Last week we discussed reading yarn labels and the importance of knowing a yarns weight. This week we will focus on Wraps per inch (WPI). Knowing the WPI of yarn weights helps you figure out stashed yarns which have lost their ball bands or hand spun yarns. It also helps you figure out what yarns you can mix and match to make your next project. 

To find the WPI, you can purchase a WPI Tool Kit or you could just as easily grab a ruler or yard stick you may already have. You will also need to use either the chart from last weeks blog or "The Knitter's Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements", available at Chix with Stix, and the yarn in question. All you need to do is take your yarn, wrap it around the ruler/tool until you have covered one full inch; making sure not to wind too tightly/loosely, overlap your yarn or have gaps between the wraps. Now count how many times the yarn wrapped around the ruler within that inch and match the number to the WPI portion of the chart. Now you will know the weight of your mystery yarn! 

See how simple that was?!? Take a little time and go through your stash and find the weights of your mystery yarns! 

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.  

Well my friends, we've finally made it to the yarn portion of our challenge! This is going to be quite time consuming and possibly difficult, maybe even painful at times. However, space is too precious to be wasted on yarn we no longer need or love. When this challenge is over I want you too look at your yarn and have it inspire you and fill you with joy! Are you ready to get your stash in shape?!? 

To start this weeks challenge bring out ALL of your yarn (not including WIP's), think of all of the places it might be hiding: Yarn/project bags, closets, under your bed, by the couch, in your car...  Gather your yarn in a place where you can leave a mess, this challenge will take all week if not a little longer. This project definitely falls under the "it gets worse before it gets better" category, but in the end your are going to be glad you did it! 

Now that all of your yarn is in one place, take a picture. In order to be considered a participant in our challenge and possibly win the prize you must have a before and after picture. If you don't want anyone to know who the stash belongs to, we will make sure it remains anonymous. 
As you pull out your yarn start thinking about:

• Which yarn you get excited about and still love vs. the yarn you are not so crazy about anymore.
• How do you wish to store your yarn: In a closet, on a shelf or in a cabinet, by color, fiber and/or weight (check out our Pintirest Board for ideas)
• Is a particular yarn earmarked for a specific project, pattern or person?

Why is it important to have all of your yarn out?

• It is hard to organize what you can't see. 
• Seeing all of your yarn laid out in front of you may inspire you to start choosing a new color pallet or fiber content. 
• You may realize you have more or less than you thought you did.
•  You may also find some hidden gems you have forgotten all about.

As we did with our WIP's, patterns and tools, we will start deciding which yarn to keep, which to give away and which to throw out. You will need at least 3 bins (Keep, give away & toss). You may decide to divide your keep pile further: will use- have a pattern, will use- no pattern, for donation projects, etc. You may also do the same with the give away pile: Yarn swap or donate. 

Destashing is very hard, you start thinking about how much money went into your stash, you got some of the yarn as a gift or even that there is the perfect pattern out there just waiting to be found. But think about how it would feel to look at your prized stash and know you love each and every skein, you can find what you need with ease and you have regained space in your house (not to mention getting you're husband/family to stop teasing you ...even if it's just for a little while). 

Keep: You should keep any yarn that:

• You really like and that brings you joy
• You have at pattern picked out or a person that the yarn is intended for
• You are inspired by the yarn
• You know you will use (be honest with yourself!)
• It brings a happy memories
• You would like to use in donation projects

The point of having a stash is not only to have yarn on hand for a pattern you have found, but I would say more importantly it brings you pleasure. I have quite a bit of my grandmother's crochet thread that I have displayed in my house. I will never use this thread, but it brings me great happiness when I look at. You will also notice yarn for donation projects, at Chix with Stix, we often have Community Care Projects in which we ask you to help by making miscellaneous items. It is always good to keep a few skeins on hand for these types of projects; this yarn would also be great for lifelines & provisional cast-on's and yarn bombings. 

