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Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

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Organizing Your Yarn Labels

March 18, 2015 1 Comment

Tips for Organizing Your Yarn Labels - great info for knitting, crochet and yarn lovers!

When I finish a knitting project, or even just finish a skein of yarn, I’m often met with a slight dilemma: what to do with my yarn labels. For the longest time, I’d just shove them into the middle of a densely-packed gallon zipper bag, end of story. Then I started designing. Since the time between design concept and publication can be so long (when dealing with print in particular), it’s important to know which label goes with what yarn and project.

Phase 1 of the label organization process for me involves a single hole punch, a permanent marker, and my unoccupied yarn labels. When possible, I also look for a scrap of yarn that goes with the label. The analog part of the process is obvious: punch a hole in the label without cutting off important info about the yarn, loop the yarn through the hole, and write the project(s) this yarn was used for and when on the label. Below you can see my stashed labels from the Long John Cowl and the Simple Basketweave Baby Blanket.

Tips for Organizing Your Stash Digitally Why save this stuff?

I think saving labels and scraps is important for any knitter. For one, there’s the nostalgia factor. If you’ve knit for years, especially, you might want to go back and remember what yarn it was that went with what project. You might want to look back and laugh at the trendy colorways from ten years ago.

You might also want to know what dye lot, fiber composition*, or even just the yarn’s brand or name. Let’s say you’ve got a small ball leftover of a bunch of different yarns from years of projects. You find the perfect stash-buster type pattern, but you want to make sure to use roughly compatible fibers and/or you want to have a vague idea of how to wash these different yarns together. Keeping your labels can be useful, even for hobby knitters.

*wool, cotton, what percentage of multiple fiber types was used in the yarn

As a designer, I need my old labels for reference for a lot of things. I might need to remember if I simply liked a yarn used in the past. Once you’ve been knitting awhile, there might be a finished object in your closet that just hasn’t stood the test of time. If it’s one of my designs, I like to look back at my stash and take note of what that yarn was so I can bear that in mind when I design with that yarn next. I get reader questions sometimes from folks who lost track of their labels for a project they know I’ve designed with. Sometimes people who like my patterns or read this blog are just looking for some help since they can’t remember how to launder a project or remember what the yarn used was called. I could seriously go on – there are lots of reasons to save those labels! ;)

How I organize yarn labels digitally

I’ll be honest. As a librarian, I’m kinda into organizing things. On top of the analog system outlined above, I have a couple of digital elements involved in my stash organization. For one, having this blog is an easy way to go back and see all of my patterns and their corresponding supplies logged in one place. Since it would be pretty random to have wrinkled old labels with yarn scraps hanging off them, it doesn’t make sense to have those included in a blog post. Instead, I’ve been using my new HP Sprout to scan in my labels and scraps.

Over time I’ll build a virtual library of all my labels, and even the blocked swatches I have laying about. This library can be stored in the cloud, where it will be a lot more secure than a physical storage system would allow. Don’t get me wrong – I’ll still keep my physical labels & swatch stash for measuring gauge, feeling texture, etc., but what if there’s a natural disaster some day? Or a fire? I’ll still be able to see my digital swatches and labels so I’m not left at square one despite decades of knitting experience.

As you can see in the images on my Sprout below, I’m also experimenting with scanning in full balls of yarn. While Ravelry has great tools for cataloging your yarn and needle stash, I want to play with the idea of making a visual archive of my yarn craft materials, including labels, swatches, balls of yarn and more. This is where my librarian career influences my creative career, I realize, but how cool would it be to link a scan of yarn with its corresponding swatch & label in a database, and then catalog it so you could search it by fiber, color, washing instructions, and even anecdotes about how it was to work with?

Nerd alert? Perhaps. At least I’d be an efficient, organized one! :)

Organizing Your Stash Digitally with the HP Sprout

This post is sponsored by HP, who provided compensation and a Sprout in exchange for blog posts highlighting its innovative new technology. All opinions are my own. 

Filed Under: Crochet, Giveaways, Reviews & Sponsored, Knitting Tagged With: ciy, crochet, hp sprout, knit, stash, swatching, yarn stash

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad (she/her) is a craft book author & designer specializing in yarn crafts. Her work combines vintage and modern design elements, prioritizing color and graphic motifs. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

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Comments

  1. marion

    October 9, 2015 at 12:11 pm

    Thank you very much ,I wish I did this year’s ago but will definitely get started on my next progect

    Reply

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), and I’ve been helping yarn crafters untangle various techniques on the internet since 2010. I got my start here, as a blogger, and since then I’ve shared more than a few tutorials here and on YouTube as I’ve grown as a pattern designer. 🧶 

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Heidi Gustad 🧶 knitting & yarn crafts

handsoccupied

Knitting & yarn crafts designer 🧶
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Stay up-to-date 💌 & shop new patterns ⤵️

POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern POV: Showing you how my new Bevelled Tank pattern fits with no ease vs. 4” of positive ease. There’s a bit more length to the cotton (brighter color) sample, but both are cropped and feature shoulder seams designed to sit an inch back onto the shoulder instead of on top, giving it a little swing. Length is easily adjustable for folks looking for less of a crop. 
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Pattern: Bevelled Tank by @handsoccupied for @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn summer 2024. Available for free from Hobbii at the 🔗 in my profile.
Yarn pictured: @kelbournewoolens Skipper and Camper. 
Dress form is adjusted to a 36” chest and ~5’3”ish in height. 
Human has a 40” chest and is 5’5”.
Both skirts are vintage.
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #handsoccupied #intarsia #handmade #knitting #colorwork
Let’s talk about fit and ease! . During the Beve Let’s talk about fit and ease!
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During the Bevelled Tank design process for @pompommag, I knit 2 samples using 2 different @KelbourneWoolens yarns. One was in Skipper (100% cotton, second photo) and the other was in Camper (100% 2 ply wool). The Skipper sample was knit for a 36” bust, which measures in at 40” with 4” of positive ease. And I knit the Camper Sample for my 40” bust with a 44” finished measurement. (BTW, I’m 5’5” for folks that find that measurement helpful in visualizing fit.)
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Based on the size chart for the Bevelled Tank, that means I knit one size 3 sample and one size 4. As designed, I conveniently fit a size 4 as intended with 4” of positive ease. When I wear the 3, there is no ease at all because the garment and my body are both 40” in size. Comparing the 2 garments, you can see how the fiber content (cotton vs. wool) and fit (no ease vs. 4” of positive ease) makes a difference in the look and feel of the finished garment. 
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These samples are a great way to compare what ease looks like on different bodies. While I can fit both a size 3 and 4, the garment with no ease feels more like pajamas or a bralette when I wear it. On the other hand, when I wear the one with 4” of positive ease, I feel comfortable enough to wear it to work, even as a crop top. Plus, it leaves me with enough room to layer it with a nice button down if I’m not feeling the cropped look one day. 
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I’m curious - how would you style this tank? Would you modify it with a few stockinette rows for added length? I’m so curious now that this pattern is finally out in the world. :) 
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #bevelledtank #handsoccupied #knitting #intarisa #handmade #kelbournewoolens #croppedsweater #summerknits
After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m ba After a 6 month hiatus, I am happy to say I’m back with a brand new pattern in 9 sizes, and it’s FREE as part of @pompommag x @hobbii_yarn’s summer design collection! (Link is in my bio.)
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In my December newsletter, I announced that I was soliciting test knitters for a pattern that had originally been selected for the summer ’24 issue of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine. However, the magazine ceased publication after its spring ’24 issue, leaving in-progress designs unpublished. (It happens.) As a result, I’d begun the long process of editing, testing, and photographing the pattern for independent release through the Hands Occupied pattern shop and Ravelry.
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Before I was done with that process, Pom Pom Quarterly’s former editors reached out with an exciting proposal for the pattern. Post-magazine, they’ve begun to partner with yarn companies to produce high quality pattern collections. They wanted to include designs from the would-be current issue of Pom Pom Quarterly in a new collection for Hobbii yarn, including my Bevelled Tank. I worked with the same technical editors I would have for the magazine on this one, and as you can see from the photos, Pom Pom’s team did an amazing job of styling the garment to the beautiful standards they’re known for.
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You can learn more about the pattern on my blog and get the free pattern from Hobbii yarn - links to both in my profile. I’ll post sizing info in the comments for quick reference too. 🧶
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#pompomxhobbiisummer2024 #knitting #intarsia #sponsored #colorworkknitting 
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Photos: @dianascarrunz 
Model: @angel.jade_
Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vi Here’s a nice throwback for you: my take on a vintage knitting pattern from 1938 called the Fernlace Pullover. A pattern so nice, I knit it twice.
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Yellow version 💛: knit with Despondent Dyes’ Vintage Vixen Sport after attending a @squidneyknits vintage knitting retreat in 2019 & learning *so much*. Paired with a self-drafted circle skirt pattern. 
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Blue version 💙: knit with @eweeweyarns Ewe So Sporty in Sky Blue. Paired with the 1940s Boardwalk Duet sewing pattern from @decades_of_style 
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Head to my stories for 🔗🔗 to the handmade wardrobe blog posts I wrote about each take on the Fernlace Pullover, working with a vintage pattern, where to find vintage patterns (including the one I used), & some thoughts on sizing. 
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Image descriptions available in alt text. 
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#handsoccupied #handmadewardrobe #fernlacepullover #vintageknitting #vintageknittingpatterns #knitting_inspiration
Frogging is a word in the knitting world that mean Frogging is a word in the knitting world that means to rip out your knitting. It’s called frogging because frogs say “ribbit,” and when you’re tearing out your knitting, you will “rip it” out, and that sounds like ribbit. No really. 🐸 Did you know this fun fact? 
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P.S. I did like this design concept, but to make the pattern more knitter friendly as well as more wearable, I am making some tweaks to the construction. Excited to share when it’s ready! 🥰🧶
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Yarn: @blueskyfibers Woolstok North in Morning Frost & Highland Fleece 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #frogging #blueskyfibers #knittersofinstagram #blueskymakers #knittingvocabulary #bsfmakers #knitdesign
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