Say Goodbye to Yarn Tangles, Knots and Waste

I have come up with this solution to organize my classroom yarn for about 4 years now.  Since I have done this with my yarn, I can't imagine any other way to organize the chaos that yarn can be.

I began by cutting foam core into 4 x 9 inch cards.  I use this to wrap my yarn on.  I cut a tab on each end of the foam core.  On one end I start the yarn, I tape this in place with some masking tape.  I then continue to wrap the skein of yarn onto the foam core.  When the skein is gone I put the end of the yarn in the tab on the opposite end of the foam core. 

Close up of yarn wrapped on foam core with tab and label.

I label the yarn with the color name.  These are the labels I use: RED, BLUE, YELLOW, GREEN, PURPLE, ORANGE, BLACK, WHITE, RAINBOW, TEXTURE.  I then place the foam core into a plastic dish pan.   I label each dish pan with the color of the yarn that will be found in that container.

Dish pans labeled with color of yarn.

These containers are very easy to stack and are big enough to hold quite a few yarn bundles.  Students are taught how to unwrap the yarn from the foam core and how to put the yarn back into the tab so the next person can find it.

Each bin contains tints and shades of that color.  So in the RED bin you would also find your pinks, BLACK bin you would find your grays, and so forth.

Yarn organized by tints and shades.

This did take a bit of time to set up, but it has saved me a ton of time in the long run.  When a color runs out, you just load it up again.  Very easy to see what you are low in when you need to order more supplies and so much neater looking than a yarn tangled mess.

I hope this helpful tip inspires you!
  Here's to tangle free yarn adventures!