Yarn Organization, Part Two

After what seems like an eon, I'm back with what I ended up doing with my yarn!  There were a couple of different things that I wanted to accomplish.  I wanted my yarn storage to look nice, and I wanted it to be easily accessible.  In a house with four kids and two adults, both of those can be rather difficult feats...due to space constraints and the necessity to keep the yarn where little fingers are less likely to tangle it all up.

What I decided on was cleaning up a little bit around my computer desk in the basement, relocate the printer, and move my wine rack yarn storage to the top of an old cabinet.

I decided to keep some of my favorite yarn in the shelves, and the rest went into convenient bins inside the cabinet.  I put my knitting needle tips on top, along with my larger pattern books.  To the left is a magazine holder with knitting magazines and books, and to the right is a holder with crochet magazines and pamphlets.  I love having my pretty yarn on display, and I really enjoy having all of my patterns/references in one place.

The top shelf of my rack holds 100% cotton yarn, the middle holds wool blends on the left and cotton blends on the right, and the bottom has 100% animal fibers.  In the lidded bin are the rest of my balls (!) of 100% cotton yarn, and it usually sits in the bottom of my little computer desk.  Inside the cabinet (which once held an old TV) are two bins of wool yarn.  Bright colors on the left, and neutrals on the right.  If you look close, you can see an empty bin waiting for instructions, and another container full of wool yarn scraps that I haven't decided what to do with yet.

It's been a little over a month since I started using this system, and I must say that it is working quite will for me.  I have yet to pry my precious yarn out of sneaky little fingers, and it has been an absolute breeze to find patterns.  I still need to find a way to be a little more disciplined about how many WIPs I've got!  Any suggestions?

Yarn Organization, Part One

Sometimes one has to sit back, look around, and take stock of their resources. For some, this means checking on the veg in the root cellar and meat in the freezer…but for me it means wool, cotton, bamboo, and nylon fibers. Spun, plied (or not) and put up into hanks, skeins, or balls just waiting for me to transform them into something fun.

I set about the task of inventorying my yarn for a few different reasons:

• My lack of organization was starting to take a definite toll in the number of projects I was successfully completing.
• I decided that if I’m going to feel like creating is my profession, I’m going to have to treat my craft as a professional would. This means, if nothing else, I need an epicenter for inspiration and pattern writing.
• I was starting to feel some major inadequacies about the size of my stash.
• I love any excuse I can get to play with yarn, even if it’s just re-organizing.
  
  I started by getting as much of my yarn as I could locate and separating it into two groups. The wool and wool blends:
  
  And the cotton and cotton blends, as well as some misc others.
  
  Now, these two photos are the most accurate representation of my yarn stash that I could possibly give. I have indeed amassed more yarn since I took these photos, and I have since found some stray yarn in various nooks and crannies of my house. It was not a small feat to decide on a new home and organizational system for my beloved yarn. I wanted it to be in a convenient location, but out of the way. It had previously (when it was where it belonged) been stored in a wine rack dealio in the corner of the dining room. It actually looked quite lovely when I took the time to ensure that it was organized neatly within the little cubes.
  
• In my next post, I’ll post pictures of where I decided to store everything, and why. Everybody loves a cliffhanger, right?
  
  

Wordless Wednesday - What We've Been Up To

OK, not totally wordless. This drawing is by my six year old (the one modeling the tunic vest). She was intrigued by the design process and wanted to make something of her own!

Wordless Wednesday

Meow!

The Amineko Crocheted Cat was in my Ravelry queue for a long time before I finally decided to make it. What spurred me to finally get around to it was the decision in our family to go ahead and (finally!) look for a kitty cat to adopt and make a part of our family. So, in between bouts of searching Petfinder I worked on Sleepy Neko for my youngest child, B.
I used some minimally processed Jacob wool for the main part of the kitty. And when I say minimally processed, I mean minimally processed! I was pulling bits of vegetation and
what I am assuming were lanolin chunks from the yarn the whole time I was working with it. If the mystery white globs weren't lanolin, then maybe the poor sheep had a monstrous case of dandruff. Needless to say, Sleepy Neko had a really thorough washing before he was stuffed and assembled. B took an instant liking to his new kitty, thank goodness! I was worried that he would do what he does with every other toy I give him - take a look and toss it over his shoulder on his way to bigger and better things.



We did find the perfect cats to join our household. Yes, I did say cats! We ended up with a gorgeous mama and baby pair.
The plan was originally to only adopt one cat, and we were looking specifically for a Russian Blue, since they shed less and
seem to be more allergy friendly. We found Georgia through Three Sisters Pet Rescue, and found out that she had her
last kitten, Dakota (Kode for short), with her still. Tim and I couldn't bear the thought of separating them, so we brought
both of them home with us. They are definitely a well bonded pair!



Kode, the kitten, is just a bundle of energy...he's right in the mix with my four kids having a blast! He's claimed me as
his official snuggler, and likes to climb right up on my chest and curl around for a good ear scratch and pampering session.
Georgia, the mama, is more reserved and wary. She's coming out around the kids more, but she spends most of her time out of
reach around them. Except when they're sleeping, that is!