I know most knitters feel otherwise but I'm not comfortable with a gargantuan stash of yarn. I currently have four large 54 quart Rubbermaid containers and one smaller container of yarn which is too much.



Container number one is for worsted yarns which I don't knit with much anymore, mainly a mishmash and a small collection of Classic Elite Tapestry. I'm mainly keeping this container of yarns if I ever teach knitting to kids.



Number two has a large quantity of Nylamb - an old Brunswick fingering weight sock yarn that is quite soft and lovely. In fact, I have enough Nylamb in a dark green color to make either Nova Scotia or Cape Cod in Alice Starmore's Fishermen's Sweaters book. I just haven't decided which one yet.



Container number three contains my sport weight yarns - mainly Nature Spun in as many colors as possible and a bag of some Norwegian sport weight wool in bright colors purchased from Elann.



Container number four contains my sock and fingering weight yarns. I have a bag of Stahl Baby Merino also purchased from Elann several years ago, a good quantity of Wildfoote for socks, a big bag of Pingouin Laine sock yarn from Elann in relatively boring colors and some odds and ends like fingering weight cotton for dishcloths.



And the smaller container holds my DK weight yarns. I'm trying to build up my collection of Emu Superwash DK from Elann in as many colors as possible and I also have some Country Garden DK in colors from Smiley's Yarns that don't really turn me on. I also have a sweater's worth of Tiur for a future project - the Dale of Norway Kashmir sweater. And I have a few baskets of leftovers and handspun which I'll use to make more Spontaneous Scarves.



My recent efforts at stash busting have made me realize I work better with less yarn and less clutter. I do prefer quiet and order to total chaos on the yarn front plus it really helps with all the moving we do. One of my goals is to reduce my total stash to just those four containers.



I have my knitting books organized by subject and my patterns are filed the same way. Straight needles are kept in an old tin, circular needles are kept in pencil cases and here's a photo of my double pointed needles, crochet hooks and cable needles organized nicely in a circular solution container. Before I purchased this dpn container I used pencil cases but the dpns kept poking through.