Organising Your Craft Cupboard

Tips and tricks to organise your knitting

Organising your knitting can be tricky. Let me help you by chatting about the process I employed for this client's knitting cupboard.

First Steps: Gaining Inspiration

The first thing I did was head to Google and Pinterest and type in 'knitting storage' - I was gaining inspiration for the way I wanted it to look. Eventually I found a gorgeous photo of a shop, which featured all of the yarn organised in the colours of the rainbow, and I wanted that for my client.

Next step: Declutter and Organise the knitting paraphernalia

This project was a bit unique, in that it didn't require much decluttering. And, being a knitter myself, I understood my client's desire to keep as many craft supplies as they could. This person was also a particularly keen knitter, and so was their partner, so I really let the decluttering go: they really would use everything at some point.

So, I moved on to organising. As you can see, there were no systems in place to begin with.

Gathering and Sorting Your Craft Supplies

Therefore, I started by gathering all of the knitting supplies from around the room and the rest of the house, and then sorted everything into piles and then into bags and jars. I sorted the needles, the accessories, the wool by colour (untangling as I went), the half-finished projects, the patterns, the googly eyes . . . you name it, I created a category for it.

It's always a good idea to collect everything that goes into one category from around the house and bring it all together: you need to know where everything is going, and what you need to create space for

Here's what it looked like midway through:

Making Space for Craft Supplies

My client knew that they always knitted in front of the TV, so I wanted to create a knitting 'station' there. We cleared a drawer of board games, and I got to work building the shelves to go in the cupboard.

Create 'stations' for things, where you can find everything to do with that craft. If you're knitting, put everything to do with the knitting in one space, preferably close to wherever you do that craft

Create Bespoke Storage

For this project, I measured the space, and then created shelves using offcuts of plywood and MDF, staining them white to make them look clean.

If you are not into DIY, then you can buy your own solutions with a little bit of searching. For example, you can often buy stacking drawers that slide out easily, and can be stacked on top of one another to make a grid.

I also made a little box and attached it to the inside of the door for knitting needles. I then grouped the needles into their pairs, tied them with an elastic band, and popped them in the box.

Reuse, Reduce, Recycle (and Label!)

After sorting everything into piles, I also knew how many containers I'd need for the paraphernalia, so I reused jars and containers from around her house (and mine!), and then labelled the containers to show what was in them. I labelled them on the top so that you could see at a glance what was in the drawer, rather than having to pull each thing out.

And there we are. The whole project with steps for completing the organisation of your own craft cupboard.

1. search for inspiration

2. declutter and organise

3. gather and categorise

4. make space

5. create or buy the correct storage

6. reduce, reuse and recycle wherever you can

7. label everything

Here's what the client had to say:

I hope this has given you inspiration for organising your own craft supplies. Though, if you would like me to do that for you, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Thanks for reading!

Nx