The life changing magic of organizing yarn

Spring is often a time for cleaning and organizing.

And us knitters are notorious for having yarn EVERYWHERE.

In 2010 the world was taken by storm with a little book by a Japanese woman, Marie Kondo.

Her philosophy about decluttering your home was the foundation for The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

So what can we learn about managing our stash from this bestseller?

Here’s three of our biggest takeaways…

1. Destash first, store later

Instead of jumping into categorizing and and organizing first thing, Marie recommends getting rid of things you don’t really want to keep first.

We want to fill our spaces with yarn that “sparks joy” within us when we see it.

So how do we make it easier to discard those unwanted skeins?

2. Hold every item

Admittedly this is a little “woo-woo” but Kondo suggests holding each item in your hands to see how it makes you feel.

If you don’t have any strong attachment to the yarn then consider letting it go.

That doesn’t mean you need to hold every purple skein of simply soft in your collection (one will do fine 😉), but feel the yarn and remind yourself why you bought it, or how you got it.

Make one pile to get rid of, and one to keep.

3. It feels good to let go

Sometimes its hard to get rid of “our” things. They belong to us! We should keep them!

But the reality is holding onto yarn we’re never going to use just makes it hard to focus on using the stuff we’re actually excited to knit with.

Not only will you have more space in your yarn closet, you’ll have more clarity of mind not worrying about what you’re going to do with that Red Heart Great Aunt Florence left you when she died.

PLUS the yarn will be going to someone who can turn it into something useful!

So what do you do with the yarn you want to get rid of?

There are three great options:

• Trade the yarn at a local yarn swap or in one of the yarn swap forums on Ravelry, Knitting Paradise, or Facebook
• Sell the yarn of Facebook marketplace, at a garage sale, or on Craigslist
• Give it away by donating it to a local school, thrift store, or put it up for free online

Then it’s time to organize, but we’ll talk about that in another issue.

Like this article? Share it with a friend!

{%- assign heading = “📆 *Daily Stitch*” -%}

{%- assign output = ‘’ -%}{%- capture t -%}{{ snippet.power-heading }}{%- endcapture -%}{{ output }}

Diagonal Lace Stitch

I’ve always liked the way this stitch looks.

The juxtaposition of the thick and thin sections of lace is quite interesting.

And the raised loops at the top of each repeat give the fabric an embossed feel.

I think it would make a nice shawl.

{%- assign heading = “📣 Upcoming *Events*” -%}

{%- assign output = ‘’ -%}{%- capture t -%}{{ snippet.power-heading }}{%- endcapture -%}{{ output }}

Knit-A-Long (Starts May 15th)

Swatchless Toe Up Socks

From May 15th through May 31st we’ll be knitting a pair of custom fit, toe-up socks with a bunch of other knitters.

As part of this Knit-A-Long you’ll get:

• Access to the Yarnist Society private community
• Video tutorials walking you through each step of the project
• Daily check-ins to keep you motivated and on track
• A LIVE kick-off and wrap-up event
• The chance to win awesome prizes
• and much more

Plus you can use whatever yarn you want. Sock weight, DK, worsted.

We’ll help you make the perfect socks for you!

{% if subscriber.society_status contains “Standard” %}

Yarnist Society Members save 40%!

{% elsif subscriber.society_status contains “Premium” %}{% elsif subscriber.society_status contains “Golden Fleece” %}{% elsif subscriber.society_status contains “Plus” %}

This KAL is included with your membership.
More information will be in your Yarnist Academy account.{% else %}

{% endif %}

Oh, and did I mention that you’ll get to keep access to the KAL videos so even if you don’t finish in time you can still work on your socks when you have time.

Whether this is your first pair of socks or you just want to join in the fun, I can’t wait to get started knitting with this amazing community.

I hope to see you there!