First, I want to say how much I love the validation that having a collection of fiber/yarn to choose from is okay and not a bad thing and the vibe that as long as ya don't feel overwhelmed, it's all good. A strong feeling I've been getting from many in the fiber arts community is a desire to "go stashless" or that it's somehow negative to have fiber/yarn/fabric that you don't have an immediate use for or a plan for. That's really tough for people who've dealt with insecurity/scarcity in the past and a genuine fear that they may not have financial or physical means to obtain needed items for their hobby that helps them manage stress/brings joy to their life/creates a sense of accomplishment. Not everyone can afford to go buy new whenever they want. Second, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this way of thinking about organizing one's space. This is actually a technique commonly in the "ADHD toolbox" and the "spoonie toolbox" just as a "life skill". Keep your stuff at point of use and you're more likely to use it *and put it away* as well as to create solutions where issues arise. It's really great to apply all this great information to your entire home. I keep a set of cleaning products in each bathroom and the kitchen so I don't have to carry items from room to room & if there's a mess, it's easily dealt with when it happens. I started keeping my tie dyeing equipment in the kitchen much to the confusion of others when they asked for advice on where to store theirs. But the truth is, that's where I use it and it takes a lot more mental and physical energy to store it elsewhere which reduces the likelihood of me actually using it. I'm slowly working towards applying this, almost... way of life... to my whole life and my entire space. Each time I make a move towards it, the better I feel. Also, I love those carts!
My organization consumes 80% of my home and on my bed and looks like a Nuclear Twister that is sharing the same space a Tsunami. ;) I needed new inspiration and I found YOU!
Oh I have the same umbrella swift and I love it *madly*. Like my yarn winder, now out of production, from Nancy's Knit Knacks. They just make me feel so happy when I use them!
My mother’s old china cabinet has been repurposed for my crafts. Bottom has sewing supplies. Top holds my yarn. I love that this piece of furniture has a place in my home.
Felicia, this was fabulous! I also love the sweater/cocoon you are wearing. Would you please consider sharing the name of the pattern? Thanks! 22:28 22:40
I'm in the process of creating my craft room. It's only about 110 square feet with a 5 foot closet, so there's not much space. I have my computer and a desk in there as well. My closet is full of yarn, fabric and finished or unfinished projects. I knit, felt, weave, sew and plan to learn to spin soon. My loom is in the living room because it won't fit through the craft room door. I need a better placement for it because it's difficult to get to, so I haven't been using it. It's my goal this year to create my craft space to be workable and usable, including the loom area. I've declutter about 50% of items from my home in the last 2 years. My craft room is the last place to tackle. I've even decluttered my yarn. But the job in my craft room is to have only what I need and use with more space to create. I'm 70 years old so some of this rearranging and furniture moving can be very taxing on me, but I've never had a working craft room and it's a dream I want to create. Thanks for your tour, I've always loved your craft space.
I love your idea of a 2023 “on deck” stash! One of my 2023 knitting goals is to consider stash first in deciding on projects- an “on deck” bin would work for this. Thank you for the suggestion Felicia!
I also create a “favorites” yarn bin every time I de-stash, for those skeins I want to use sooner. (Thinking that way also helps me realize which yarns I might as well give away, if I can tell they’ll never make it to the favorites bin.).
TY for your craft room walk-through; very helpful. Now empty-nesters, I've reclaimed a guest room as my kitting/sewing rm. That craft cart will be ordered asap to clear my sewing table of misc. items! Started reorganizing my stash after your January de-stash video but didn't finish. This video makes complete sense in organizing for different crafts.