Give away: You may have fallen out of love with some of your yarn, but it may be perfect for someone else.  Place these types of yarn in the "give away" pile. Grab a bag, box or bin and put these along with your patterns, tools and WIP's that you are wanting to trade and set aside for our swap. 
Let it go if:

• You really liked it when you bought it, but now you're just not liking it anymore. 
• You went through a phase (sock, lace, color, etc.) and have burned yourself out working with that type of yarn. 
• You have left overs from a finished project and you can't see yourself using it.
• You've realized you don't enjoy working with a particular weight, fiber or color, it may even split too much for your liking.
• It was a gift from someone. Yarn is a very personal thing, it is sweet that someone thought of you, but realistically they don't know your fiber preferences, the weight of yarns you like and now that yarn is taking up valuable space. Not to mention you feel a little guilty when you look at the unused yarn setting on the shelf. Let someone who will love this yarn have it, the best thing is that the gift will be used and enjoyed by someone.
• Do you have yarn from your last move that you were uncertain you wanted to keep and it's still sitting in your stash? It's time to let it go!
• You purchased yarn for a particular pattern only to realize you didn't get enough. Try to find the remaining yarn, if you can't either find a project for it or swap it. 
• Possibly set a time limit: I've had this yarn (x) years unused, will I actually use it? 

Toss: Yes, I said it, actually throw away yarn!!! 

• If you have small bits left overs not big enough to make anything, put them in the trash. Alternatively, you could use natural fibers in cake style bird feeders so birds & squirrels can use them in their nests. 
• Toss yarn that has matted, felted or knotted. If you have a tangled mess that is impossible to unwind, there is no since in leaving it hanging around, it is unusable. 
  

We have our work cut out for us this week! Next week we will focus on organizing and putting away the yarn we do keep.  Let me know if you need help deciding whether or not to keep a yarn. 

Let us know in the comments below your criteria for keeping, giving and tossing your yarn.

It is time to move our knitting and crochet into the twenty-first century and have access to our library virtually anywhere we go! Imagine you are at the yarn shop and you have found the perfect yarn for a project you've been wanting to make and for the life of you, you can't remember how many yards it calls for. Then you remember you've stored all of your patterns on a cloud based service, you pull out your smartphone and with a few taps there is your pattern. Not only do you have all the information on the supplies needed, but you could sit down right there and start working on it! If you are like me you probably already have a ton of patterns saved all over the your computer: bookmarks, downloads, Ravelry and in emails just to name a few. This week we are going to get those all organized and situated in a way that they will be easy to find at our fingertips.

Which ever storage solution you choose, keep in mind:

• Take your time, this doesn't have to be completed this week; don't get overwhelmed with the amount of work to be done. If you find you really like making shawls, focus on getting those organized first. You may find that you only need to have those organized and not worry with the blankets, hats and so on.
• Don't forget to check the bookmarks on your browser. See if any of them can be downloaded and added to your digital libraries. If they are not downloadable, make sure to label them well so you will know what you have when you are looking through your bookmarks. 
• If you store your patterns on your desktop only, please make a back up on an USB drive. I'd hate for something to happen to your computer and you've lost all of your patterns! 
•  If you have questions, please ask. I will be happy to help in any way I can. 

Are you going to use a digital library, if so what service do you plan on using? 

Whether you have a stack of magazines & books, a pile of print outs or even a ton of digital files, we all have a mess of patterns and books, it comes with the territory! We are going to go through all of these and whittle them down to what we want to keep, give away or toss. This may be a time consuming process, so we will focus on our digital libraries and cataloging our patterns next week. However time consuming, I'm sure we all can agree that it is a project that is worth while. 

Single Patterns:

• Get rid of unwanted patterns. Take out all of your single printed patterns, as you go through them ask yourself: Are you still interested in this pattern? Have you made it and know you will not be making it again? Is it a duplicate (is there another copy in a book, magazine or on your computer)? Clear up space by putting these unwanted items in either the toss or give away piles.
• Sort the keepers. Think of how you wish to categorize your patterns: Knit, Crochet with sub-categories: Sweaters, Blankets/Afghans, Hats, etc.;  you could sort them by designer/publisher; you could also sort them in the order you would like to work them in. The choices are unlimited, just find which works best for you and get to separating them out.  
• Store your patterns. By knowing how you want your patterns categorized you will know how to store them in a way that i convenient for you. Some examples of storing your single patterns are: 3 ring binders with pocket protectors, Hanging Files, Magazine Files (recommended for smaller collections), Expanding Files or you could can them in and add them to your digital library. When choosing your filing system for your patterns, keep in mind any space issues you may have, how easily you wish to retrieve  your patterns and how you will be able to keep your system organized and up to date.

