My Wooden Dowel & Me and Other Yarn Tails!

My yarn holder!

I'm currently sewing the squares on the wrong side of my Sunshine and Shadow Throw above so they will lie down flat.   

Are you like me...tired of having your yarn skein roll off your lap or chair as you crochet and onto the floor?

  

Tired of tugging at the yarn to unroll as you crochet?

Boy, I sure was!

I thought there has to be an easier way to access my yarn as I crochet.

I needed something like... a toilet paper roll holder....what could I use that I had on hand?  

Suddenly I had an idea and hunted up a long wooden dowel and quickly threaded two skeins of yarn onto it.  I stuck the wooden dowel with the yarn skeins into my yarn pile so it was upright and steady.

I sat the yarn container with my new yarn holder next to my chair and started crocheting.  

Guess what?  

It works!   

The yarn rolls smoothly off the wooden dowel as I crochet and no more yarn rolling off my chair/lap and onto the floor (and across the floor).  I could have my hubby make a more study base for the wooden dowel but as a make-shift solution this works for me for now.    

What do you think of my new invention?  

Do you have this same problem and have you solved it differently? 

Crochet Library

My little crochet library is growing.  

When I started crocheting again in 2008 (for the third time) I never thought I would stick to it like I have.  Nor did I think I would be crocheting, not one, but several throws.  I really enjoy crocheting...picking a pattern, selecting the colors and sometimes just winging it.  It's relaxing and fun.

Yesterday I watched another episode of "Hoarders"...every time I do I start to straighten up our rooms.  

  It's a great motivator...to de-clutter.  

Now I must warn you the next photo is pretty ugly!     

Yarn stash...BEFORE   

Another mini-hoarder like problem was "growing" in the corner of our family room.

My yarn stash was getting out of hand...AGAIN!

I have tried different storage methods for my yarn.  First, I bought several small to medium size plastic storage bins (one is in the photo above) to store the yarn.  But they didn't hold much and I got VERY lazy about putting the lids on and off.  Not working for me at all.

So, I mentioned to my hubby I needed to find a new solution as the messy look was starting to drive me crazy.  Hubby suggested I use some plastic bins we had previously purchased at Staples that are open on the sides, have no lids but stack neatly.  

I washed up three of them and started to put my unused, new yarn in them.  My yarn stash stores neatly upright in them and each bin holds quite an amount of skeins.  Currently, I have them stacked in the corner of our family room.  It looks neater plus they are still easy to get to and view.  

I also use some collapsible fabric bins to hold current projects, used yarn and other miscellaneous yarn.

Yarn stash...AFTER

Now I know probably many of you would not store your yarn stash in your family room.  But this is where I mainly crochet and I like having my yarn where I can get to it easily when I am inspired.  Anyways... it's my family room and I can do what I want here.   

Of course, hubby can not keep any of his hobbies here.  That's a no-no.   I make the RULES and I can change the RULES as often as I like because I'm the Queen.  LOL!

Keep on crocheting!