Blog Archive

Getting Organised

 Hello again!

In these times of not having as much control over the way we live our lives, it's driven me to think of ways to find order in the day to day.  I found it in pencil and paper!

I have tried so many digital ways to record my knitting and crochet project - apps for counting rows, increases, decreases, and all the rest of it, but all seemed to me to be less than ideal.  I tried just remembering where I was up to (total disaster ensued!) and so at the end of last year I grabbed a scrap of paper - a packing note I think it was - and started to write everything down.  And I was hooked (pun intended).

My husband bought me some spiral bound notebooks (they lie flat when opened) and I am a convert to paper and pencil.  I write down everything. Needle or hook size, the size I am making, plus any modifications.  When I have to increase on every 4th row, for example, at the same time as increasing on the other side every 6th row, I write down columns of rows, with circles and squares around each increase/decrease row.  I then cross off each row as I work it.  Simple!  I can instantly see where I am up to when I come back to my work later too.


To save writing everything out again for the second sleeve or front, I go back through the rows, marking in the opposite direction to make crosses.  Oh, and after every increase or decrease row I write down how many stitches I should have, so I can easily do a quick count up to confirm I'm on track.

I then took this one step further when I started the front of my new vintage jumper, with a very complicated (for me) ten row pattern.  I was finding it so difficult to follow each row reading across the lines of pattern, so I wrote down each row in columns.  My brain seems to like this and I can follow along much more easily.  The writing is much larger too!  

I use two notebooks side by side at the moment - one with the pattern written out and one with the rows to mark off.  It's working really well.

Also, I use very soft 8B pencils for marking off each row, as each sweep of the pencil, however soft, leaves a clear and easy to see mark.  It is also much easier to rub out if necessary.  

A couple of weeks ago I purchased a Filofax.  I used to have one in the 1980s, and they seem to be making a comeback!  I absolutely love my new Filofax, and am finding it so useful already.  It's my diary, address book, note maker, ideas jotter all in one!  I bought the pocket size, so I can take it out and about in my handbag.  That's when we are able to go out and about again, of course.



I've even added a little zipped insert to store my stamps!  I could never find my stamps. 



I'd love to hear your ideas for getting organised. I'm on a roll!

Donna xx

4 comments:

  1. It's so interesting to read how others organize things! To keep track of where I am in my knitting, I often use those yellow sticky notes and move them up in the pattern after every row. But even then I can get confused - did I or didn't I move the sticky note after the last row? Your new Filofax is such a cheerful red!

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    1. I love sticky notes too! I have them in my sewing room in various sizes and colours and use them for labelling up piles of quilt blocks as "row 1, row 2" and so on, as well as stacks of fabrics pieces I've cut out ready, as it's easy to confuse a stack of 3" strips with a stack of 31/2" strips!

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  2. I actually do a very similar thing with the notebook and pen when doing most knitting. I find that it also gives me short goals which stops me losing interest.

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    1. That's a really useful help in staying focussed! I sort of do the same in a 'see if I can complete this column of rows before bed' kind of way.

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