I feel like I have tried every trick in the book or idea on pinterest to create the perfect Tangle Free Yarn Storage. I have tried, totes, bags, and winding all my skeins of yarn into pretty cakes and hanging them on pegs on my wall.
Yet some how the end result is always the same. I rummage through my stash in a hurry and yarn ends come loose and start to tangle up with other skeins. After a while it is one big tangled mess.
This year I put creating a tangle free yarn storage solution high on my New Year’s Resolutions List. I was determined to find a solution. I am thrilled to tell you that I found it.
Keep reading to learn how to quickly, and easily make your yarn storage tangle free, plus more tips and tricks to make this DIY solution work the best for you. I even created a video to show you how to put them on and a printable available to my newsletter subscribers to organize your yarn stash.
Keep reading and I will show you:
How to make Skein Saver (My name for them.)
Show you a video of how to put them on your yarn.
Information you need to record for each skein.
How to Calculate how much yarn you have.
How to Track your Yarn Stash.
If you are one of my newsletter subscribers you will also find two new printables on my Printable Resource Page, the Yarn Stash Tags and Yarn Stash Tracker. Newsletter subscribers have exclusive access to all my printable resources.
The form you have selected does not exist.
The Tangle Free Yarn Storage Solution
First I noticed it is much easier to keep full skeins of yarn nice and neat. They have paper bands that fit just right and their ends are tucked away. It is when we start using the yarn that everything begins to unravel. Literally!
We start pulling the very center out of our pretty little yarn skein and all of a sudden the paper band just doesn’t stay put and eventually gets lost and the loops and loops of yarn start dancing around each other into numerous knots.
What we need is a band that shrinks down as we slowly pull the innards from our yarn, keeping everything nice and snug and tangle free. Let me show you how to quickly, easily make one for almost nothing!
What you will need for a Tangle Free Yarn Storage
All you will need to make these adjustable bands, or Skein Savers as I like to call them, is scissors and a few pairs of socks! Yes, socks!
You can use some pairs you have lying around, maybe missing their match or holes in the heel. I ran out to the local Dollar Tree and 99 cent store and picked up some cute printed socks.
Now if you are buying socks, I wanted to give you some guidelines to help you pick the best sock for the project.
First pick up the largest size socks you can find. The larger the sock the larger the skein of yarn you can use it on. Men’s socks work well, but I picked up more women’s socks because I liked the print. Having my skein savers be cute was important to me.
I also suggest getting the tallest socks you can. These will be helpful in making the right size Skein Saver for your yarn. You can also make more out of the longer pairs of socks. I was able to make about 4-6 Skein Savers from each pair.
Making your Skein Savers
To make the Skein Savers it is as easy as just cutting off the heel and top band of the sock. I drew some diagrams below to show you how I cut up the socks.
When cutting up the socks, consider the length you will need for the type of yarn you like to keep on hand. I use a lot of the Red Heart With Love yarn and I left a lot of Skein Savers nice and long to keep those skeins under control.
Below you will see all the variety of skeins I was able to use these Skein Savers for. I was even able to use the Men’s sock skein saves (the Avacado ones) to keep cakes of yarn all wrapped up.
Putting your Skein Savers on your Yarn
To put the Skein Savers on your yarn just put the band around your hand like a hairband and grab the end of your yarn. Work the band to the center of your skein keeping the band all scrunched together.
Once it is in the center, then you can gentle spread it out to cover the middle third of the skein. (For longer skeins I created bands that would cover the majority of the skein.)
To give the bands a cleaner look, I tucked in the raw edges.
Tuck any loose ends under the bands and you are ready to toss your yarn in totes or tuck them away on a shelf. Your yarn ends have been secured and will not mingle with the rest of your yarn.
Watch the video below to see how I put the Skein Savers on the Skein.
How to Record your Yarn Information
To use your Skein Saver you will need to remove the paper label that comes with your yarn. You will want to save this information somewhere in case you ever need more of the yarn.
