Pieces
I’m coming to love my scraps bin. I used to be fairly ruthless about throwing out little bits of yarn. If a yarn leftover was under 100 yards or so I’d decide I was never really going to use it for anything and just chuck it. But these days…these days I seem to find myself knitting more than my fair share of tiny stuff.
The hearts, the stars, and the acorns all came straight out of the scraps bin (the acorns especially used the tiniest bits of yarn ever).
And now the cupcakes are happening (and there are at least a few other tiny things planned for later in the year), and they too are making heavy use of the scraps bin. I mean I did have to go find chocolate cake colored yarn in a shop (and the lady at the store was absolutely delightful about my quest…didn’t make me feel like a weirdo at all), but all the frosting is straight out of the extras pile.
So now I find myself wondering if there’s a good way to organize it. Right now it’s all in a big plastic storage container (the kind that are about the size of the biggest carry on suitcases), but it gets super jumbled and things get lost and I find myself having to dump it all out to sort and play with it whenever I want to find something.
So tell me all your grand ideas. How do you keep your little bits organized? Do you actually keep them organized, or is it sort of a free for all? Do you keep them labeled, or just sort of trust that you’ll be able to figure it out if you need to?
Every once in a while I use IKEA Kallax bins, but they get jumbled anyway. Sorting seems to generate ideas, but I never enjoy it in the beginning.
Snack-sized ziplock bags, with a little post-it note with yarn name, if I’m motivated. All stuffed in a box that I pull out when socks need mending!
For mini skeins and scrap balls, I have one of those hanging wall pockets for shoes — you know, a piece of fabric with rows of clear pockets that you can stuff shoes into so they can hang in a closet or on the back of a door or whatever? Mine hangs in the living room, next to the glass-doored library cabinet that stores my stash, and each pocket has scraps of a particular colour family. Then, if I’m making something small, or a project with lots of pops of colour, I can just treat the wall as my palette. It’s quirky decor, but it’s so handy to have everything visible like that. And no, I’ve never had an issue with moths.
I think I’ve had far more people ask me about moths than actual moths!
I really hope “throwing out” means “giving to a charity store”, because even small amounts can be very useful. 2 grams of fingering sock yarn is ten rounds in stockinette in a sock. 15 grams is enough to use as contrast colour in one stranded sock, so the leftovers from one solid coloured pair is perfect for a stranded pair. I guess using up scraps is a lot easier if you like stranded knitting, but should also be great for fun slip-stitch projects for example.
Storage us trucky though! Zip-lock bags is a good idea. You cold also out the smallest balls in a large mason jar, use it as decoration and wait for inspiration.
Nope, I really do mean I threw them out! Neither yarn shops nor second hand shops were interested in them where I lived, and I’m a big fan of not keeping things I don’t plan to use soon (having a lot of stuff I don’t use seriously stresses me out), so that was the best choice for me at the moment. These days I’m a little more likely to hang onto yarn, but I’m still pretty ruthless about getting rid of stuff I don’t intend to use.
I have a series of decorative jars ranging from Canning Jar Pint to Antique Diner Pickle Jar and keep scraps in them depending on the size. (Waste yarn length to Probably Half the Ball.)
I keep my little balls of scarps in a large clear vase. They’re so pretty, and looking at them reminds me of the finished projects. But, as you say, using them requires dumping out the whole bin!
I absolutely adore your patterns ! you are very talented. Thank you for sharing them with us. There is a post on pinterest of a pattern that is at angles and would make a lovely ear cover in winter, I see something similar in your handwarmer patterns. Is it the same triangle pattern? Thank you. Pam