Techniques: Storage

Happy Techniques Saturday everyone!! Hope everyone is well and having a lovely weekend.

Today's post is all about storage. I have a lot of yarn-obviously. My stash is somewhat epic due to the toy knitting. I have lots of half balls where I use a little each time. So it is totally essential that I have a place to store them, since the Blattman is not overly happy with it living everywhere!!! I am going to share with you how I store my yarn.

In our study, I have a cupboard for my bits and pieces. The first role for this cupboard is for the Blattman's suits and my long dresses. It is a lovely floor length cupboard so it is perfect for my posh dresses to hang nicely. However I don't have too many so there is plenty of room for my yarn too. It also has a fab shelf in it for the boxes. So here we go, welcome to the yarn closet!!

Now this isn't the best picture but you get the idea. This is my laundry bin of DK. This has all my toy knitting yarn in, so it is pretty much all acrylic and not really any full balls in here. I have a few lavender bags all through this bin and that keeps the moths from getting too attached to my lovely bits. This fits perfectly in the bottom of the wardrobe, and is also plenty of room behind the bin for books- yay!! This laundry bin came from Ikea and we have three of these, in fact one saved me the other day when I fell up the stairs, and they are about £5, probably less. They are brilliant.

In the top of the cupboard here, I have 2 boxes. These are great and I got them at the Works in Lakeside, and they were 2 for £10. They fold down flat too so they can always be packed away if I am not using them. The added benefit of this is that the sides, as you can see, are poppers. I can simply pop open the side and then get at the yarn I want, rather than keep taking the boxes out the cupboard. The bottom box is my box with chunky and aran weight yarns. The top box actually contains a lot of my World War 1 and 2 collection, and the folders in there are also part of that collection. The big box lying on its side is actually a shoe box (the Blattman has seriously big feet) and it is for FOs for Christmas and Birthdays in there. Right next to the gift bags. Lastly, the little box at the front, that's a pom pom maker. 

I have my current yarn that I am working on in a Disney store Muppets bag and that sits next to the sofa in the living room, I have everything I am working on, and yarns to review and other bits that I am currently using in there.

So that's it. That's how I store my yarn- How do you store yours?

In Stash we Bust

I can safely say...Yes! Lots of it for that matter!! This week has most definately been a productive one, especially where my stash is coming from because I had an organising week. I sorted it all out into its new homes (a laundry bin for the DK and a box covered in airplanes for the rest of it) and now I have a great list of all of it, weights and amounts. Fabulous.

Now what I am going to do with it? Well I was originally knitting a lot of baby bits and pieces, being inspired by my baby nephew (who is over the 8 pound mark now-yay) and our first cuddle two weeks ago. But this has been put on hold for stash busting, and later this week, shawl and veil knitting. 

I used this pattern yesterday to knit a hat for the Blattman, and he wore it all night so Im guessing he likes it. This is a ravelry pattern so you have to sign up to see it, and frankly you need to. If you are a knitter and not on ravelry, you have problems!! The picture below is from the pattern itself and not mine, mine is knit in Life Aran in Parchment.

Hats are great for stash busting, you can get one or two from a skein and normally three from 2 skeins and they are quick knits and you feel really productive which is always a winner.

This week for our Lent Prayer shawl KAL/CAL I am intending on knitting the half lace chapel veil in black for our trip to Rome hopefully this year, so I can cover in the presence of the Pope. Its going to be a nightmare I think but Im going full Lace, and hopefully the prayers in it won't just be for me to finish the row without a mistake!

Also on my mind this week... The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir and new Revlon Scented Nail Varnish in Watermelon Fizz