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Super Simple Yarn Organization [Free Printable]

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A Super Simple Yarn Organization strategy is crucial for keeping up with your stash. After this post you will find great tips, a yarn weight chart/catalog and free printable yarn labels. You’ll also learn what to do when you don’t know the weight of your yarn.

We all have yarn…. most of us have a little too much to be more exact.

The problem really isn’t in the amount, but in the way we manage it all.

Early on I wanted a yarn organization system that was pretty. I wanted to see beautifully color coordinated shelves packed with gorgeous yarn.

Then I got real.

That’s when I began looking for a method that was a little a lot more practical. Finally, I created a simple system that works for me and hopefully it will work well for you as well.

Get Your FREE Super Simple Yarn Organization Printable

Practical Yarn Organization

Organizing your yarn stash isn’t just about having everything neatly stored away.

Oh no, my dear friend, it’s much more practical than that.

When you know exactly what yarn you have and precisely where it is, then you’re cooking with gas (a phrase my husband loves to use).

Knowing the minutiae of your stash saves money.

That’s right, you will actually save money. First of all, once you catalog all of your collection (which we will get to in just a sec), you will likely be horrified with the amount of yarn you truly possess. No, just me????

Secondly, when you find that perfect pattern on Ravelry, you won’t need to buy the yarn, because guess what? You probably already have the yarn or a great substitute just waiting to be used.

How to Catalog Your Stash

The first thing we need to do is to catalog our stash.

In your FREE Super Simple Yarn Organization Printable you will find a weight/WPI chart, catalog sheets as well as some pretty yarn storage labels. Just pop in your email address and I will send them straight over.

[Housekeeping notes: if you sign up for the email and you don’t receive it, check your spam folder. Also add me as a contact, [email protected]. If that doesn’t work, your email server is likely blocking my emails. You could also sign up again with a free Gmail account, which seems to be the best for getting my emails. Hope that helps.]

We are going to go through each ball, skein, hank and scrap of yarn we own and document it in the Simple Yarn Organization Printable.

But we aren’t just going to go willy nilly, oh no. We are going to be thorough and organize as we catalog.

Think of yourself as a wooly librarian. Hehe… that makes me think of a sheep that’s dressed like a librarian. I like it.

Keep that mental picture in your head.

Organize the Yarn by Weight

The first thing you will notice about your catalog is that it is organized by weight.

We are going to separate each one of our yarns into weight categories beginning with Superfine and going all the way up to Jumbo.

First, find the page for your yarn weight.

What to do When You Don’t Know the Weight?

What do you do when you don’t know the weight of your yarn?

Maybe you’ve lost the ball band or a friend gifted you with some gorgeous hand dyed wool, but you have no clue what weight it is. No need to worry.

I’ve learned a super simple technique for how to figure it out.

You will need to determine your mystery yarn’s WPI (wrap per inch).

Grab any object that you can wrap your yarn around, like a pencil or a ruler. You need something that has the same circumference from end to end. Don’t use any tool that narrows or widens because that will skew your results.

This took me a while to wrap my head around, but the size of your object doesn’t matter. We are counting how many wraps are in one inch, so it makes no difference if you’re using something narrow or wide.

If you want a very thorough explanation for the whole process, check out the video from Very Pink Knits. Staci is always so informative and I love her teaching style.

Steps for finding the WPI

  • Get an object like a pencil or a ruler
  • Mark a one inch section with tape
  • Wrap your yarn around the pencil being careful not to wrap too tightly
  • Make sure you don’t let the yarn wraps overlap
  • Count how many wraps your yarn makes in a one inch section

The total number of yarn wraps in one inch determines the weight of your yarn.

You should now have your yarn separated by weight. Next let’s move on and further classify our stash.

Organize by Brand

We are going to further separate our yarn by brand. If you don’t know your brand, that’s ok. Just put all of those in their own section and label it something like “Mystery Brand”. Or be way more clever and come up with something fabulous to call them.

Write out the brand on the appropriate yarn weight sheet. Count the total number of skeins, balls and hanks of it that you have.

This post contains affiliate links and at no cost to you I may earn a teeny tiny commission if you choose to purchase them. Please know that I only recommend products I use and love! Thank you for supporting Le Petit Saint Crochet!

Paintbox Wool Mix Aran

Organize by Color

You should now have your yarns separated by weight and brand. Now, let’s further divide them by color.

List out each color and record how many of each you have in your stash.

Check out Comparing Yarns for Handmade Toys

Storage

It may seem like a tedious task to record all of your yarn, separate them by weight and further divide them by color.

I truly believe that when you know what you have and where to find it, you will save yourself money, but more importantly, your time.

When you store your yarn, keep them separated into the categories above and use the printable yarn labels for easy reference.

Yarn Labels

The last section of your Super Simple Yarn Organization Printable contains your yarn labels. They are divided by weight and I think they are cute enough to display on the outside of your containers.

You could print them on plain paper or card stock. I adhered mine with a glue dot, but you could also use cute washi tape.

The final page contains a blank set of labels to use however you wish.

Get your Stash Organized!

There are a lot of things we can’t control in this world, but we can take charge of our yarn stash.

I hope you found this helpful and that you got your FREE Super Simple Yarn Organization Printable.

Pin for Later! Simple Yarn Organization

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11 Comments

  1. Hi Lepetitsaintcrochet, I found your site a few weeks ago and subscribed. I was looking through your list of videos and found this one that helps organize yarns. I think this is a really good idea. I am having a small problem finding a link that actually goes to the printable. Can you help me please? Oh, I almost forgot. I live in Utah.

    1. That almost always has to do with your spam settings. Check your spam/junk folder, it could be there. Also I have found that most people who have a Gmail account have the best luck getting the emails. Do you have a gmail account?