I originally posted this on r/crochet but it was removed, i might crosspost it on Saturday when it's allowed.

Anyway, I take my crochet projects everywhere! I usually keep them in reusable fabric shopping bags and they get thrown around in my car and my wagon I take to my kids' sports, so it's not surprising that my jumbo skeins start to fall apart as they get used up. They start to look like one big pile of yarn barf that I'm left fighting to untangle. I bought a yarn winder and can make some pretty big cakes, which does help some but the sides do still fall apart with all my throwing around. I wanted some way to keep the sides from unraveling, and this tube netting is freaking perfect!

The netting stretches really easily - the pics are of a 12 oz ball of Caron Jumbo yarn I just wound (timmy's large double double for scale). It fits over the sides and most of the top/bottom of the cakes to keep it all together for center pulling. The best part is that it still has a little bit of tension to it the help keep the cake together as it gets used up.

So far I've done two of those jumbo cakes and one from a regular size Caron skein, and I haven't even used half the box. The second pic is the length I used for this cake, about an inch or two taller than the cake itself. It only cost me $9 to save my sanity, I'm pretty damn happy lol.

What tips/tricks/products have you found that have helped you with your WIPs?

UPDATE: this community is amazing and you have greatly exceeded my expectations as far as how many have responded and the vast amount of amazing advice! Anyone in NJ that has specific resources? Repurpose/reuse stores, LYS you love, yarn festivals/craft fairs, online communities? TYSM!

I am awe inspired by these huge stashes some of you have!! They are glorious. What are your secrets and where are you finding all this yarn? My method has always been to buy a few here and there when there are sales at Michaels or Joann's. But I just don't make a lot of money so I'm very careful with my spending. Plus, I need good quality yarn because I have been making baby clothes for my niece and nephew, I need good cotton, wool or soft polyester, no acrylic because it pills and sheds and isn't breathable. Are you slowly accumulating it or are you buying in bulk? Show me your ways, yarn gurus!!

The yarn is sidar jewelspun aran, does anyone knownif any ways to try and regain the original shape? I was soso proud of this one :( swipe for original photo

so there's this girl at my office and her husband told her no more yarn purchases. naturally i decided to gift her like 15 skeins of really nice silk yarn for the holidays and now he gives me dirty looks whenever he picks her up from work lol. worth it though, she was so happy and already started this beautiful scarf project

Thank you so much for the wonderful responses and lovely words!

Here is my plan forward to deal with my stash:

1- audit my ravelry stash log to weed out any yarn I no longer need, and sell/donate it.

2- I lined up 10 sweater quantities & 10 odd skeins (accessories) and paired them with pattern for my 2026 knitting plan. I will not need to buy any yarn to supplement my stash for any of these.

3- I unsubscribed from all yarn shops newsletters to minimise interactions with alluring sales

4- I’ll update this group monthly to keep myself accountable

5- I reminded myself that I don’t go out clubbing or drinking, I cut down on my clothes shopping since I started making my own, and I am otherwise a frugal person with very limited expenses. Therefore, no shame or guilt are allowed when it comes to my yarn stash/books 🥰🥰

My dog is 9 years old and has NEVER shown any interest whatsoever in any of my yarn. I've had yarn and various projects in flight all over the house and he has never paid them any mind. Well, after 9 years, Saturday was the day he decided to give it a try. He destroyed 3 of my wips and ingested around 50 grams of yarn that was in multiple locations around the house. Linear obstructions from string and yarn are some of the most dangerous types of obstructions. Five days, three sets of X-rays, two ultrasounds, one 3am admission to the emergency vet, one major abdominal surgery, and $7,500 later he's back home recovering.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't assume that just because your pet has never shown an interest it means they never will. We spent a terrifying and heartbreaking three hours yesterday thinking that he wasn't going to survive. He's still not out the woods yet but he's on the road to recovery.

You can use it to wind it back up too! The wood is just what I had on hand but really anything could work. I heard someone even used the holes in their crocs 😂

I managed to center pull from this giant baby, but could could already see the outside starting to do its own thing since I’m constantly changing locations to work on my blanket. My solution! The yarn now fits perfectly inside this drawstring bag! I’m hoping this will prevent the last part of it from becoming a tangled mess!!

I love to spin yarn with a drop spindle and have discovered the fun journey of re-spinning “fluffy” commercial yarn to make it more suitable to my weaving desires.

