Build that Yarn Wall!

I've been collecting yarn for years and years and years. I have a hard time throwing away a color and usually, in my line of work (amigurumi) I will use just a little of this and a little of that. I'm really choosy about what color I want to use, so if I need a specific color I tend to buy a new ball of yarn instead of just using something close that I might already have. I've also been sent yarn from companies to try out, and I never want to get rid of free yarn! This has led to a giant stash!

I have kept my yarn in big bins in my 16-unit Ikea Expedit shelves forever. The bins are cardboard and just do not hold up to my constant digging around in them, which leads me to another problem. The yarn was pretty much in giant tangles inside each bin. Here's an example. Scary.

A couple of years ago I bought a yarn ball winder like this. I mainly used it for winding hanks of fancy yarn I got from the local yarn store but now I took it out and worked overtime winding up every ball of yarn I had into beautiful yarn "cakes"! Look at the difference!

I was totally inspired by Knits for Life. Their yarn storage wall is art. After I did all the winding, I went to Home Depot and purchased six pegboard panels 2ftx4ft each to cover one wall in my office. These were $7.99 each. Honestly I could have used more space but I wanted it on this particular wall. I don't know if it is the same at every Home
Depot, but these boards had two bar codes on them. One of them rang up at $19.97 each! I was in shock when I checked out but figured I'd made a mistake. I had to go back and get two more to go along the top and at that point took the photo below. This time the cashier scanned both barcodes and we discovered the discrepancy and I was refunded. Just a warning if you decided to buy the same boards! I also bought "pegboard kits". They include long screws and spacers, which hold the pegboard away from the wall, as well as a small assortment of hooks (most of which you won't be using). These kits were $6.98 each and are located in the shelving/closet storage area of the store, not by the pegboards. I bought two and didn't have enough spacers for the whole project so I ended up using hex bolts behind the screws and they worked just fine.

Here's how the pegboards looked after hanging just four of them.

For hooks, I found out through trying out the hooks that came with the kits that I'd prefer to use 2" long straight hooks. Other hooks worked ok but they either stuck out too long or weren't long enough. I ended up finding the best deal at Harbor Freight Tools. They sell five-packs of 2" long hooks for just $1.49, which is cheaper than I found on Amazon. I bought all they had. If you have a Harbor Freight Tools store nearby, you should check there. They were WAY cheaper than Lowes or HomeDepot on hooks, but their website doesn't tell you in store stock, which is a MAJOR drawback! They also sell seven-packs of 1.5" hooks that work ok too, for the same price.

Look at my teenage son helping!

Once I had the boards up and the yarn rolled, I started hanging. I had my yarn sorted so I started with red and worked from there. I knew I had tons of white and brown yarns so I pretty much filled up the top two panels with those. I did not use a hook for each ball of yarn. I think that would have been impossible. All of the larger balls have hooks and the smaller balls I wedged in between. They are secure, and won't fall out, but when I take out a ball of yarn I will have to be careful not to knock out other ones around it!

TL/DR version:

Pegboard (comes in 2ftx4ft units)
Screws and "spacers" or two stacked hex nuts (holds away from wall)
Pegboard hooks (2" long preferred)
Yarn and yarn ball winder
PATIENCE

Look at my pretty yarn wall! I have had people ask what about dust? Well I figure only the top yarn would be affected or the outside front face of each ball, and I can dust it off before I use it. We don't have moth problems around here, knock on wood, and I don't foresee that as a problem. I just love the look of it, and it really opened up my room. Its definitely beautiful to look at, if you like rainbows, and I'm inspired! I see what yarn I have without having to dig through a box. It will be easy to see what I'm running low on, and its easy to rearrange if I need to. I may need a stepstool to reach the yarn on top. I don't have cats, but I can imagine that might be an issue. One funny thing is that it has really changed the acoustics in my office! I was turned towards the wall talking to my husband last night and it was absorbed right into the wall and he could barely hear me!

Do you have any other questions? I would love to help answer anything you want to know. I haven't had a lot of experience "using" my wall yet, since I just finished it, but I will update from time to time here and on my social media. Thanks for reading!