After containing my yarn excesses last month with a new Stash Basket, this month I turned my attention to the discombobulated world of my craft accessories. I wanted everything to have a place, and I wanted that place to have style!

So here are Three Little Pouches to get us on the road to organizational nirvana. The first one is a drawstring bag for all the loose buttons you've picked up along the way. The second is a perfect sleeve for crochet hooks (the stitch pattern is slip stitches, not fair isle, in other words, way easier!) And the third is a Gooseberry Stitch purse for small knitting necessities: tapestry needles, a measuring tape, stitch markers, a pocket gauge, folding scissors.

To make my pouches really special I used Manos del Uruguay's Silk Blend, 30% silk and 70% merino. Every skein of this yarn is hand spun and beautifully kettle dyed by one of the 400 women who make up the Hands of Uruguay artisan cooperative, a non profit organization expanding opportunities for rural women in Uruguay. Doing good aside, it's just plain gorgeous yarn!

To get organized, please visit my Three Little Pouches Project Journal. Thanks! -Whitney

The Fourth of July is coming up and that means barbecues, picnics, and lots of time outside. This cute little hat will keep the sun off of you baby and keep him or her looking patriotic at the same time!

I made this hat for my friend Bear out of the versatile, sturdy Kona Cotton Essex which comes in great reds, whites, and blues. It's a cotton linen blend so it has some body and it's totally easy to care for, just throw it in the wash after the fireworks.

Making a fully lined hat might seem a little daunting but it's actually a pretty quick project and fun to make. It incorporates a lot of different skills (like edge stitching and cutting on the bias) so it's a great learning project. If you'd like to make one of your own check out my Fourth of July Baby Sun Hat Project Journal. Happy Fourth of July!-- Molly

It doesn't take many years of knitting before one day you wake up to realize you have a lot of yarn. So you embark on a striped project campaign hoping to pare down, but end up buying more and more yarn because you don't have exactly the right colors, and finally you face one of knitting's truths: stashes are unbustable.

To handle my stash problem, I had to commandeer my husband's bureau. I use the top drawer for accessories, the second for sportweight yarns and finer, the third for worsted and thicker, and the bottom drawer for Koigu. Plus I have a basket for fine fibers like cashmere and silk and another basket for handspun worsteds. And still I'm spilling over!

So I decided, instead of heading over to the dreaded Container Store, wouldn't it be cool to crochet my own storage unit? I imagined something with the feeling of a handmade basket; I wanted it to be nubbly, beachy and beautiful, and so, I turned to Hand Jive's Rustic Silk. One hundred percent Tussah Silk, handspun and handdyed, it is a really special yarn. It is splendidly earthy and fascinatingly varied, like Mother Nature herself created it.

I love my new basket for yarn, but now I'm wondering if I'll need another one for afternoons in the park, days at the beach, and weekends in the country. Ahhh...more yarn...!

To crochet one of these for yourself, please visit my Crocheted Stash Basket Project Journal. Thanks! - Whitney