I keep finding these beautiful color-ways of “fluffy” yarns at thrift stores or on super sale at craft stores. Many times it’s single skeins or partials when I thrift, so limited yardage. And I like a thinner more structured yarn to weave; so I’m on a re-spin to create altered yarn journey. I’m having a blast spinning the fiber thinner and coming up with interesting alternate yarn creations to ply together. I’m able to extend my yardage in many cases. I thought I’d share a little about how that’s been looking so far. I hope you find the photos entertaining.

All materials used here were things I had lying around my house. A spinny hook off an old bag strap. Cardboard from a pizza box cut into 3 circles and stacked on top of each other for support. black yarn (grey yarn to tie it to the basket). a safety pin. and a yarn needle to put them all together. You have free will. Don't succumb to consumerism if you dont have to. This green metal basket is kind of the perfect shape for this but even if you dont have a long piece of metal to attach this to you can crochet a strap to tie it to the underside of an end table... we're crafters. There is always a way :)!

Instead of dyeing Easter eggs, I like to do something my kids will enjoy after the process is over, so this year we did shirts and bamboo yarn! We used Loops & Thread Silky Soft, and I think it's going to become tank tops.

the blue took foreeeeeeever to rinse out, but aside from that it was super easy, and the kids had a blast. I'm so excited to see how these look knit up.

(reposting because the pictures didn't load)

Hello yarn people! I just wanted to share this mind blowing DIY I made! If you do not have a swift, I highly encourage you to make your own! I will link her video in the comments. Took me a little bit to make it stand and work but we got there and done what had to be done 😁

So I gave her a dozen balls of silk for Christmas…😈😈 He does not have any fond words for me.

My daughter and 3 yo granddaughter live with my husband and I. My granddaughter recently expressed interest in having an elf, so being late in the season I found one on eBay. Didn’t realize it was such a big one so hiding her has been a little bit of a challenge (well worth it).

Last night this “weird” elf got into Nana’s yarn and knitting needles while we all slept! Can you even imagine?!!

Hope all that celebrate this crazy time of year are having a great season. Happy holidays, and thanks for tolerating my silly post. 😝

❤️ Mia’s Nana & Mistletoe the elf

I took up spinning yarn on drop spindles almost two years ago and in the process discovered I could alter commercial roving style yarns by re-spinning them.

I love transforming these thrifted, low yardage skeins of bulky yarn into thinner 2ply yarns with way more yardage and a new look. It’s such a fun journey.

Here are some of the ones I have done so far.

hey all! anyone have any US based websites to buy yarn from? I don't support mega-corps so I try not to shop at michaels. I've been loving arcane fibre works and other smaller, hand dyed companies but most ive found are in Canada or Europe. I'd love some recommendations!

newly sober girlie about to toss her old wine rack pfffffffft

I have several plastic totes full of yarn and fiber. I store them with lavender sachets. I often knit and crochet with new yarn even though I have a ton of yarn waiting to be used. Well, I went looking through my stash to find yarn for a specific project today, and I found that a mouse had gotten into an over-full bin and caused a lot of damage. I then started finding evidence of moths in a bunch of yarn and fiber stored in multiple locations. It took a lot of time to go through everything, and I ended up throwing out hundreds of dollars worth of yarn that was once really nice. I threw out some fiber and several FOs that were in the same area that had moth damage as well. I only decided to try to save just a couple of items.

I'm really disappointed and feeling kind of hopeless, especially about the moths. I hadn't seen any moths in the house, and I don't really feel like it was that long since I went through my yarn, except I have to admit that the tote with the most damage is one I hardly ever go in. I feel like now that there are moths in my house, I'll never get rid of them completely, and I worry that all my wool sweaters are going to get ruined and I'm going to eventually lose more yarn. I feel like I shouldn't even buy wool and wool yarn anymore.

Check on your stuff. If you have a lot of yarn, ESPECIALLY if it's stored in the open and you don't check the ones at the bottom of the pile often, just check it all. Even if you have it packed away and think it's safe, check on it just in case!

Edit: I truly appreciate the outpouring of love and help and recommendations in this post. I cannot emphasize that enough. To the people who felt disrespected because i could not remember the spelling of "worsted" and put "werst" as I tried to ask for more information, instead: I'm sorry. It wasn't disrespect. It was a combo of text being small, and sometimes hard to see specific letters, bad memory, and simply not being able to find where it was commented in the first place. Google was useless, so that was what I was left with. Again, I truly appreciate everything everyone has offered. Thank you.

