of my storage bags so that I can look at all of my yarn and plan, oh, I don't know, the next 3 or 4 or 12 projects.  And, by the way, I still have 2 or 3 bags left to fill!  Hmmmm, where can I go shopping?  Half the fun of having a collection is enjoying it, right?  How do you store your yarn....share here!

I'm so in Love...

with this handbag, that is. It's Namaste's Zuma and I love it!

My Namaste Zuma Bag

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not a Material Girl.  Expensive Handbags are not for me.  And this was a steal! If you follow my tweets (I'm iKnit2Purl2 on Twitter), you might have seen a tweet last Sunday mentioning a  50% Off Namste Sale by Little Knits .  What a deal!  I was so excited that I had to share it with everyone!

So what do I love about my new handbag? Well, first, I love the size...I have several large, not huge but large handbags, that get a little heavy and a little cumbersome.  Zuma is a little smaller at roughly 9" W by 11" H with a 17" Base.  And its lightweight which is perfect since I tote a knitting bag along with a handbag about half the time. Open it up and there's plenty of room for stuff.  Plus 2 zipper compartments on the outside.  I love this feature as I can stuff my keys and phone into one compartment for easy access.  It closes on top with three magnets.  Usually, I prefer zip tops but the 3 magnets (one of which snaps) seem to prevent the contents from falling out as I throw my purse in the backseat of the car or beside me on the passenger seat.  A regular occurence as I pick up and drop off kiddos at school and other activities.

I'm already thinking about which color Zuma to get for summer!