Articles tagged with yarn
24 February 2023 | Comments [0] »
I wrote this post four years ago, but I can still feel the thrill of letting go of knitting projects I didn’t want to finish and either reclaiming or giving away the yarn. Have I finished the projects I intended to finish? I don’t know! Time for another WIP decluttering session.
In knitting, WIP stands for Work-In-Progress. In my knitting reality, almost all my WIPS are actually stalled and/or abandoned projects. They languish in (mostly hand knit) bags in my knitting area creating clutter and a little bit of stress. That area was like a graveyard for knitting dreams.
Tagged with: craft rooms,
crafts,
knitting,
worth repeating,
yarn
26 March 2020 | Comments [1] »
In these strange times of COVID-19, gratitude feels important now more than ever. For me, the stay-at-home order means that I cannot work in clients’ homes. And I have lots of time to do the stuff I’ve been waiting to do when I have time. But actually getting myself to do that stuff is another matter.
Tagged with: coronavirus,
covid-19,
productivity,
self care,
social distancing,
yarn
11 July 2019 | Comments [1] »
These days, I’m spending less leisure time knitting and more time practicing hand lettering (and writing postcards to voters. But when my friend told me her daughter was pregnant, I just had to pull out my needles and knit my favorite go-to baby gift: the Harry Bear teddy bear, a free pattern from Berroco.
Tagged with: knitting,
ravelry,
yarn
26 September 2016 | Comments [0] »
Eight years ago, I organized my yarn into a bank of Elfa drawers. (Incidentally, Elfa is on sale right now for 25 percent off!) Four years ago, I blogged about how wonderful it is to have an organized stash. Today, I am repeating that post because is as true now as it was then. And, of course, it’s also true for fabric, beads or any other kind of craft supplies you might have.
Tagged with: elfa,
knitting,
knitting needles,
storage,
yarn
19 September 2016 | Comments [4] »
I wrote a blog post a few years back about Charity Sharity, an organization in St. Louis that collects fabric to distribute to groups for charity sewing projects.
Just last week I received an email from Sally Safranski of DenimQuilts, a group allied with Charity Sharity. These talented quilters take donated blue jeans and use them to create personalized quilts. Last month they created their 1,000th quilt! Most of the quilts go to kids in foster care and others go to children and families currently grieving for someone close to them who has died or is in hospice. Some are donated to charity fundraisers.
Tagged with: charity,
crafts,
donate fabric,
donations,
fabric,
fabric donations,
yarn
12 March 2015 | Comments [19] »
Many of my clients are creative people who have acquired supplies for their creative hobbies, like sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, knitting and needlework. It’s the rare fiber/fabric enthusiast who doesn’t end up with a stash of supplies.
Tagged with: charity,
crafts,
donate fabric,
donations,
fabric,
fabric donations,
yarn
3 July 2013 | Comments [1] »
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!
Tagged with: knitting,
ravelry,
social networking,
worth repeating,
yarn
5 December 2012 | Comments [0] »
I’m a knitter, and like most knitters, I have quite a bit of yarn. I don’t go out and buy yarn for the sake of buying it. Typically, I purchase yarn for specific projects. But sometimes those projects don’t pan out and I unravel them. And lots of times, I have yarn left over after finishing a project. Multi-color projects, in particular, can lend themselves to a lot of leftover yarn.
Tagged with: elfa,
knitting,
knitting needles,
storage,
yarn
3 October 2012 | Comments [1] »
One of the most fun parts of helping clients declutter is finding great stuff. My favorite thing to hear is, “I’ve been looking for that!” I also love finding money, which happens with surprising frequency.
Tagged with: aby garvey,
decluttering,
knitting,
storage,
wips,
yarn
7 June 2012 | Comments [0] »
Rubbermaid has created a new kind of storage bin, the Bento Box. Named after the divided Japanese lunch boxes, these storage containers have flexible dividers that fold flat against the interior wall of the box, if desired, or pop out to divide the box.