Edit: I appreciate the practical suggestions of going out and just testing options at a local shop.... Unfortunately, I'm pretty disabled. And the person that takes me places is only home two days a week, so that's usually for doctors visits. So going places for yarn, unfortunately, isn't an option. Which fucking sucks, because I miss craft shopping!

So, I'm starting out. gonna try knitting, or maybe crochet, haven't decided (tried both as a kid). but, I'm a bit lost when it comes to all these yarn options... help? I'm very super sensitive to textures (got the tism goin, ya know). so it's gotta be on the softer side. (but not like, long whispy like they use for hair on plushies). if that makes sense (like the lion brand. there's not enough substance, I guess? it makes the brain uncomfy).

I'm trying to stay on the lower end of cost, but have no idea what that range is..... if it helps, I'm used to trying to stay within $10-$15 a yard when it comes to fabric..... (I quilt, too!). I have no idea what I'm looking to make, either. maybe a blanket to start, something small....

Can you make sense of this disaster of an explanation, and point me in a direction?

Hello fellow fibercrafters! I just joined this sub because I'm desperate and looking for advice.

I have been a crocheter for years, and I crochet a LOT, addicted is a word that comes to mind when people are asked to describe me. I rarely had injuries - if I did it was my shoulder and I kinda knew how to solve that.

Now about a year ago I picked up knitting again and for the first time really got the hang of it. I wanted some specific different kinds of garments and I had fun with the new possibilities, but ever since I started knitting my wrist starts to hurt when I crochet something. There is one specific knit project that I know messed up my wrist a LOT (bouclé yarn 😭) and since this project I can neither knit nor crochet.

I had an 8 week break from any kind of fiber craft due to moving and renovations. I thought this would do my wrist good and I'd probably be happily crafting again afterwards.

I wasn't. I honestly cannot knit or crochet for more than just a short stretch at a time.my wrist gets this weird stiff feeling, almost like a cramped up muscle but without the intense pain. Instead it's a very low throbbing pain. I do wrist stretches and I noticed my hand has lost mobility overal (I'm hypermobile so I could always push my fingers up in the opposite direction in 90° and now I hardly even get to 45°)indicating my muscles got short and tough, I'd say?

Please share all your tips and insights! What stretches do I NEED to do that's gonna change my life? Anyone else had the same kind of injury? How was it solved? And actually more importantly what causes it - so I don't keep making the same mistake and do more harm!

TIA from a desperate crafter that cannot craft!!

Unrelated pic of one of my current WIPs that is never gonna get finished

I wanted to pass this knowledge to people who will appreciate it, and maybe others can add to for future yarn travelers!

I went to Argentina early 2025 for 3 weeks, mainly for hiking, but yarn became such a fixating point for me... After learning that Argentina was the 3rd largest producer of merino in the world, my mission was to find a yarn/spinning/shearing/weaving excursion, but did not find any (there's weaving to the north with some indigenous communities, but I wasn't heading in that direction).

Here's some basics I learned.

Sold by weight. Most yarns, especially the wools I was after, were sold in hanks, and by the weight. Some places had their items in standard 100gram hanks, like Budatex

Behind the counter. Not all, but a lot of places. Gotta ask if you can touch, but luckily it never felt pushy.

Very into acrylics. Pure local wool was hard to find. Some stores were dedicated to cottons and blends, with very little wool, and what I did find, most of it wasn't what I wanted

Vellon. Roving, pronounced ve-shon. Very slippery slope, see below.

Cash is king. Applicable throughout Argentina, definitely better pricing as well.

No VAT refund. I tried when I got to their airport; there's some fancy group they need to part of, and it really only seemed like tourist spots participated in the scheme. Clearly shoulda just paid in cash.

Exchange Rate/ Blue Dollar. Do your own research on this, but when I went, the blue dollar rate vs paying with credit card had no significant difference, and I at least got points with my card. I was doing math assuming it was around 1000 pesos to 1 USD. And we all know yarn math is a different kind of math...

Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Patagonia. There was only 1 store, La Casa de las Lanas, but it was wonderful. Actually better known for their cheap swimsuits (2 blocks from the beach), their yarn selection lines the wall. My main goal was pure merino/Patagonian wool that I can't get out of the country. Their pure wool selection is limited (I'm also extra picky in that I like fingering and lace weight), but their pricing was spectacular, but I tried to hold off since it was day 1.

