We're trucking along and it's already day three of KCBW! Again, thanks to everyone for all the amazing feedback. I'm doing my best to get around to all the blog participants, but there are just too damn many of you! :D So today, we're talking about organizing your yarny stuffs:How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.
I'm not afraid to admit that my stash isn't organized at all. Really, not in the slightest. I have plastic bins of yarn and a few errant baskets in designated areas around the house, but I know where specific skeins are located mainly by memory. However, I have made a big effort in the last year to better organize my individual patterns and project notes. It's a small start, but it has made a serious difference in my knitting habits.
The massive binder of all things knitty.
Before, I'd often print off my downloaded patterns, fold them up and toss them into my knitting bag, where they'd find a certain demise after a few short weeks. Wasteful and pretty irritating. Now, just by simply putting all of my patterns into plastic sleeves, they hold up much better. And by keeping all of said patterns in a binder with labeled dividers, I can always find what I'm looking for, which is great when I want to revisit a pattern.
Also, I realized over the past few years that I did a terrible job of documenting the knitting process while working on my various projects. It would become especially frustrating when I'd misplace the little sheets of paper that I wrote modifications on. Several months ago, I got a moleskine notebook for sketching and note-keeping, so I have a really detailed account of my progress on each garment. It has revolutionized my crafting. I take note of dates, mods, thoughts on the pattern, design ideas, etc. It's especially useful because I can, in turn, share these notes online via Ravelry or my blog. Finally! A system that works for me.
It's funny how this prompt has made me realize that despite my love for and interest in technology, the best way for me to keep organized is in an analog format. I prefer having hard copies of my patterns rather than glancing at the PDF file on my laptop or my phone, and I'd rather pull out a pen and stop knitting for a minute to jot down notes than log into Ravelry and document it there. In this next year, it seems like a good idea for me to focus on better storage for my yarn and notions. All in due time, right?
12 comments:
Funny, I'm exactly the opposite: My yarn is pretty well organized, but my patterns are all just thrown willy nilly into a drawer! :)
I used to be all sorts of organized with my patterns like that, now I've started just throwing them in my bag. I've got to really work on that.
Ooh I love the idea of keeping notes! I never keep notes which would be useful like you said if you want to knit something again. And I definitely need to work on my pattern book. I use plastic sleeves but it is completely unorganized. Great ideas!
I really need to do the binder thing for my patterns, they often disappear into the void. I think having a dedicated notebook is a great idea too.
I am a folder and thrower of patterns to. I must change that habit. The notebook is a good idea.
I also got myself a notebook just recently for wip notes. That's been working really well for me so far.
I am envious of your pattern folder- I have them all over the place, so naturally I can never find them when I want them.
I sort of started to file my patterns in a box file, but it's not a great system. I like your version better. I can feel a visit to Staples coming on. Its ages since I got a stationary fix!
I strive for organisation and somehow fail at the last hurdle. I call it creative.....!!
wow!! i'd like a pattern organiser too! thanks for the idea!
:)
I started printing all the patterns I found and putting them in page protectors in a binder just like that. I think I might start digitizing them and keeping them on my computer, though. I like having a tangible pattern (especially to take with me to knit at the doctor or something), but I'd save so many trees if I didn't!
Thanks for sharing this with us!
it's so much easier to be able to refer to a hard copy than to have to turn my computer on and load the pdf! i'm also one who prefers to jot stuff down too!
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