Tagged with: bento,
knitting,
organizing products,
rubbermaid,
yarn
19 February 2010 | Comments [0] »
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.
Tagged with: knitting,
ravelry,
social networking,
yarn
27 February 2009 | Comments [2] »
I’m been knitting up a storm and not always remembering to take pictures of projects before I give them away. Right now I’m halfway through a striped cotton poncho (the Rap on Stripes poncho from Pam Allen’s Wrap Style) that I’m excited about, for spring.
Tagged with: geralin thomas,
knitting,
lace,
yarn
18 November 2008 | Comments [0] »
I heart Ravelry. I absolutely love it. If you’re a knitter and you don’t know about Ravelry, or you don’t belong to it, click on the link the previous sentence and sign up. Just do it. Come back and read why I love it. But right now, go join.
Tagged with: knitting,
ravelry,
social networking,
yarn
29 July 2008 | Comments [3] »
In anticipation of finishing the lace squares from the Learn to Knit Afghan for the Ravelympics, I picked up a lace project that I’d abandoned a couple of years ago. It’s the Branching Out scarf, a lovely bit of lace that I knit out of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I decided that Branching Out would help me train for the Knitting Olympics (which start August 8), so that my fingers and mind would get accustomed to knitting lace.
Tagged with: knitpicks,
knitting needles,
knitting olympics,
learn to knit afghan,
yarn
7 July 2008 | Comments [9] »
That stressful trip to IKEA was all about purchasing storage furniture for my new adjunct home office. I had an extra room in my house, adjacent to my home office, and I decided to create a second office out of it.
Tagged with: elfa,
home office,
ikea,
storage,
workspace,
yarn
24 June 2008 | Comments [6] »
Yesterday I posted about my new Elfa drawer system which now stores my yarn and knitting needles. Here are the specs: I purchased three 10-runner drawer frames (41 inches high) and platinum mesh baskets with platinum tops over the whole thing. I have three sets of drawers—two medium and two wide. The way I configured my set, I have 16 drawers to work with, 3 one-runner (shallow), 12 two-runner (medium) and one three-runner (deep).
Tagged with: circular needles,
elfa,
knitting needles,
learn to knit afghan,
storage,
wips,
yarn
23 June 2008 | Comments [3] »
As I’ve blogged about before, I’m a knitter and I love organizing all my knitting stuff. There’s yarn, needles, notions, patterns. They fall into nice categories and they’re pretty. So they’re fun to organize.
Tagged with: knitting,
knitting needles,
wips,
yarn
18 August 2007 | Comments [1] »
One of the wonderful things about being a knitter is that when you’re away from home you can almost always find a comfortable place to hang out.
Tagged with: socks,
travel,
yarn,
yarn stores
15 May 2007 | Comments [0] »
I finished seaming my Wobbly Circles tote on Sunday. My friend Lisa showed infinite patience in helping me with the gussets that help form the box bottom of the bag. (The tote is from the Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits.)
Tagged with: knitpicks,
westin knitting group,
wobbly circles tote,
yarn
4 December 2006 | Comments [0] »
I knit every day, usually while watching TV. It’s how I relax. The bulk of the year my knitting needles have been occupied by Barbara Walker’s Learn-To-Knit Afghan, which has been a wonderful boost to my knitting knowledge, skills and confidence.
Tagged with: deadlines,
gifts,
holidays,
knitpicks,
learn to knit afghan,
yarn
26 November 2006 | Comments [0] »
But one day this fall I started thinking about all that great, feltable yarn tied up in that sweater, which was shoved into a closet. And I decided to liberate it.
Tagged with: felting,
frogging,
sweater,
yarn
16 November 2006 | Comments [0] »
I’m an avid knitter. I’m certainly not an expert knitter, but I knit every day. Or at least probably 350 days a year. One thing that every knitter knows is that you can acquire a lot of stuff with this hobby.
Tagged with: circular needles,
learn to knit afghan,
storage,
wips,
yarn