Books & Magazines:

• Gather your stash. Make sure you have ALL of your books and magazines, check project bags, your living room and desk. Begin to sort by category, first books, magazines, booklets, etc. Then by type: How to, Stitch dictionary, Patterns, etc. Finally sort by craft: Kinting, Crochet, etc. DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THEM! We will get into that in a bit, just focus on categorizing them at this point.  
• Get rid of the unwanted. Just as with your single patterns, there are books & magazines that you may no longer need. Keep the things you know you will use, perhaps set a limit for each book/magazine: it should have (X) amount of patterns you know you will make in order to keep it. Did you buy a book on afghans and have found that you don't actually enjoy making them? Put that book into the "give away" pile. 
• Bookmark patterns. As you go through your books keep a post-it note pad and pen handy. When you find a pattern you want to keep in mind for a future project stick a note on it and write yourself a reminder, maybe the name of the pattern, what it is or who you wish to make it for. 
• Store them. Now you have tagged your patterns, gotten rid of books you no longer need you can begin to put them away. You can use magazine files or magazine binders for all of your magazines or booklets. Place your books by category so that they will be at your fingertips when you need them. 

Bring all of your give away's to our yarn swap and see if anyone would like them or donate them to a group who could use them. 

Enter a comment below and let us know how you are going to categorize and store your patterns.  

We are nearing the end of our organization challenge, after we finish up our patterns all that is left is the yarn!!! Let me know if there is anything you are having problems with so I can make sure and address any issues. 

I hope you were able to organize your WIP's and it wasn't too painful to decide which one's to keep and which to trade or frog! 

This week we are going to focus on our tools. As a knitter or crocheter you have accumulated a ton of tools. Keeping your tools organized won't only help you quickly accomplish a successful project, but it will keep you from buying multiples of what you already have.  With the tips below you will be sure to always find the stitch holder or cabling needle you are looking for. You will also know while at the yarn store with the perfect new pattern and yarn if you already have the right size hook, cable or needles. 

• Assess your needle & hook situation. Pull out ALL of your needles, hooks & notions (don't forget the one's you have in any current project). Divide your needles and hooks up by type: Straight needles, DPN's, Fixed Cable Needles, Interchangeable Needles, Regular Hooks, Tunisian, Afghan Hook, etc. 
  
• Whittle down your inventory. Do you have duplicates of any of these items? If so do you need them all? Having extra can come in handy if you work on multiple projects or you may have a project that requires multiple needles. If there are any needles or hooks you no longer like or use now is the time to get rid of them. You may feel that they are too slippery or have too much grip for the types of yarn you use, you may not like the shape of the hook or the way your circulars join; for whatever reason these no longer serve their purpose. 
• Keep track of your needles & hooks. There are several options on how to accomplish this. If you are a technical person you can use Ravelry to track your needles. They have made it so you can enter multiples of each needle/hook, you can also put in notes such as: what brand you have or if they are being used in a particular project. You can access your Raverly Notebook on any computer, tablet or smartphone device, or if you would rather, you can print out a pocket card to keep in your purse or wallet. They have made it quite convenient to keep track of your supplies. Here is a great tutorial for setting up your needle/hook chart. There are all types of phone/tablet Apps. out now to help track your tools, just look through your App Store. If you're not so tech savvy then you can always track your needles & hooks in a notebook or on a note card. Use whatever makes it easiest for you to keep track of what you have so you can know what you need. 
• Gather your notions. Pull out all of your notions, remember to check project bags or the couch/chair that seems to eat your tools! Lay them all out in front of you grouping like items together. Figure out your duplicates, the items you use most as well as the items you no longer use. 
• Store your tools. We have several options at the shop to help you store your hooks, needles & notions. There are also a ton of ideas out there for storing all of these items, check out our Pinterest Board to see a few. Think about which notions you use most often and which rarely get used. Possibly create an "on the go" notions bag and one that has everything. Your on the go bag should contain: stitch markers, a crochet hook, mini scissors, a tape measure, darning needles and floss or waist thread. 
• What to do with those unwanted items??? Consider selling them, hold on to them to trade at our yarn swap, donate them to a local nursing home, Girl Scout Troop or an after school program. 

