Organisation? What's That...?
Organisation is both a dream and a nightmare to me, and yet it's so important when it comes to crafting. You've got to organise your stash, your projects, your notions, and also your mind in order to keep track of the hundreds of WIPs we've all got on the go (unless you're a single-project knitter, in which case I envy you. How do you do it?).
It's very clear that both me and Eleanor do not do well with organisation considering we found a whole stock of Rosarios4 Mar in the basement when we've already sold what we called "the last of our stock"...
So, please help me be organised. I really want to know how you all organise your stash. I honestly start with the best of intentions - I will pull all my wool out, sort it by weight, ball up all the odds and ends... It can take me hours, and by the end of it I've got three vegetable boxes full of organised and caked yarn, and a couple of plastic tubs of scraps. It looks neat, no balls fall out, the cat hasn't got to it yet, but of course it doesn't last long, does it?
I love the system we have in the shop, using the circular tube shelves (above) we had done for us for Interior Design Masters on the BBC and the IKEA Kallax units, which are a very popular choice (below). How do you organise all of your yarn? Are you one of those people with secret under-bed storage, or do you barely have a stash at all and just use yarn as you go? Please, tell me your secrets.
I'd say my needles and notions organisation is slightly better. I've got a box by my sofa with pockets around the side I've got my hooks in one, my needles in the other, and then I keep my current project in the middle with everything I need for it. I've lost half of my hooks and needles from those pockets, but they're around there somewhere! I probably need to utilise the circular and straight Emma Ball needle wraps we've just recently got in, as they'd keep my hooks from being lost, for sure. And, I say I keep my current project in the middle, but I also have many, MANY project bags littered around my flat with half finished things in them. Shhh. Don't judge me.
Speaking of project bags, my favourite one is one of the biggest zippy bags that Gill Page has to offer - she makes so many project bags of so many different sizes, usually one offs too in all kinds of crazy fabrics. Mine is beautiful with a bright rainbow granny square pattern and every time I look at it, I get so happy!
Keeping track of my projects is tough, but I think I've finally found a method that works. I used to just pin a big A3 sheet of paper to my wall and write down each project on it, but now I've got one of the Emma Ball project planners and it holds all of the information I need to keep track of in the cutest little folder. I put a project on each page with all the essential info, I use the colourway cards for remembering what yarn I'm actually using, and there's even a space to write down what needles and hooks I actually have so I don't end up buying a million of the same 5.5mm hook.
Patterns are a different story. I've got half of them in a nice big folder, and the other half are down the side of the sofa, crumpled in the project bags, or they've simply been stolen by the fae. Nothing I can do about that, unfortunately.
There's a lot of joy in organisation and as long as it works for you there's no wrong way to organise. I'm definitely messy, but I can tell you where that one pattern is that I bought a year ago and I know where the yarn is, too (it's just in a completely different place). Messy doesn't mean bad, but we definitely stock a good selection of things to make your organisation a lot easier!
Please, tell me your organisation secrets in the comments below or on our socials, and I will love you all more than I do already.
-Casper x