How To Keep Thread & Yarn Organized

I'll show you how I did it without spending any money
(or touching those awful pantyhose)!

Jumbled together it's a disaster waiting to happen!

Still jumbled, but with no fear of it turning into a snarled mess!

Hey Everybody!

Lets face it. Controlling ends is a challenge.  No matter if they're split ends, loose ends or yarn ends.  The one thing that they all have in common (other than needing to be tamed and their overall messiness) is if you're willing to spend the money, someone has developed a product that is guaranteed to keep your ends in line. 

Even your yarn ends.

Now I'm all for free enterprise, but we live on a budget and spending money on frivolous conveniences is frowned upon. Hair gel, by the way, is neither frivilous nor a convenience when you have very long, very curly hair.  Especially when it's been in the 80s and 90s for weeks and the relative humidity flirts with 100% daily.  Sorry, where was I?? Oh right, saving money.  Anyway, I was flipping through a yarn catalog that the nice mailman brought me, not looking for anything in particular when I came across Yarn Wraps.   Smart idea.  For $4.99 plus shipping I can buy 3.  Closer inspection reveals that this particular brand are really no more than pieces of stretchy nylon fabric stitched into tubes. Huh.  I can do that.

I'd like to say that I was so motivated to get organized and save us money that I set to making my own yarn wraps that moment.  That's not what happened.  Instead I stored the idea away.  You could say I pinned it to the big board of things I want to do someday that lives in my brain.

A couple of months later I was doing a lot of thread work.  And even though I store the balls of thread in a big bin, when I'm using them I usually just toss them in a basket.  It was getting pretty messy so I decided it was time to make some wraps.  My first idea was to dig out a pair of pantyhose.  They would work perfectly. I hesitated though, because as far as I'm concerned they are an evil invention and I avoid wearing them at all costs.  No good can come from squeezing my Rubenesque figure into those sausage casings. In the end, I cast that idea aside since I don't even like handling them.  Something about the feel of that material just gives me the heeby jeebies.  Then I remembered the cotton/spandex leggings that were packed away to go to Goodwill.  Why not give them a try? In no time at all I had a pile of free and easy wraps ready to keep my thread from becoming a tangled, unusable mess!  I also considered using old gym sock (tube socks), or the arms from a cotton/spandex shirt.   If you don't share my pantyhose phobia I'd say they're the best choice, but if it's tubular and stretchy it probably will do the job.

I was able to keep the organizational momentum moving forward when my hubby came home with this adorable set of shelves later that week.  It turns out one of our neighbors was moving and put this treasure out with the trash!!  For ages I'd been telling him that I want shelves next to my chair in the living room to hold my ever growing collection of WIPs, yarn and books.  I'll admit that "Little Girls Room" doesn't exactly fit with the rest of our decor, but it's sturdy and clean and since we're pretty eclectic in general it's working out just fine.

So there you have it!  Any easy way to keep your yarn or thread from coming undone without spending a dime or having to touch the horrid pantyhose!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and spending a bit of your day with me!
Until next time friends,
Be blessed and stitch & read with love!