Jan’s post and pics abouther well organized yarn stash really got me thinking, I NEED HELP!!
I live in a very tiny house (about 1300 square feet), my yarn room doubles as my office, computer room and storage space. It’s a 10 x10 room (with no room to breathe).
Who is the guy on Oprah that goes around helping Folks organize? I wish he’d pay a visit to my house. Between work and ambulance duty I just don’t seem to find the time to get it “together”.
I’m very ashamed to show you these pics but here goes… (there is also yarn in the guest room in bins. I would love to find a shelving unit that would contain my stash as well as keep it from getting dusty. Right now I depend on plastic bags.
Last summer I invested in some metal shelving from Target. They come disassembled, but go together easily and are very sturdy and strong. Even if the cats decide to jump up on the top (they are about 6 feet tall) the shelves don’t budge.
I also invested in zip-up sweater bags and stack them on the shelves. They keep the yarn clean and I can see what’s in them. I love having all my yarn in one place where I can see it.
You can also get giant ziplock bags at WalMart or Target. They’re difficult to stack, though, and tend to always be spilling off the shelves.
If you want to be able to see all of your stash, clear plastic tubs are good and can be stacked quite high if you find ones with tops that are made to have the bins nested into them. (Try dollar stores first!) That means you won’t need shelves so much, although eventually you’ll want them, as unstacking bins starts getting to be a bit of a pain after a while. (And for some reason, the color you want is always near the bottom.)
In my studio, I have those Sterilite plastic tub storage “units” lining the walls (model 2830 are the ones I have) – I only ever bought them on sale, or I couldn’t have afforded to fill the room with them. You can usually stack one on top of the other, so long as what you put in them is fairly light. My advice is to leave the rollers off, as I found that this was where the things usually broke from the strain on the wheels.
I’ve seen entire walls of these Sterilite products in people’s workspaces, with various products jigsawed onto the wall as needs called for.
For long term storage of fibers, though, you’ll need to pick archive safe products – storing delicate fibers in plastic long-term can be a recipe for disaster.
i have those plastic sterlite bins as well, and like them because you can get different sizes and stack them. I left off the rollers too. I have a walk in closet lined with them.
You could measure your shelves and get the drawers that fit on them, then you just stack them in there.
I buy them on sale at Target also!:roflhard:
You look pretty organized to me, Ginny. I have a closet that has yarn stuffed into knitting bags, paper bags, plastic bags. My current “in use” stash is in a gigantic Christmas present box (like for a coat or something else large). When I get some time I think I’ll make that whole closet into a nice storage area.
While I like the plastic bin idea, to keep the dust out. I don’t want to stack and unstack to get too the yarn. So I think it’s going to be some kind of shelf and bin combination.
Right now the upper half is shelves, I may remove the counter top and continue the shelves right down, spacing them to allow for bins.
I would LOVE to have a honeycomb of bins and leave the yarn right out but I don’t want the yarn to get dusty, so it really needs to be in a container.
Artlady - I love your system! I use ziploc bags (to keep like yarns together) inside of large plastic bins (to keep all the yarns contained in a small area. I have shelves set up in a closet which is where I keep my plastic bins. I have 2 bins of yarn, and 2 smaller bins of sewing/fabric stuff. I use organizer drawers (you can find them at WalMart near the plastic bins) to take care of the little things. I have 1 for my “sewing basics”, one for crochet hooks and yarn needles, one for beads I use in my cross-stitch, etc. The drawers are stackable and are great for little things like that. I use them in my linen closet to hold overflow from the medicine cabinet and things like nail polish.
I see nothing to be ashamed about. It’s fairly organized for what you have. I love the modular clear plastic drawers as you have at the bottom. I totally organized my sewing room with several of those (only deeper) from Walmart. The other stuff I put into canvas bins (also from Walmart), the ones that have a little window for a label on the outside. That way I could also know what I have and where without having to have it all visible. So I separated into such as: sock yarn, sweater amounts (keep all my sweaters’ worth of yarn in one or two bins), notions, etc.
The canvas ones also come in two sizes as Wallyworld, so check them out. You gotta work with what you have and what you have isn’t so bad, you just need to hide it in plain sight ;). Don’t forget a labelmaker makes ALL the difference. I’m on my 2nd one ;).
ALSO: I just finished reading a booklet I bought at the checkout counter at the supermarket (organization for dummies type thing)…the author recommended separating things on shelves with sweater separators that look like the pic below. I thought it was a great idea. She recommended the wooden ones, which you might prefer to the wire one in the pic. That would help keep your like items together without falling all around and look and feel better organized. I got this pic from www.organize.com or try something like the Containerstore.com
I found some small blanket bags at cleanersupply.com under the packaging tab. Very inexpensive, they are $6.48 for 12 until the end of April, I ordered them on Wednesday and had them by Friday! they are awesome!! and they have mesh sides to keep critters out and let air in. They are perfect size for an entire chunky fair isle sweater project with pattern. In another I have almost 2 pounds of various fibers and they are clear so you can see what the heck is where
I think that’s an ideal place for those plastic drawers you can get at Target. Maybe not cheap, but they would last a long time and it would be EASY to get to your stash. No pulling out bins.
Thanks for so many GREAT ideas. I did not realize you could buy the clear zipped bags for such a reasonable price. I think I’m going to go with the ceiling to fllor shelving plan and use the clear pouches to seperate the yarn.
My “dream wall” has the yarn seperated by weight with the wall going from lightest to bulkiest. I’ll take out the counter and cabinets and go with open shelves.
Leaving for 10 days on Sat, THAT will be my project when I get home!!!
All I can say is HOLY CRAP THAT’S A LOT OF YARN! My goodness! Man, I thought I had a lot of yarn, I realize its small compared to some of the other knitters on this forum! Not that it’s a good or bad thing, I just think it’s so interesting! I have 1 1/2 drawers full of yarn and I thought “Geez I better start knitting some stuff ASAP to use up all this yarn.” You guys take the cake!
And actually…some people have a lot more than that. Not me mind you, but I’ve heard stories of sheds and entire bedrooms taken up. I’ve got a fair amount now so I’m good in the event of a catastrophe. :teehee:
Man, I thought I had a lot of yarn, I realize its small compared to some of the other knitters on this forum! Not that it’s a good or bad thing, I just think it’s so interesting! I have 1 1/2 drawers full of yarn and I thought “Geez I better start knitting some stuff ASAP to use up all this yarn.” You guys take the cake!