This is my repost of my response to a thread on a knitting list I partake of, about stash organisation:

1) Do you buy yarn for a specific pattern or do you see yarn and fall in love with it then buy it in the hope that a suitable pattern will emerge? (this is me!).
I do a bit of both. Sometimes I love a pattern and shortly after find the yarn for it so I’ll have both shortly and store them together. Other times I buy yarn because I love the idea of a scarf or a pair of socks out it. But I always try to mark it with "what I intend" because otherwise I forget!

2) Do you fall in love with a pattern from the USA and then struggle to find an equivalent yarn in Oz (even after swatching)?
Nope - swatching is my friend, and usually there’s enough information on the internet to make swap for something else.

3) Do you buy yarn from the USA? If so, who do you find to be the most reliable and with the best freight charges?
The answer is KnitPicks but you need someone to post it to you from the USA. They are fantastic!

4) Do you sort and store your yarn by colour, ply, synthetic/non synthetic or how?
Mine is sorted by ply - 2 ply and less in one drawer or box, 4 ply / sock yarn in a second, 8 ply in a third, chunky in a fourth, misc in a fifth (intended for a poncho), undyed in a couple more, and a few more of dyed.

5) Do you store in plastic/paper bags or loose in boxes?
In clip top plastic storage boxes on wheels, mostly to keep bugs, kitties and garden stuff out of it.

6) Do you keep a written record of what yarn you have? I’m about to do this so that I won’t have to drag everything out from under the beds, out of cupboards etc in order to know what’s in my stash.
Organising your stash is very personal. Do you think in terms of colours? Or in ply? Do you have enough yarn in your stash that you can browse through it when a cardigan or wrap pattern catches your eye, and use what you have there, or are you like me and more conservative in your stash, so major projects require shopping but you always have lots of 8ply on hand for a scarf, shawl, stripy project or scarf? Do you keep odd balls left over from a project, thinking you’ll use it later (usually for stripes, or tea cozies ;) or throw them away? Do you use acrylics and nylons and novelty yarns in the same way as you do wool and cashmere and cotton? Do you have fiber and fleece to store as well as yarn?

You can buy plastic storage tubs for many spaces from Kmart, Target etc and even Bunnings. These are great for moving stash around or storing it in one place, and you can always stick a plastic sleeve to the outside with a simple sheet on it describing the contents. Put it on the side facing you so you can browse easily. Or get a polaroid camera and take a photo of each yarn and stick it on to the side - smarter to do if you swap yarn around regularly.

Sort the yarn how you want to be able to search for it. If you have more than 2 balls, get some plastic ziplock bags and put them into the bag, then label the bag with what it is, and what you intended when you bought it. So one of my bags might say "8 x 50g balls navy cotton, Bendigo Sept 2006, tshirt or camisole". Put the different types of yarns together into piles and then into the plastic tubs - try not to overfill as you want to be able to toss through each one without having to empty stuff out.


Then write the contents of the box onto a piece of paper or a reference card, and stick that to the outside of the box. Then enter those details into a database or excel sheet or there’s a website that I can’t find right now that’s beta testing this as well :) . Number the boxes, then draw up a floor plan for your storage areas and put them onto the diagram. Voila!