I’ve always admired your dedicated attic space. Thank you for sharing it. Last year the boys kicked me out of the basement and it became the gaming/Lego room. I then got the unused formal dining room for my crafting. We call it the green room because it has an emerald green carpet. Chair rails were removed, the walls were repainted and 7 of the 9 IKEA Besta cabinets from the basement fit along one long wall and the opposite partial wall. They all have glass doors on the upper third and dark brown textured doors on the bottom third. I also have a matching short, wide cabinet whose top I use as a large tool storage area on the third wall. The glass cabinets contain fiber in the leftmost side and then yarn goes from laceweight to bulky across the 4 other cabinets. I love the glass which gives me the ability to see my yarns and fiber stash and it makes the room colorful. This year though I got a destash from a good friend for my daughter and I to use of more fiber and handspun and I also got a yarn and crochet stash from a friend’s mother who was moved into a care home and he didn’t want to throw it all away. Those all went into large Kuggis bins (did I mention my husband worked at IKEA up until last fall?) which although aren’t transparent, I’ve labeled with a label maker and they sit on top of the Besta system. My husband also recently added a drop down shelf between the two other cabinets on the opposite wall where I now have a small drum carder, and where my swift lives along with my ball winder. We put it at a height where my new large tapestry loom fits underneath along the wall and two of my castle wheels also fit under there. I have a baby wolf at the wall height window, also for the natural light and my Ashford traditional on the last free wall space there. The bottom cabinets house all my other crafts from left to right, 1) embroidery and paper quilling, 2) scrapbooking stickers and punches, 3) knitting needles and project bags, 4) & 5) are jewelry beads. There are also drawers, 2 per unit in the center where tools are. Weaving right behind my loom, circuit machine tools, glues and tape, scrap yarn, knitting tools and accessories, jewelry wire and finally jewelry tools. In the larger cabinet, under the circuit machine and embosser is a fleece I’ve washed and card parts of every summer, and “overflow” yarn and fiber that I still have to add to my catalogue and put into the sorted cabinets. The other two Besta’s have my fairy and teapot collections, drop and supported spindles and bowls and the left drawers have more weaving tools and scrapbooking albums in the cabinet while the right drawers have art yarns and the cabinet below more scrapbooking paper and photographs. I even use a hat rack for large project bags, empty or with projects, and I have a comfy chair in the center of the room with a small tv on the wall for background noise mostly. Everything is in its place, every nook and cranny has something stored there, and it’s a space I too always want to be in. It also didn’t cost a lot to set up. Of course my dad jokingly turned to my husband when I finished and said, when do you think she’ll grow out of it? I do admit I now have a Schacht circuit loom on its stand with the quartet on it in the front library/sitting/office space. But since that’s mostly my office, it doesn’t count as overflow (yet)! I want to encourage every maker that even a little corner of a room or a closet can be turned into an organized craft space. Over the years I’ve had to make do, my crafting never intruded into the household yet I could always enjoy whatever craft I was into at the time.
Alas, I live in 800 square feet ( no dining room) & split the main bedroom with a "craft space". We bought this small house & paid it off in ten year's, LOL, I didn't know about yarn then. Sometimes the front room is "smaller " because active WIP live there.
WOW you have a lot going on. Years ago had a carpenter make cabinets for me, because I sewed a lot. Now I'm knitting and crocheting. Yarn in tubs everywhere. My husband said, I'm busting out of the seams. Have a girlfriend who husband added 1000 square feet for her craft room. But you did a great job organizing section by craft. Thanks for th he video. 🤗
Love your attic space. I have a small office room where I store all my yarn supplies. I do wish I had more room to set up stations but atm this isn’t quite available to me. I really like the intentionality with your 2023 yarn storage. I might use that idea for me. Looking forward to seeing what you make from your 2023 yarn box 💚
As someone who has 2 flat bed knitting machines and a wheel, I really appreciated this. I'm about to get a studio room in my house and i've been thinking hard about the floor plan. I would also love to see your filming setup in the attic since filming is also a major part of my thought process!
haha my filming setup is really a camera on a tripod that I move around constantly. I have one window and one continuous light for video. The overhead lights are very, very warm so it feels cozy, but combined with the very warm coloured wood walls, it makes for a very orange cast in the videos... that's a big challenge. Good luck with your studio room! That's so exciting! What is your filming set up like?
My dream is a rail system on the ceiling with interchangable mounts so its really easy to have multiple angles at once for footage or even add suspended lights but I don't have the budget or the space. Some day. I've honestly given up on filming because *I* knock over the tripod or my cats do and keeping them out is not an option.
Great video! I really need to organize my designing / knitting / pottery space... Love the IKEA storage idea and keeping everything in it's own separate place!
Inspiring. These are principles we use in nursing. I was inspired by your electric spinning cart to have one cart especially for all the yarn and supplies for a blanket.
I see you weave, knit, and sew from the picture. I am hearing compromised. For that reason, it would have been good to see more of how equipment and supplies are placed in the room, an overall snapshot. Thank you. I too have a multi craft room
I too have stations but all over my books are in the bedroom along with two knitting machines and csm, tatting, bobbin lace, motorized babe for spinning, embroidery work, needle punch, all supplies for all in another room is sewing in one half and paper crafting in other half then in living room an antique floor loom not sure brand and a rug loom weaver's delight, matchless for spinning down stairs I have a space for two heavy duty shelves off hallway one is spinning fiber the other are cones of yarn....years ago I got yarns from perhaps a fiber studio which were then sold to an auction house so I have another room that has tubs of yarn I use cedar as well. My husband is an oil painter so he has a workshop and a studio our kids are grown our house is small but we make it work slanted ceilings as well.
