I'm looking forward to receiving a parcel from Ecoyarns containing some of their beautiful 8ply hemp yarn. I also ordered two Malachite O-Wool Balance skeins and some of the new Clouds cotton range. So I wanted to get my yarns in order. I usually knit in the lounge room and over the past six months or so I've had my vintage knitting basket on one side and a magazine holder on the other side of my chair, both full of wool, cotton, alpaca and various works in progress. I knew I had to sort it all out and if I could do it before the parcel arrived, I'd be one happy woman. It doesn't take much to put a smile on my face.
These are mainly Eco-Organic Cottons that I've used for projects and have a little left over, or I've simply wound as balls from skeins.
Yesterday morning, after I had lunch in the oven, I started cleaning that corner of the room, sorting through my yarns, throwing out little bits of paper with instructions I'd written for certain projects, reminders of things I wanted to record on TV, the top of a nightie pattern I drew and some kimchi recipes from my friend Kathleen. The last two I kept. I discovered a lot of end pieces. I usually knit them into dishcloths but these had fallen to the bottom of their containers, so I put all the cotton together, packed away the wool in plastic boxes in my sewing room and sorted through half my knitting needles. I found a small jar in the cupboard and kept a darning needle (for threading in loose ends), embroidery scissors, stitch holders of different sizes, stitch markers and a needle gauge there in the jar.
These are my works in progress.
Now I have to work out how to store my yarns. Many years ago, there was an outbreak of wool moths here that invaded my wool stash and I had to get rid of a fair bit of wool. After that I put all the wool in the freezer for a week to kill the moth eggs and larvae and then I bought some large Decor clear plastic boxes with lids. By sealing everything in those boxes, I've never had to waste any more wool. But maybe there's a better way. How do you store your wool? How do you store all your yarns? Please share your ideas with me because I want to keep knitting for a long time and I want to make sure my storage system protects the yarns from moths and dust. I also want to be able to see what I have through the boxes so I don't have to rummage around to find what I need. Who knows, I may keep the system I've got but if there is some other way that's better, I'd like to know about it.
A friend sent me this book and I'm using it to learn a few new stitches.
I've just started a forum thread about this topic in case you have any photos of your yarn storage you can share. Otherwise, just add a comment here and tell me, and everyone else, how to you sort your yarns.