One option is to fold up the label and tuck it into under the Skein Saver to keep it with the yarn.
Another option is to take a piece of paper or print the Yarn Tags available to my newsletter subscribers and fill out all the information you would need to know about your yarn.
You can include brand name, yarn type, color/dye lot, fiber, yardage, recommended hook size, recommended knitting needle size, and the care instructions. Another idea is to include an estimation of how many yards you have left in the skein. I will show you how to calculate this below.
Yarn Stash Tracker
It is a good idea to make a chart to save all the important information on to reference before you go digging in your stash. On the Printable Resource Page there is a Yarn Stash Tracker I have created that gives you a space to record the Brand, yarn type, color, fiber, yardage and location of the yarn as well as the tag number you are looking for.
By numbering each yarn tag and marking its location on the Yarn Stash Tracker you will be able to easily locate the yarn you want. If you calculate the yardage you have, you will be able to look at your Yarn Tracker and determine if you have enough, instead of rummaging through your stash only to find you don’t have as much of that yarn as you thought.
The less often you rummage through your stash, the more organized it will remain.
Figure out How much Yarn is left!
Knowing how much yarn you have left in a ball of yarn can be very useful. Most patterns will tell you how much yarn you need to finish a project. While you are taking the time to set up your tangle free yarn storage, it is a good time to calculate and record this information.
Here is what you will need to know:
How much your skein weighs. I use a food scale to measure this.
How much yarn originally came on the skein in yards and in weight.
That is all, the original weight and yardage for the skein can be found on the paper label or found online if you do not have the paper label. To find the information online you will need to know what brand and type of yarn you have.
Let me show you how I calculate the remaining yardage.
Just take the original yardage and divide it but the original weight in ounces. This will tell us how many yards per ounce of yarn.
Then multiple that result with the weight of your leftover yarn in ounces. This will give you the number of yards in your leftover skein.
(Original yardage/ original weight in ounces)* weight of leftover yarn = # of yards in the leftover skein.
Let’s just do that one more time but with numbers. Say I have a Skein of Red Heart With Love and I have 3 ounces leftover from one of my projects(pictured above). I looked at Redheart.com and learned that With Love normally comes in 7 ounces per skein and has 370 yards of yarn.
Here are my calculations:
(370/7)*3 = 158.57 yards
I have approximately 158.57 yards of Red Heart With Love yarn in my leftover skein. I can write this information on my Printable Yarn Tag and my Yarn Stash Tracker and refer to them when I am trying to find a project for that yarn.
A Tangle Free Yarn Storage System
So we have Skein Savers to keep our yarn nice and tangle free. Yarn Tags to keep all the important yarn information tucked safely away. Plus we have a Yarn Stash Tracker that will let us know what we have without having to dig around and look. This Tangle Free Yarn Storage system is sure to keep your yarn stash in check.
Do you think this system will work for you? Let me know in the comments below!
Want access to my Newsletter Subscriber exclusive printable resources? You can subscribe to my newsletter for free below!
The form you have selected does not exist.
I would really like to see your finished Skein Savers, take a picture and share it with me on any social media! Just tag me @windingroadcrochet, #windingroadcrochet, or #ourcrochetjourney. Join my Facebook Group and share your creation with the community at Our Crochet Journey Facebook Group!
Let’s Connect
Want to know what I am making next? Follow me on Instagram @windingroadcrochet to see sneak peeks of what I am up to and to be notified of when I release new free patterns. You can also follow me on Pinterest and Facebook. Join our facebook group Our Crochet Journey and be a part of our community. Share, photos, ask for help and be inspired all in one place!
Written pattern, tutorials, graphs and pdfs of the Tangle Free Yarn Storage are copyright Windingroadcrochet.com. Please do not reprint or repost this content as your own, but please feel free to share this link with others. You can find more information on sharing my work with others in the Terms and Conditions Page.