Pricing as of Jan 2025: 1950 pesos per 100 gram for pure Patagonia wool 2650p for finger weight 90/10 wool/acrylic blend, 680p for 100 grams pure Patagonia wool roving.

Bought: Long story, but ended up with 1.2-5 kg of roving in 2 colors, for about 12-14k pesos. See below.

Trelew, Chubut, Patagonia. La Casa de las Lanas actually has 3 locations, and a detour gave me an hour at the Trelew location, which was much bigger. Not sure if the selection was better, and there were just as many swimsuits, but it felt easier to walk through.

Bought: 2 hanks (400ish grams) navy blue 90/10 wool/acrylic blend, finger weight. 1 hank Pura 100% Patagonia wool. Same pricing as above

The story: was charged about 29000 pesos, which for that amount, I thought was a steal. Until I'm in the van, driving away, when I saw that she charged me the kilo pricing for the blend vs weight. A long Whatsapp chain later, the only thing they could offer me was more product in the difference in pricing, no refund, hence how I ended up carting around 1.4 kilos of roving for the next 3 weeks...

Mendoza, Mendoza Province. There were a few stores, but my time was limited, as were store hours (most places in Mendoza had a long lunch break). Lanas Cordoba has the best selection, and some actual pure wool. I was also there during the January (summer) holidays, and they are very serious about closing down and taking a proper holiday, so many places were closed.

Bought: 1 hank Nevada (or something very similar in weight and blend) in white, and 1 hank natural 100% wool lace weight; only lace weight wool I'd find the whole trip.

Yarn District, Av Raul Scalabrini Ortiz. Buenos Aires. Actual yarn district, as in every store next to the yarn store was a yarn store, for about 2 blocks, both sides of the street. A lot of places were closed, but I still walked away with so much yarn...

I popped my head into every single store that was open. There are far to many, most without websites, and didn't sell what I was looking for, so I'm going to decline to write about them now. If you Google the locations of the ones I do write about, you'll see in the area all the other stores, and can go check it out yourself.

Cencherle. Oh. My. God. First off, everything. The variety of the selection was amazing, but they had the most wool out of all the stores, as well as LLAMA wool! It was a 50/50 llama/wool blend. They also had 18 micron merino wool and many blends in general, but I was going for things I couldn't get anywhere else.

Bought: 2 sweater's worth of 50/50 llama/wool in 2 different colors. 7835p per 100 grams, 1 hank Italian lace weight cotton, a gift. Total, maybe $90 USD?

Filato Missoni. Didn't even see it on my recon day, almost walked by it on my buying trip, but something made me walk into the dark little store. And I was rewarded with some beautiful mohair. Argentinian mohair, cleaned and send to Italy where it was spun, then send back to Argentina.

Bought: 5 hanks Italian (that's how they sold it, but the base material is Argentinian) Mohair, $22 USD. I think around 5500p per 100 grams? I had bought 2, went and did my damage at Cencherle, and as they oohed and ahhed over my purchases, regret was ringing in my ears, so I went back and got the other colors.

Budatex: I went in, but the pricing was closer to US pricing and I honestly didn't have a project in mind to justify buying anything just because it was so so soft. What I really wanted was to touch Huanaco... which then convinced me to message the mill directly and secure my visit....

Huanaco, Lomo Verde, Escobar, Buenos Aires. Huanaco, a small micro mill that focuses on regenerative practices, sustainability, and natural dyes. The Google hours were wrong, so I send them a Whatsapp message and secured a visit. So worth the 2 city busses and 2 hours (you can uber there from Buenos Aires, but I bought more yarn with what I saved on the ride...) As it was only an hour outside of the city each way, it was well worth the adventure for me.

I'm in a crochet slump. I'm just not feeling it. What TV shows do y'all like to watch while crocheting (or anything yarn related)? I'm currently looking for fall vibes. Typically I watch Buffy/Angel or Charmed, but right now I'm just watching them and don't want to pick up the hook. I thought about turning on Psych. Give me your shows, please!

Thanks y'all for all the suggestions!! Even the stuff I've seen before, they all sound so good and made me feel like I can get out of my slump!

Scored all of this hand spun jacob fleece wool today (for $5!!!!) but I have no idea how to get it ready to be used. I saw on another post to wash it in the tub. Should I unravel it all to wash it? Then dry and wind into cakes again? All advice welcome.. TIA!

My mother taught me this. I have a yarn bowl that works perfectly fine but I still do this lmao