Here are a few links to some needle holders you can make yourself:
Needle Case 
Hooty the Owl Buddy 
Crochet Container
Wall Hanging Needle Holder

In the comments below, let us know how you are going to store your needles/hooks and notions. Are you going to use Ravelry or have you found a great App you'd like to use? What seems to work best for you?

This week we are going to focus on or Works in progress (WIP's) and Unfinished Objects (UFO's). This may be harder for some than it will be for others. Some people like focusing on one project at a time while others have several projects going at any given time. 

Take some time and go through all of our WIP's & UFO's, figure out what you want to finish,  frog or even trade. Take out all of these projects and really think if or when you plan on finishing each one. 

• If you decide that you like the yarn but aren't happy with the way it is turning out in this particular project, give yourself permission to let it go and frog it so you can use that beautiful yarn on something you will love. 
  
• If you like how the item is turning out but are stuck on a part in the pattern, make a plan to figure it out. You are welcome to come ask a team member at Chix or visit our weekly knit groups (the talented ladies are always happy to help). You can also search You-Tube or Ravelry for tutorials & advice. 
  
• Say there is a project that you started for your darling little niece when she was 3, she is now in middle school and you don't know what else you would do with the pastel pink yarn. Consider trading the WIP with one of your fellow knitters/crocheters for a project they have lost interest in. 
  
• Do you have a bunch of squares that you dread stitching together? Make a plan to sew (x) amount per week or month and give yourself a deadline or see if you have a friend that loves stitching them together and ask if there is something you could do for them in trade. 
  
• If you are happy with all of your projects and want to complete them all, than lets get them organized, put in a place where you know they will be ready and waiting for you.  
  

Now that you have figured out which projects you want to keep, which you want to frog and what you might want to trade there are a few things to help get the keepers organized.

1. Free up your needles/hooks. Transfer live stitches to stitch holders or lifelines for knitting. You can place the live stitch of your crochet project on a locking stitch marker, paperclip, safety pin or a piece of waste yarn. Now you will be able to put your needles, cables & hooks with the rest of your tools (we'll organize those later) and they will be free to start even more projects! 
2. Take excellent notes about any project when you begin and as you work your pattern. Mark where you've ended when you put your project down. You will save yourself time and headaches by doing so, you will know when you put that project away that in 6 months, or even a year down the road you can pick up right were you left off. Use these WIP Notes to help you; all you need to do is print them out (front side notes, back side care instructions), cut them, punch a hole at the top, fill it out and attach it to your project when you are ready to store it. If you are a digital kind of person, you can keep all of your notes in Ravelry's Projects section, here is a great tutorial on how to use it. Take a minute and fill out the notes for the projects you've decided to keep or trade.
3. Keep swatches with your project. You can take the swatch with to the yarn store if you need more yarn. It would also be handy to have just in case you needed a little extra yarn for that last row.  
4. Find your WIP storage solution. You can store them in anything that works for you, but try to keep your projects separate from each other. Some examples are: hanging closet organizers, shoe boxes, plastic drawer system, an upright tower, milk crates, tote bags hanging on the wall or in a closet, you could even recycle those little clear boxes that salad mixes come in. Below you will see some examples of great project storage ideas.  Click on the images for the full stories on all of these organization ideas. Pinterest is another place to find good storage solutions!
   

Please let us know you are participating in our challenge by posting a comment below. Share with us how you plan to store your WIP's &UFO's and let us know any helpful tips you may have. 

Do you get overwhelmed when you sit down and start to organize your yarn stash? It is hard to know where to start so we are going to have a fun Stash Organization Challenge! We will help you get your space in tip top shape one week at a time.  We will host a yarn swap at the shop and at the end of this challenge there will be a prize for the most organized space!

To take part in this challenge you need to: 

• visit the Knit-Bit's blog weekly & perform the given tasks
• join in the discussions by posting comments
• email before & after pictures (during photos if you would like)
• take part in the before & after vote