I just found you! So happy meet a multicrafter who can do so many different arts! I've had a knitting machine for years and it lives in its box in the attic. I'm anxious to learn more about setting it up and using it! Thanks!
This video is so helpful! Rather than a craft room, I have a craft apartment 😂 I live in a one bedroom apartment, so I don’t have a specific craft room. Everything is kind of spread out. My floor loom is in one corner of my living room with some of my stash. My yarn swift and ball winder are in my dining room with more of my stash, my sewing machine, and my dyeing stuff. I typically knit/crochet and use my new Louet Jane table loom at my big square coffee table in my living room closer to the front door. (Although I have a stand for my Jane on its way! So that might change.) I really like the stations idea. The tricky thing is that my coffee table has beveled edges, so I can’t use my yarn swift, ball winder, or bobbin winder on it (at least not well). It would be really nice to have my yarn winding station in the living room by my coffee table instead of the far corner of my apartment. I’ll have to do some investigating to figure out if there are any other surfaces I could use for those, or if it might be a good idea to get a little flat edge table for that purpose. In any case, I think I could reorganize my tools to make sure I have the things I need when I need them. Thanks for getting me thinking about this!
I love your setup and especially your 2023 bin.❤ This is something I’m working on. I would like my maker supplies and equipment to be in one room with a portable solution for some.
My yarn is under the bed in plastic totes. It was to stop a certain pet from living under the bed. I also write on the mailed boxes what is in them and have a stash in the closet. I don't have a room I am everywhere and nowhere.
If you're familiar with the ClutterBug Philosophy by Cas Aarssen, I am a Cricket. So my craft room leans strongly toward being micro organized, similar to your space. I estimate my craft room is about 200 square ft and that includes a small closet. Two bookshelves, a high and a low, for library and storage like my 2 Addi CKM. Three tables, two with drawer pull out carts under them (I prefer closed/hidden storage). One of the tables is designated for my SK 280. Yarn stash is divided by color in stacked drawer bins. Small, south-facing window so a few lamps for supplemental lighting, plus a few beeswax candles carefully placed for safe burning. A few small houseplants, and a portable BT speaker as I nearly always stream music when crafting or craft-planning. Dress form is in a different room and can be easily brought in as needed. Also, I use placemats or some other smallish fabric pieces in my work zones as I don't like the clatter of accessories or tools being plunked down on hard surfaces. I am primarily a hand and machine knitter, a crocheter, and dabbler in stitch work, pin loom, and similar. The craft room is my happy place when highly functional. Tidy, organized and pretty equals a calm and beautiful ambiance. Love your channel, cheers!
I’ve wondered if there was a way a person could temporarily “bolt the loom to the floor” so it wouldn’t move as much and be more sturdy for rugs etc? Have you heard of this?
I'm trying to organise my craft room. I plan to have my two knitting machines down one wall, my cupboard moved against another wall because atm is blocking light and movement. On that wall I will have my sewing machine for sewing and quilting. In the middle of the room I want to make a flat tall table for cutting etc. Where I have a North window i want to have another desk for my painting area. I need to put some shelves up for stash. It's quite a big room, long. It has a massive south window and a small north window. I probably will be moving before I get it done tho. I have health problems that always get in the way. I will be buying more of those trolleys. I got a similar one from amazon but that has all my dig grooming tools on. It would make a lot of sense to have one for different places/stations
Thank you for your always interesting tips and a look at your space. I am a weaver and I’m interested in sewing with fabric I weave. My mother (and I) are also interested in doing some quilting at home with quilt tops that my mom has made. I would love to know the details of your sewing machine and serger. Thank you for all your inspiration!
Thank you Steve! I do LOVE my sewing machine... it's a Janome Horizon Memory Craft 8900 QCP Special Edition (it's discontinued now, but I'm sure there is a newer version of the same machine). And the serger is a 4-thread Janome Pro4DX Heavy-Duty Overlock Serger. I loved quilting and putting coloured fabrics together and still have a corner of half-finished quilt tops... perhaps one day when I have more time 😄
It's amazing how much you've managed to organize in 300 sq. ft. I'm impressed! I'm in the process of organizing 120 sq. ft. room. Actually, I'll end up with 2 rooms once I find a knitting machine, uh machines. May I ask what kind of table do you mount your knitting machines to? I need craft supplies visible so I don't forget what I have. If I can't see it, I'll buy an item again and end up with duplicates, sometimes 3 of the same thing. I have a huge stash of yarn, most for projects I just haven't gotten to yet. I'm getting back to building furniture too, ugh, more equipment. There goes half the space in the garage! I need cheaper 'hobbies'!
