Hey fellow yarn enthusiasts!
If your yarn stash is a mess, it's time to get it organized. It's easy to put it off, to think "I'll do it later", but if you've been telling yourself this, I'm here to let you know that the time is NOW.
If you don't know where to begin, here's how I did it.
Here's how I nailed the Stash Organization Challenge:
After rounding up all the yarn in my house, it was established that I own, not 6 like I previously thought, but 9 bins of yarn, totaling over 600 qts of space... Oh dear lord.
I sorted through each bin, sitting in front of the TV. Pro tip: watch a show that doesn't need a lot of attention. For me, I sorted while watching Outlander (I already read the books, so I didn't need to focus on the plot), and Gilmore Girls, which I had already binged-watched before.
Each bag of yarn was pulled, searched in my Ravelry Stash, added to if not already listed, pictures were uploaded, and the listing was tagged with the 2026 Stash Organization tag. I went through 7 bins like this, one bin at a time since each bin took between 2-3 hours to go through. The last 2 remaining bins now hold WIPS and partial skeins/unidentified leftovers.
Once they were all sorted, I gathered the 7 bins and dumped them ALL in my living room. Then, I proceeded to sort them into categorized bins.
Here's how I did it:
- Worsted weight/Aran/Bulky yarns
- Rustic Yarns/colorwork yarns
- DK weight Yarns
- Sport weight yarns & Single Ply Merino Fingering
- Fingering weight - plied
- Fingering weight - plied
- Lace, novelty, unspun fibers, pompoms
So one by one, I sorted the 7 bins, labeled them, and stored them again. I added 10 cedar balls that I also rubbed in cedar essential oil, as well as 2 lavender sachets to each of the bins to keep my yarn safe from critters. You can grab your Stash Saver Bundle and keep your yarn safe here.
Here's what's great about reorganizing my stash:
My yarn is now all sorted by weight, which is usually how I search for something. If you don't search by weight, but by colors, let's say, feel free to reorganize your stash based on that. For me, going by weight was the best way to go. And it led to some takeaways:
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I don't have enough sport-weight yarns stashed
Sport weight is my favorite yarn weight. I find it so versatile, perfect for knitting sweaters. Plus, it's faster to knit than fingering weight. So, the takeaway is: I need to buy more sport-weight yarn.
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I own A LOT of fingering-weight yarn
Which is great! But I need to do something about it, buy less of it in the future, because it's not a yarn weight I use as often as I used to. Ever since I moved to the Sierras, I find myself reaching more often for the heavier sweaters.
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I don't own as much of single ply merino fingering as I thought I did
Well, kinda. At least, not full skeins like I previously thought. I do have a gigantic amount of unicorn tails and partials, and am planning a stashbusting project with it, but it'll have to wait a little.
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My SABLE (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy) isn't as bad as I thought
Yes, I do own a crazy amount of yarn, more than I will be able to use. But: other knitters have far more and that shows that I have been pretty good at holding back.
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Lastly, my stash is pretty awesome
I went into the Stash Organization Challenge thinking I'd pull a lot of yarn to destash, but I like it all! It might take just a little longer before I go all Marie Kondo on my yarn again. In the meantime, visit my destash (this hasn't been catalogued into my 2026 Stash Organization, so they are not part of my 9 bins...)
So that's about it! Stay tuned as I share more stash tips.
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