When it comes to most things, I'd like to think I'm a pretty organized person. A place for everything, and everything in it's place. To that end, about a year ago, I splurged on the Martha Stewart Living Shelves from Home Depot. I started with the most loving intentions, planning to keep my yarn stash well organized, sorted, and ready at a moment's notice. And maybe if Martha herself had come WITH the shelves, she would've kept me on track. But then, well, somewhere between yarn sales, holiday madness, and the vagaries of daily living... this happened.

It starts out kind of okay at the top... and then deteriorates to a giant mess on the floor, where the only organization involved is "still in the bag." I'm not proud. I need help.
So today! I am happy to find that Amazon is giving away FREE KINDLE EDITIONS of Absolutely Organize Your Family, which is supposed to be "full of practical and effective solutions for all of your family’s organizational challenges." Will it help? I'm going to find out!
Our family loves our Kindles, but even if you don't have a Kindle of your own, Kindle books can be read right on your computer. Anyone out there read this one already? What did you think?
And speaking of the Kindle... look for a new free pattern from moogly on Friday the 13th! We're also in the process of editing some exciting videos that I think are going to add a lot to the site. It's a whole new experience for me, and I hope you will like it!
Stay up to date with moogly on facebook, for even more interesting links and craft ideas! And you can send pms through the facebook page to order your own, custom made, one of a kind moogly items!
coryy
I'm a big fan of sorting acrylic yarn in two ways: stuff for the kids I stuff 4 or 5 skeins into a big pretzel barrel and drill holes in the lid for the separate colors to pull from. Stuff I want to keep nice I stack in cardboard magazine sorters. That was actually on yesterday's to-do list at my house, that I never got to.....
moogly
Great ideas! I've noticed lots of organizational bins and such are out at the stores now. I'll have to take a look and see if I can find a great deal on those magazine sorters. Thanks!
coryy
you can make them out of cheerios boxes, too, if you have old wallpaper lying around to cover them with. And you don't mind honey-nut-scented yarn.
moogly
I love you.
Karen
My mother gave me these great foldable canvas storage cubes for yarn. I think she got them at Kmart. They hold several large skeins of yarn each; I'm a sweater, and I can store everything for one project in one with room to spare. I like them because I can grab one project at a time to work on, and easily put it away when I'm done/bored with it. They look like they would fit perfectly on your shelves. However, they won't let you see what you have at a glance.
She's also given me clear acrylic magazine holders in the past, which she got from Target. I asked for more, but she couldn't find them this year. I did get the Knit/Purl bookends from Knitpicks, though!
BTW, clearly you don't have cats. 🙂 All that yarn on open shelves would be kitty toys in my house by now...or a snack (there's a reason the one cat has the nickname of Yarn Butt...)
moogly
Karen, you're right - open shelves and cats definitely don't mix! I do think I should get some of those canvas inserts for the smaller balls though - great idea! And yeah, you'd think technology would offer us clear ones by now!
Happy
we have a kitten in our house and it is amazing what your forget when you have had older cats for a while....yarn balls are not safe!
Happy
IKEA might have clear ones... or the Container Store...