I am multi craft too and I have those ikea trolleys (except they are China knockoffs @usd8 each). My only setback is not being in yarn paradise ..sigh. Great video.
Is the table that you have your flat bed knitting machines on one of those Husky adjustable height work benches from HD? How is that working for you? Do you find that you modify the height for different projects, and better ergonomics? TIA
Loved this one! I'm trying to think of ways to not necessarily hide my yarn, but it doesn't need to be front and center (I rent, and there is a small closet, so front and center is my yarn.) So yarn storage options are always welcome! :) Felicia, which shrug pattern are you wearing? And I think the colorway is... Mulberry, right? ❤
I'd also be very interested to know what the pattern is for the shrug :) admired it the whole time and figured id check if anyone else had asked in the comments ^^
Thanks Laura! Yes, I'm ok with my "archived" yarn being in bins and not looking at it all the time. I like the idea of pulling out a few skeins to sit with me and be the focus of what I'm working on right now... rather than feeling overwhelmed by my whole stash. :) And the shrug is called the Enlow and we knit it in SweetGeorgia Mohair Silk DK in Strawberry Tea: sweetgeorgiayarns.com/shop/enlow/
For storing yarn you don't want to see front and center but don't want in long term storage (like a basement storage locker or something), those Kallax type units are great. You can get bins that slide into them & collapse flat when you don't need to use them or put doors on them. I currently have a closet where the bottom half is a 3x2 cubby system of a similar nature I use for all my yarn that isn't sock weight. If I didn't have the closet option, I'd likely turn it sideways and use as a tv console. In fact, that's what I did do for years when I lived with my mom and had a tv in my bedroom.
Thank you for sharing your organization strategies. If you know the model/manufacturer of the table that you have your knitting machines on would you please share it. I also have flatbed knitting machines and your set-up is perfect! Thanks in advance
Oh my table is also from IKEA! It's just one of the least expensive table tops (this colour is not available anymore) combined with the manual crank standing table frame (TROTTEN). www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/trotten-underframe-sit-stand-f-table-top-white-40507342/
I have begun to organise my craftroom in the last days, so thank you very, very much for a brilliant, very interesting, inspiring and well made video 🤩! I especially love the way you have set up your 2 knitting machines. I also own 2 (KH940 and LK150) and I would love to set them up as you do. May I ask which table you are using for them? Can it be lowered or cranked up (I think I saw a crank shaft on your table)?
For sure! I am using a table top from IKEA and then their manual crank sit/stand table frame. It’s sturdy and it’s nice to be able to adjust the height. I don’t need to do it often, but once in a while is nice. 👍 good luck with your craft room reorganization!
Very nice tour! I, too, have an attic craft room with slanted walls. It's not as big as yours so my sewing machine and knitting (LK150) machine are stored away until I need or decide to use them. My floor loom, a Louet David, takes up a quite a bit of floor space in my little room but I still manage to tuck away my many storage bins of yarn stash under the eaves and 2 work tables in the room. I don't think you mentioned your e-spinners. Where do you keep them?
Oh yes! The e-spinners are currently all lent out to member of the SweetGeorgia team! A couple people are testing them out to see which ones they want to get since we have been putting together a new course on e-spinners for the School. Usually I keep the smaller e-spinners in a basket together with their bobbins. I also have an IKEA cart for the Ashford e-spinner. It sits on the top of the cart and then the bobbins, fibre, lazy kate, etc. are all on the lower shelves of the cart.
What do you use to protect your yarns, fibers, etc from moths? I put, dried lavender from my garden, dried bay leaves and cloves. In 2021 I had a bad infestation of moths and lost all my beautiful hand dyed yarns and all hand dyed fibers for spinning . The moths especially loved the blues. After this I stopped spinning and sold all my wheels
I'm so sorry to hear about your yarns and fibres!! that's so devastating! I keep a few cedar wood balls and some dried lavender in each yarn bin... but the main thing has been keeping the bins closed and then checking the bins every 6 months.
I also have 3 knitting machines but don't have the ribbers attached. Yet! I would like to know how you separate your yarn. You started talking about mohair and then went into worsted. Do you separate by weight or fiber ? I really need to get my yarn closet organized. Help!
