Peace of Mind Organizing

Worth repeating: My secret to saving money on knitting

3 July 2013

Thanks to my well-organized and well-stocked stash of yarn, I spend very little money on yarn and knitting supplies. Three years ago, I wrote about Ravelry, my secret weapon for saving money on what can be a very expensive hobby. This post is as true today as the day I wrote it, with one exception. There are now 3 million members of Ravelry!

When I started knitting five years ago, I tentatively started projects and slowly learned new techniques while gradually buying nicer and nicer yarns. I kept all my yarn in one bag.

About a year into it, I was all about the shopping. Going into a yarn store is a wonderful thing for a yarn-o-phile. The yarn is lovely to look at and even better to touch. Though I think of myself as someone who doesn’t buy yarn without knowing what I’m going to do with it, I quickly amassed a sizable yarn stash.

I spend some money on yarn, people. I don’t really want to go into Quicken and see how much. But luxury yarn can be expensive, which is why it costs so much to purchase a hand-knit sweater and why knitting garments for yourself is rarely a decision based on saving money.

For several years, I struggled with the best way to organize my yarn. I had yarn that I’d purchased for projects, some yarn that I bought on impulse without a project in mind, and then yarn leftover from projects. I used pop-up bins and knitting bags quite ineffectively.

Then in 2008 I bought my Elfa drawer system and organized my yarn stash in it. It’s bliss.

So what’s my secret to saving money on knitting? It’s the combination of an organized yarn stash and the amazing social networking site for knitters, Ravelry.

Thanks to this secret weapon, I purchased very little yarn in 2009. Every time I wanted to start a project, I’d think about what I was in the mood to knit (or come up with something that I needed, like a hat). Then I’d log into Ravelry to find a pattern. I’d look at the recommended yarn for the pattern and go to my yarn stash to see if I could find anything similar. Thanks to Ravelry, which has a database of yarns, I can easily compare the yarn in my stash to the recommended yarn. I can see if other people have used that yarn for that project. Ravelry even has yarn suggestions for each project, based on what other people have used.

Once or twice, I’ve gone to my yarn stash, identified a ball or two of a yarn that I felt like knitting with, then used Ravelry to find something to make with it. I can see the projects that other Ravelry users have knit with that yarn. Or I can click on “Pattern ideas” for each yarn. It’s amazing.

If you’re a knitter and you’re not already shopping from your yarn stash (assuming you’re looking to save some money on yarn), I encourage you to figure out a system of organizing your yarn so that you can find yarn easily. There’s no right or wrong way to do it—just think about your stash like it’s your favorite yarn store and organize it like they do (or like you wish that they did). I organize mine primarily by yarn weight, but sometimes by fiber. For example, I like having all my cotton yarns together without regard to weight. Don’t ask me why.

Once your yarn is organized, you an use Ravelry to give you great ideas on how to use it. If you don’t already belong to Ravelry, stop what your doing and go there right now to sign up to join the 644,000 knitters and crocheters who are already using it. It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread as far as I’m concerned. Once you’re there, please friend me. I’m kramerscout.

I need to do some photographing of finished projects and then I’ll do a knitting post with some photos!

Tagged with: knitting, ravelry, social networking, worth repeating, yarn

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