With 3 kids, I spend many, many hours to at practices, games and activities. Most of my time seems to be spent waiting. I can’t stand to just sit and wait, I have to be doing something. I usually spend my waiting time crocheting. One of the hassles of crocheting on-the-go is that the skein of yarn gets tangled up in the carrying bag. I spend as much time unraveling the tangles as I do crocheting on the project. That’s where this free portable yarn keeper comes in. And did I tell you that it’s a free way to organize yarn?! 
Several years ago, I read a tip from allfreecrochet.com to keep a skein of yarn from getting tangled. The tip involved repurposing, so I was interested and immediately gave it a try.
Free Portable Yarn Keeper
Once you have your bottle opened, simply insert the skein of yarn into the bottle and pull the yarn from the middle of the skein through the mouth of the bottle.
The bottle gapes a little but it stays closed and contains the yarn. Even with the gap, the yarn pulls out smoothly without getting tangled. Of course, if that gap bothers you, you can use tape to secure the bottle all the way closed.
I was using 2 skeins of yarn for my project so I put them both in bottles and stuck the bottles in a canvas bag. I was able to crochet at my son’s practice with no tangling and no problems at all. This is a great solution to prevent yarn projects from tangling, especially for busy on-the-go crafters.
And did I say that this portable yarn keeper a free way to organize your yarn? 
Meg says
such a good idea! could use smaller bottles for smaller balls of yarn and just toss in your purse on the go.
Susan@Organized31 says
Oh. I hadn’t thought about using a smaller bottle. That’s a great improvement for easy of carrying a smaller ball of yarn!
Anonymous says
You could use a piece of Velcro to keep the bottle shut.
bmicheau says
You could use a piece of Velcro to keep the bottle shut.
Susan@Organized31 says
Brilliant idea! Those sticky Velcro dots would be perfect.
Beth McC -- Midwest Redhead says
I just cut off the curved bottom of clear plastic soda bottles, and it’s easy to insert the skein of yarn. I always find my starting piece of yarn (I like to work from the center of skeins), and use a long piece to dangle through the open neck of the bottle.
I also recycle a nice gift bag to stand up the bottles I an using for a particular project; this keeps the bottom of the skeins clean without having two pieces of bottle to worry about. Gift bags are generally a little sturdier than regular paper bags, and if I use a larger one, I have room to tuck in the project when taking a break. Printed patterns or magazines with patters are easy to stand up inside the bags, too.This keeps everything in one place when I have to stop crocheting to tend to other tasks.
susan says
Such a smart adaptation to my hinged bottle idea, Beth! I’m definitely trying it on my next crochet project (and I’m suddenly inspired to start a new project 🙂 )