Playing, I Mean, Organizing Yarn, Hooks, and Needles

Today I want to talk about organizing yarn/needles/hooks. I gave myself permission to have a stay at home morning. I definitely needed it and considering how it is 2 degrees F with the wind chill, I feel it's justified. So I spent the morning playing with my yarn. Read: I organized one of my stash totes.

I am still looking for the perfect way to store my yarn and projects. For now I use these purple totes that I bought on clearance. I printed out labels and taped them to the fronts. They read acrylics, natural fibers, finished objects, and unfinished objects. They still do not hold all of my yarn, but I'm doing a lot of working from my stash this year so we'll see where that gets me.

Today I worked on my Natural Fibers tote. I took everything out and made sure it was documented in my Ravelry stash and that there were pictures. This also gave me the most awesome excuse to fondle all of my lovely wool. I may have had a huge grin on my face the whole time. 

Here's a screen shot of some of my stash. I had lots of fun. Plus my phone has an app that allows me to see my projects and stash when I'm out and about. Now if I am out and see yarn that I need or actually do need to pick up some yarn I can see what I have on hand. I am filled with so much happy when I look at my stash. Plus it makes starting a new project easier. How? Well, now I can link the yarn and see how much I have and if I need more or if I have enough to start another project with that yarn. 

This leads me to my needles. I made this needle roll a few years ago. I love it, but a few years ago I didn't have nearly the needle stash that I do now. I am thinking that I need to make another one just for DPNs and keep this one for straight needles. We will see what time allows, though. I'd also like to confess that even though I have this roll there are still needles all over the house. Meh. It's life.

There is a lot of different ideas out there about organizing circular needles. I usually do not have a need to take my whole lot of circs with me anywhere, so having a moderately cheap solution for the house works good for me. It also seems that my method isn't too different than some of the more expensive options out there. I took a tote that has the deals that come up over the handles to latch it. I made this nifty label, and it's all ready to fill.

As for the needles themselves, I put them in your average, run of the mill storage bags. I write the size of the needle, the size of the cable, and what the needle is made of on the label. If I were really good I'd follow this with, "then I organize according to needle size". I'm not going to lie to you though. lol I really just have them put in no particular order. It's ok. My circular needles are not so much that this is causing a huge issue when I go to look for one. Maybe someday I'll organize it better. This is working great, for now. 

Here are my needles, sort of. This is nowhere near the extent of my hook collection as I have been crocheting for well over twenty years now. However, this is the holder that I use most. I do have a special holder for some of my other hooks that have sentimental value. Pretty odd, huh? Well, that's me. 

I think that's about it for today. I have to work on my grocery list and will myself out of my warm house into the frigid temps to get food. Boo. *sigh* I leave you with this picture of the most adorable toddler sock ever! And it was a pretty fast knit, too.