The one thing every knitter/crocheter dreads about getting to the end of a project is having to weave in your ends! Those pesky ends are so time consuming and you are always worried if they will unravel with heavy use or as soon as you wash your new fabric. We have found a couple of great links to help you along so you will no longer have to worry!

To weave in your tails click here for Knitting or here for Crochet.

We've put seven full weeks of blood, sweat and tears into organizing our stash and we want to keep it looking great! It can be rather difficult to stay on top of your organization as time seems to fly by. If you keep the following simple tips in mind you should have no problems maintaining a beautiful,
functional fiber filled space! 

• Add all of your new purchases to your tracking system as soon as you bring them home. However you have chosen to track your stash whether it be a notebook, journal, note cards, Ravelry or some other digital format; take a picture, make notes, and sort downloads asap. This will cut down on your getting behind and needing to go through the full seven weeks again. If you find it hard or know you will not do these things as soon as you walk in with your new goodies, plan ahead. Plan for one day every week or month to sit down and add everything in all at once. This will help you stay on top of things and keep you on track with your organization. 
• Once you have added all of the info for your tracking purposes take a minute and put everything where it belongs. It is perfectly natural to want to spend a few days going through your new Interweave Magazine. Once you are finished reading it, follow your storage plan and either make your pattern notes and tabs then file it with the rest of your magazines or find it a new home. Did you buy a new skein of yarn? After filling out the tracking information, snapping a picture or getting a sample cutting then put the yarn in its new proper home. 
• As soon as you have finished a project take a little bit of time and take some detailed photos of the new item, make notes of any changes you have made to the pattern and what needle size you used so you can reproduce it in the future. It is best to do this as soon as the project is finished so that everything is fresh in your mind, if you wait you may forget crucial information. It is also nice to have a journal of your finished projects so you can look back and see what all you have accomplished over the year, you can show your fellow knitters/crocheters what you have done or even just as a reference for patterns you have in your library. 
• Plan a maintenance day. No matter how hard you work at staying on top of your stash it seems to need a little sprucing from time to time. How often to plan a "stash cleaning day" depends on how big your storage space is, how much of a stash you want on hand and how often you stock up on supplies. Some people may only need to go through their stash once a year, some once a quarter or with the changing of seasons and others once a month. Being honest and realistic with your de-stashing needs is the key to taking this cleaning from a seven week project to just one afternoon or weekend. Take a little time and decide how often you want to organize your stash, tools & patterns, set a calender reminder on your computer or smartphone and it will pop up and remind you when it is time. These posts will be here for you if you ever need a little help!

Good luck with your organizing and thank you for taking part in our little challenge! 

We have made it to the final week of our challenge! Can you believe seven weeks have gone by? Do you feel as though your stash is a little more under control? This week we will focus on putting our yarn away in a neat orderly fashion and have the ability to know what we have on hand at a glance. 

There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to store yarn and supplies. The method you choose will be based on your available space, your budget, and the size of your stash. What works for some will not work for all, so take some time to find the right solution for you. 

• Find your storage solution. We have pinned several images of great ways to store yarn, I strongly urge you to take some time and peek at what people have done on Pinterest. It is a wealth of ideas! There is truly no end to the ways you store your yarn from having a craft closet, storing it under the bed, on a book shelf or even have an entire room dedicated to yarn. The key is to make sure it is accessible. I have found these handy carousel closet organizers at Wal-Mart for just under $15. Unlike normal closet organizers they have side pockets and the hook is on a swivel so it can spin around making it easy to access all of your stored items. Target has these great under bed organizers with dividers for $11. You can choose to store your yarn in anything from plastic drawers to reused vinyl packaging from your sheets and pillow cases. If you choose to use cube style shelves, you can purchase them from both Wal-Mart and Target for a good price, but I have found that IKEA's Expedit shelves are great quality, very sturdy, versatile & attractive. Take your time in choosing an idea you like most and go for it (make sure it will contain all of your yarn before you go and buy anything)!
• Sorting your yarn. Now that you know where to store your yarn think of the best way to sort it. Will you have it sorted by color, fiber content, yarn weight, by project, etc.? Is your yarn going to be out on a shelf in your room, if so you may want to think about how it looks as well. Will you have it displayed in a rainbow or by contrasting colors? Here is a great article on how to choose to sort your yarn. (Side note: the link was part of the inspiration behind our little challenge.) 
• Track your yarn. Wouldn't it be nice to have the ability to not only know what yarn you have on hand, but be able to locate it in no time at all? Before you begin putting your beautifully sorted yarn into it's new (or re-organized) home take the following steps and you will be able to do just that! 

1. Decide on a tracking system. Non-techies: Handwritten- Journal, notebook or note cards.  Semi-techies: Spreadsheets such as Excel or Google Drive. Full on techies: Ravelry is awesome for tracking yarn, there are also a ton of apps available for smart devices. 
2. What to track? You should keep it simple by tracking: Brand Name, color name and number & dye lot, amount including weight and yardage, type of fiber, recommended hook or needle size, stitches per inch, care instructions, where you have it stored, when/where you purchased it and how much you paid, take a picture or small clipping and attach to the document as well. 
3. Back up your information. Every once in a while you should make back up copies of your electronic files. You never know when your hard drive will give out or you have a crazy power surge hit your house and everything is gone. 

• Put yarn away. As you put your yarn away take pictures and make notes of where you have stored each skein for your tracking system. This is not the most exciting thing, but you will be so glad when it is all finished!
• Take an After picture. Now you have made it! Your yarn is nice, neat and where it belongs! Take a picture and email both the before and after photo to us so we can begin figuring out who our winner is! As I've said before, if you wish your stash to stay anonymous please let us know in the email and we will make sure no one knows who that stash pic belongs to. 

How do you feel now that the challenge is complete? Do you feel better about your stash? Now the trick is keeping it this way! I'll do a post next week on tips to keeping your yarn, patterns and tools all as organized as they are now.

In the comments, let us know which storage method you will be using and how you plan on sorting your yarn.