Is your yarn piled up and shoved in a box (like mine used to be!)?  Or are you super organised and neat (like I’m trying to be!). I’m the furthest thing from “neat” that you can imagine, much to the exasperation of my other half. As a result, I’m always looking for craft storage ideas! As I sit here writing this, I can see a rubbish bag which needs taking out; recycling which needs sorting; some fruit still in the shopping bag since lunchtime when I went to Tesco; and a pile of socks on the kitchen table which need pairing and putting away, etc etc….you get the picture, I’m messy!!!

When it comes to keeping my craft stuff I’m trying to get more organised though!!  Here are the craft storage ideas I’ve discovered to try to be a bit less messy…!

Invest in a large storage case for storing all the “bits and bobs”

You know what its like, can’t find the stitch markers because they are at the bottom of a bag…somewhere….where is that row counter…?

It might just be me, but I find that all these little ancillary bits that you need for knitting and crochet just seem to grow legs and wander off…

I’m forever finding stitch markers under the sofa or a rogue interchangeable knitting needle key embedded in the foot of my other-half as he has walked on it, where it was, for some reason, sitting outside the bathroom.

I bought a really really big one…..

…big enough to store all these bits in, plus keep my needles, crochet hooks, etc in too.

I love that I can go to the shelf and pull the “knitting and crochet” bag down and it should have everything in that I need.

This one has handy zipped pockets for keeping things separate!

 

Store knitting needles in a way that means you know what size the needles are

For virtually all of my knitting needles, the sizes either weren’t printed on there in the first place, or have long since been worn away.

So, I bought a (very handy) knitting needle size tool.  It comes in useful for when I’m WIP diving and find something at the bottom of the bag with some random needles in!

To save having to check needle sizes each time I start a project though, I made this knitting needle roll and embroidered the sizes onto each “pocket”, that way, I know what size I’m getting each time….as long as I’ve remembered to put them away properly!

 

Make or buy yarn cards to keep track of the yarn

By organising yarn in this way it is easy to keep track of what you have bought, the colours, etc, just in case you want to buy it again!!

This one isn’t my idea.  Dedri over on “Look at What I Made” posted this brilliant tutorial about organising your yarn onto cards.

I’ve used her tips and her handy templates and find them very useful! I also buy yarn card whenever I see them in store!

 

If you’ve got space, try to keep all of your crafting things in the same place

For those that have read “Marie Kondo” you will know that she advocates, keeping things of the same “type” together, that way they are easy to keep track-of and find.

She wouldn’t totally approve of the way that I store things, you are supposed to be able to see everything, but I prefer them in boxes!  I have to admit though, that since I re-purposed a cupboard full of books to put all my craft stuff in, I’ve found it easier to keep track of!!

I also keep all my crafty books together on the same bookshelf!

Label your boxes

I store things in boxes as much as possible.  This means I can get the whole box out, find what I need and put it back!.  If you are to put things in boxes then put labels on the outside of them though!  It much easier if you know whats in them without opening them all!! As craft storage ideas go, that’s a pretty basic one but sometimes the simple ones are the best!

 

For yarn storage, I find these “bins” from Ikea are great

They keep everything looking neat!  Are lightweight and cheap!

I try to keep yarn of the same type together.  Some of it is loose in the bins and where I have more than one of the same type, I use those organza bags that yarn often gets delivered in from LYS.  I can usually put my hand on exactly the stash yarn that I want!

(Don’t worry these aren’t ALL yarn, they are handy for storing all sorts of things that you don’t want “on-view”!)

Keep your sketching pencils handy by making a loo-roll holder 

This one is a bit “Blue Peter” this one (for those not familiar, Blue Peter is a kids TV show, famous for making things out of a washing-up liquid bottle and a roll of “sticky backed plastic”).

I find that when I want to sketch something I don’t want to dig around trying to find the right size pen.  I’ve sellotaped some loo-roll tubes onto the inside of my sketching box, now I can find my pencils really easily!

For sketching on the go, I’ve got this teeny tiny pencil-case which fits into my pocket! So cute!

Those are all the craft storage tips I can think of right now….

Tell me your craft storage tips!

I’m ALWAYS looking for more craft storage tips though! Please share your tips for being more organised! I’d love to hear them in the comments below! 🙂