Tutorial Part II: The Proper Use of Ziplock Bags in Organising Your WIPs

Part II of the RoseRed Standard of Stash Systemisation (thanks Georgie!!) coming at you, here and now. Just for Bells (Happy Birthday Bells!) (see Part I here).

By now, I know you all will have purchased multiple sizes of ziplock (or snaplock) bags. But what to do with the ones leftover from your stash organisation? Why, as a WIP organiser of course! And here's how you do it.

Step 1: Select appropriately sized ziplock bag. I rarely use the small (sandwich) bags, as they are generally too small for yarn, needles and WIP. But if you have a teenytiny project, knitted on a circular needle or short dpns, you could get away with a small bag. For a larger garment, you'll need a large bag. For socks, a medium is, in my view, best. Today, I'm bagging a sock project, so have selected a medium bag. In this case, it's a new bag, but I do recommend re-using bags where possible.
Step 2: If you haven't already, remove label from yarn and place in bag. This is most important, if you want to avoid this problem.
Step 3: Knit swatch/es. Label with needle size, yarn info (in the highly unlikely event that the swatch will be separated from the bag and project) and any other details considered relevant. Place in bag. Labels may be purchased from your local newsagent or stationery store, or of course made from bits of paper.
Step 4: For maximum portability, place photocopy or print-out of pattern in bag. This avoids the need to carry large or heavy books or magazines with you and ensures you always have a piece of paper to write your mods or other notes on. And since a photocopy of your own book or magazine for personal use only is (to my understanding) acceptable, we're not breaking any rules here, right!
Step 5 (where more than one piece of the WIP): As this is a project I've previously prepared, I have one completed sock. Place this (or any other pieces you knit as you go) into the bag. This is extremely useful for socks so that you can measure the second sock against the first. For larger projects, you may need to bring a second ziplock bag into play.

Step 6: Place WIP into bag. An optional part of this step is to place any accessory you may need, such as tape measure, sewing needles, scissors, pencil, stitch markers etc, into bag. I have all this junk in a small zippered bag which I take with me when necessary.
Step 7: Squish excess air out of bag and seal (thanks for reminding me Shan). My preferred message of squish'n'seal is to hold the bag against my chest and squish the air out from the bottom of the bag, then while holding closed with my forearm, start sealing the bag from left to right, or right to left, as you wish.
And there you go!

Pack WIPS in ziplock bags into your knitting bag and you have a ready to go bag of WIPS, or you can easily select a project at a glance before you rush out the door to work, children's dance or sports, etc.
Tips for new players/Questions and comments from readers:

1. Be careful with the ziplock bags in the sun. Like any natural thing encased in plastic, your WIP might have a tendancy to sweat. We don't want a soggy WIP now, do we!

2. Ziplock bags are perfect for holding your yarn whilst knitting - as Tinkingbell noted in the comments to Part I, if you don't have your yarn in a centre pull ball (or even, let's face it, if you do), leave it in the bag, zip it up most but not all the way, and place yarn on the floor. You will still be able to pull yarn out easily, but will avoid yarn rolling in dust bunnies, cat/dog hair, etc (because, as we know, all dedicated knitters are bound to, shall we say, "avoid" the housework to do just one more row). And click on Tinkingbell's link above to see her awesome stash cupboard!

3. If you are using Knitpicks Options or dpns (or, really, any knittng needle), the needles will have an unfortunate tendancy to poke holes in the bags. This can be avoided if desired through the use of point protectors. Or, you know, you can just live with it. But be careful when digging around in your ridiculously oversized handbag looking for your sock WIP bag (trust me, I know from experience!).

4. Bells asked: Is the use of a bag desirable for leftover teeny tiny balls of yarn? Yes. If you want to keep your teeny tiny leftovers in bags. I'd suggest a small/sandwich size be used to hold multiple varieties of leftovers. Remember to include the label attached to the leftover (I usually punch a hole in the label and tie the yarn end through it. When I can be bothered, that is).

5. Diana noted that small ziplocks are very useful for keeping yarns separate while doing any type of colourwork.

6. Georgie and Carson noted the failure of ziplocks (even, shock horror - Glad ziplocks!) - I should mention I do use snaplocks rather than ziplocks and it seems from their experience this might be preferable. But you never know, so feel free to experiment!

7. Any other tips welcome! (As is a sponsorship deal with Glad. Happy to take your money to advertise your snaplocks, Mr Glad! I'm sure your revenues will be going through the roof right now!)