Organized at last...and some yarn pix

Well, I finally succeeded. I now have A System. And here's to hoping that I can keep it together.

I had started a binder with project cards in it that I created onto which I attached photos of projects and yarn samples. On the back of these cards are spaces to write all sorts of useful information such as yarn name, color, amount used, needle size, etc. This was working great and created a nice binder that could be flipped through to see completed projects, except it was a tad time-consuming to create these cards and the whole thing was disorganized. I also made the mistake of trying to put in all of my older projects that were completed long before the binder came to be. This was causing much angst in trying to root through my notebooks and yarn to find informations on projects.

Long story short, I now have a plan that makes me happy. I have created two types of project sheets: in-process sheets and completed project cards. When I start a project, I grab an in-process sheet, which is the same as the completed project card except more informal and on paper. This then forces me to write down all of the pertinent information for the project (and eventually, for the card). There's space for notes and a start date and everything. I use a paperclip to attach my yarn ball bands to the sheet and keep the whole thing in my knitting bag. (I also try and keep things as one bag per project.)

Then when I am done with the project, I grab a completed project card and copy all of the information from the other sheet. I then snip a sample of the yarn for the card and one for the ball band. That gets put into a box, the card goes into another box to await a printed photo before completion and being put into the binder.

Sounds laborious, but this is a better system than I had before (which was basically none) and I had completed projects sitting around, waiting to be finalized and put away with all appropriate yarn snippings and notes made, but I didn't have a system. Now I have A System.

Oh and the other thing I've done is started a huge "database" of sorts that has my projects all listed. This weekend I went through all of them and noted the yarn and color as well. I now feel like I have things organized, I know exactly how many projects I have going (which is 6, noted in the sidebar). I love feeling organized!

The reason I finally got around to doing this was because I wasn't going to let myself start my next project until I had organized things. And finished one of my WIPs. So here's the deal: now that I have organized my knitting projects, I need to finish the Red Sparkly Scarf before I am allowed to start the Match My Coat Cap in these colors. (Cascade 220 in 8555, 9454 and 9324.) We're going skiing in early March so I need to have that done by then. Oh, and the headband to match, for those not-so-cold days. I was hit with this idea the other day...I have more than enough yarn for the hat, so I am going to make a headband to match, but since this is wool we are dealing with here, I decided that I will stitch it to a fleece headband which will be the part that goes against my head, since for me, headbands can be very itchy. Good plan, yes? We'll see how it turns out. But I think it has potential.

And now for some photos. My latest delivery of Yarn From Cyberspace brought me this:

Regia Sock Yarn

and this:

Sockotta

I'm still waiting for some Trekking XXL to arrive.

I have some other sock yarn waiting in the wings for their day to come...

Red-Gray Jacquard

and

Bernat Sox

That ought to keep me busy for a while!

Finally...

Well I finally have some new knitting to report on! It's been a busy few months...packing, painting, moving...and then the holidays were upon us. I wasn't able to do any knitting except for Christmas knitting, and I finally have something to show for it.

I present to you...Henry's Baby Blanket. We got to meet our brand new nephew Henry, born a week before Christmas. Here is the blanket I made for him. It is just a simple garter stitch square, but in the soft boucle yarn, it came out quite nicely.

Henry's Blanket

The other project I worked on was a pair of socks for my friend Kathleen. I had made her some a while back. One time I asked her if she ever wore them and she admitted that she had sort of forgotten about them. Some time passed, and randomly on the phone one day, she excitedly told me that she couldn't get enough of those socks I had made her! So I knew I had to make some more. These are made from Lion Brand Magic Stripes in the color Regatta Blue Stripe. I didn't make any effort to make the socks match stripe-wise (mainly because even after finishing the second socks I wasn't entirely sure of the stripe pattern anyway!) but I think they ended up looking kinda cool in their randomness.

Now it's back to other knitting. I have a couple of small accent scarves that I want to work on, and soon I want to begin a hat that is going to go with my ski jacket. I plan to use a pattern called Match My Coat Cap, in Cascade 220 yarn. I found some heathered colors that match my jacket quite well. Should be fun! I'd like to have that ready by the time we go skiing at the beginning of March. Can't wait!

Oh, and I treated myself to a ball winder with a gift certificate I had. Yay. :) Now I want to find yarn for projects that needs winding from hank to ball!