Storage Ideas for All That YARN

The spare bedroom has stacked of plastic tubs with yarn sorted by weight, or project or other classification, then there are the books and patterns, the UFOs the WIP (that. Is different) and the sewing machine and all the sewing and craft notions blah, blah, blah.
I’m looking for some great storage ideas, shelves, etc that would pretty it up. The ones i see on Pinterest look staged and not real life. Chime in, take some pics, help me out!!!

2 Likes

I have a TROFAST from Ikea that I use to hold all my tools - straight needles have their own drawer, one drawer holds my yarn bowls and scale, etc. I love the colorful boxes available (though mine is black, white, and yellow) and the option to rearrange the order at any time. :slight_smile:

4 Likes

I’m in the process of morphing from bags and tubs to giant ziplock where I can sort by size of yarn or color. Not a lot of extra space where I live now,so still a work in progress itself.

1 Like

I just use good old ziplock bags. Lots of ziplock bags. Organizing things is on my to do list. But it’s a long list.

5 Likes

I distract my mail carrier “Oh No!!! Mad Dog! Mad Dog!” and when he turns his back I steal the mail tubs.

7 Likes

I love try those tubs. A look so available from Uline.

I have a 1950s-era dresser that belonged to my grandma. dt has 6 good-sized drawers; Different weights of yarn are in different drawers. It works great - except my stash has outgrown it! I also have 3 3-drawer plastic tubs. I really need to reorganize it all (and perhaps have a stash sale!).

5 Likes

I use a double set of IKEA PAX Cabinets. Shelves on top with drawers on the bottom. The shelves hold the SKUBBs, which are fabrics bins, for all my yarn and fabrics.

I know , I know, IKEA but the PAX cabinets are designed to be versatile, strong and to last. You can configure them many different ways. I moved my to Texas and I would be lost without them. One of the best investments I’ve made for my craft to date.

To see pictures check out this ancient post http://pleiaden.blogspot.com/2007/05/in-my-room.html

5 Likes

IKEA’s Billy bookcases with glass-paned doors and shelf dividers like these:

Works much better for me than bins and boxes did!

1 Like

I change every so often as there seems to be no perfect solution, probably because the inventory changes. I used to keep it all out in lovely baskets throughout my house but then I got moths, so now every skein is in ziplock bags; not so pretty but safer. I have a beautiful armoire that I thought would be perfect but it isn’t as accessible as I thought it would be, so I’m still moving it all around. It’s a process but that’s probably part of the fun.

5 Likes

I have an oversized cedar chest that I use to store my yarn. Yarns are sorted by brand and weight and kept in zip lock bags. This works really well for me.

2 Likes

Oh! And the PAX Cabinets are currently on S A L E!!!

3 Likes

I use an IKEA wall unit with baskets that has 16 ‘cubbies’ and various baskets in a small spare room. No particular organization as every time I try I get distracted by yarn and ideas :wink:

2 Likes

I have a huge amount of closet space - why, I can only wonder as my modest one bedroom apartment isn’t lavish in other way. So I keep my yarn in plastic tubs in the closets. This way I don’t have to see the ugly plastic tubs.
Moths really do exist, I had encounters with them a couple of decades ago, so I don’t think leaving your pretty yarn out for months if not years at a time is a good idea. What are called in decorator-ese “Barrister’s Bookcases” http://www.halebookcasesdirect.com/collections/300-series-traditional-sectional-bookcase?_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=CO7x_qrS3dECFZxWDQodZGgCQQ are probably a good idea. Real lawyers stopped using books in the past decade and a half, so you might even be able to pick some up on the cheap.

I had my yarn in ziplock bags jammed in a closet but when Hancock’s went out of business I bought a display unit and filled it with my yarn. It’s on wheels, 5 large stacking baskets, almost as tall as I am…it’s my “container” I can cram a lot in it and it only takes up one corner of my sewing room. :slight_smile: Nice to have that closet for something else and nice to have yarn visible to enjoy. One side is “committed” yarn and other side is just yarn I wanted for yarn’s sake.

OMG, your husband is THE BEST!!! Mine tolerates my stash (a soft-sided suitcase and four plastic bins in the attic) just fine, but when I wanted to sort/organize it and put my entire stash in my Ravelry notebook, I waited until he was away for several days. It’s best to be strategic.

6 Likes

Thanks, at the time, yes he was. Granted I paid for all of it, but he put it together for me. Things fell apart a few years later. Current partner is very tolerant and even supporting my decision to start designing (nope, not giving up the day job).

I totally agree re being strategic. HAHAHAHA

2 Likes

About 10 years ago I purchased the snap-together shelves (6 in a box) from Target. I have filled one wall in my Wool Room with 40 of these cubes. All wool is in clear zip bags and cotton and silk and linen are left to their own devices. As I use up the yarn the shelves hold different stuff.
As a spinner and weaver too stash is continually multiplying when I’m out of the room!!

3 Likes

I am a second generation yarn collector. When I was little, my mother would frequent all the mill stores in our area (MA RI) and tells me she would put me in the the box and I would throw the yarn out to her. I still use some of that yarn!
My mother’s (91) stash is in clear plastic bins on shelves in the basement, along with some of mine. My stash is in Ikea cabinets in my living room and in clear plastic Ikea blanket bags and clear plastics tubs in the spare room. I am a crocheter and I sell what I make, so I am always using and buying more yarn.

1 Like

I think it’s imperative that we start calling our yarn our “collection”…it gives it a much better face than anything else, and it’s true. If this was wine, people would be coming to view it with awe, and you’d be so proud when you put in your new temperature and humidity controlled cellar. For some varieties the cost is similar. This comparison can go on and on, but the bottom line is, when we indulge in some of our collection, we have something to show for it besides a hangover…not that that never happens, mind you. Anyone else cherishing some vintage '99 Classic Elite Tapestry?

12 Likes